What if I tell you your room design and the furniture you choose for it influence your mood, focus, and productivity? It’s specifically true when it comes to designing a space for work or study.
Colour, light, a comfortable chair, working tools neatly arranged in their places. These sorts of things can all determine your efficiency and stress levels. So how do you design your study space with all those details in mind? What furniture should you choose, and how should you organise all the elements to combine aesthetics, comfort, and utility?
Academic writers from https://www.customwritings.com/, who assist students with college assignments and help them understand the study environment’s influence on their success, share their expert insights on the topic.
Step 1: Choosing a study place
In an ideal world, you need a separate room for study. Think of a quiet one, without distractions and ideally with minimal noise. If you can’t dedicate an entire room to be your study space, choose a corresponding corner in your apartment or house. It can be a living room where you’ll meet minimum interruptions or some under-the-stairs place where no one will distract you from work.
Step 2: Zoning
So if you do choose to find a corner or area, you need to consider where best this would be in your home. You may want to design your study space in a bedroom. If that’s the case, you might also want to bear in mind the following:
- For a productive and efficient study process, it’s critical to separate your study environment from your relaxation area. In other words, don’t write college essays or learn the exam material when in bed. Sometimes its super comfy and easy to choose this, however you should try to keep the spaces separate.
- You need to split this kind of room into two areas—one for study and another for relaxation. This is for better focus and motivation. It’s a psychological trick to “cheat” your brain and make it associate a particular place with work. When you sit in that study area, the brain will “know” it’s time to focus, so you’ll be more productive than if you did the same tasks lying on the sofa with a laptop on your knees.
- Do things to make your space calming. Place a comfortable sofa in your zone for relaxation or put a plant nearby. Studies say that green plants in a room improve concentration and productivity! (They also reduce stress, so why not try them?) If you don’t make friends with green plants in your apartment, consider those easy to maintain. At the very least, you can place a small cactus on the table, deal?
Step 3: Table and Chair
You need a table or desk in your study space, as well as a comfortable, ergonomic chair to support your lower back. These two furniture elements are things you shouldn’t skimp on. You’ll be sitting in a chair at your desk for hours, which will affect your health in the long run.
Choose pieces of furniture with all the details in mind: material, height, and ergonomics. Also, ensure you are comfortable. Feelings of discomfort distract from the learning process and prevent you from concentrating for better productivity and efficiency.
Consider tables with drawers where you’ll put all the tools you don’t use at the moment to prevent mess. Keep your study place tidy as it reduces mental clutter and encourages you to focus. Place your table at the window and deal with all your tasks before sunset.
It’s all about lighting. Daylight helps us remain more active and focused. But if your environment doesn’t allow you to study in daylight, consider lamps with proper lighting. Buy a lamp with cold white light colors (3500-4000K) for your study area (it will stimulate the brain); put a lamp with warm color temperatures (2700-3000K) in your relaxation area (it will lower your tension after a busy day and help you get asleep).
Step 4: Bookcases or shelves
Consider adding a bookcase or bookshelf in your study space for better comfort. You’ll need it to store all the necessary study tools and resources and have everything within easy reach once required. You could also fill it with maps, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, or other references you need to work.
This piece of furniture doesn’t have to be huge if you don’t have a big space. Consider one with a minimalistic design to avoid overwhelming the room with bulky elements and minimise distractions.
Step 5: Nice little touches for inspiration
Your study place doesn’t have to be plain, office-like, or sterile like a hospital. Make it look like a happy place that inspires you and where you want to spend time. For that, add a personal touch to it and decorate it with elements that spark your creativity and excite you:
- Garlands with photos on the walls
- Posters with your favorite motivational quotes or personalities that encourage you
- Pictures of your family on the table
- Candles
- Flowers (mind their odor, as a very intense one can be distracting or cause a headache)
- Colorful supplies like stickers, pencils, notebooks, markets, etc.
To avoid cluttering the walls with all the above, you can place a whiteboard in front of the table to make notes, write down ideas, craft to-do lists, stick photos or quotes.
Ready to redesign your student space?
Designing a study space that’s both comfortable and functional doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice area and style. Focus on proper lighting, a table, and an ergonomic chair; add some beautiful elements for aesthetics and inspiration, and voila—you can enjoy your workspace!
LL x
*This is a contributed post. As ever, all opinions are my own.
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