Loveseats are great for your home office, but avoid these mistakes

If you are one of the millions of people choosing to continue working from home on at least a part-time basis, you are probably busy outfitting and arranging your home office. Whether you are getting your necessary office space by converting a bedroom, attic, loft, or basement, there are some furnishings and features that you should have, particularly if you will be seeing clients or vendors on-site.

If you want to create a professional but comfortably casual look and feel to your work at home space, you might be tempted to include a sofa. Most people don’t have room for a full size sofa once other necessary office furniture is placed. However, people do usually have room for a small loveseat.

But not all loveseats belong in an office setting. There are a lot of patterns, colors, and styles that you should avoid when choosing a loveseat for your home office. Here are some of the biggest mistakes people make in decorating their work from home space.

Mistake: Assuming no one will ever visit your home office.

If you have a strictly online business, you probably aren’t expecting to host meetings or interviews in-person. You might not even be anticipating virtual face-to-face meetings and events. But the bottom line is that you never know what you might run into in the future, and it is always best to be prepared and ready.

On the chance that you could need to have a virtual meeting at any time, the background in the web camera frame must be neutral or otherwise professional. Likewise, you never know when a local client will demand in-person service. You can’t decorate or add more professional furniture at the last minute, so it is best to assume that eventually a business contact might come to your home.

Mistake: Overcrowding the room with furniture.

You don’t need a lot of furniture to start working from home. A desk and chair alone may be sufficient to start. But as business picks up and your products and services change and evolve, you will be tempted to continue adding furniture to your home office space. You must be aware that rooms packed with furniture can seem claustrophobic and unwelcoming, losing clients before they even begin using your services.

The best way to maintain perspective is to measure your home office, using it as a backdrop for a drawn to scale floor plan. If you don’t have the talent or know-how to draft a floor plan, check out websites and apps in which you can arrange furniture on a virtual platform. Consult with furniture experts specializing in home offices before you buy online.

Mistake: Not giving your clients a comfortable place in which to wait.

You should never keep a client waiting if you can help it, but there are some situations in which it cannot be avoided. If you have to take an important phone call, make copies or procure marketing materials from another room, or want to show your customers particular services and products that relate to their needs as discovered during the meeting, being able to remain comfortable during their wait can help keep them in a good mood and receptive to your pitch. A loveseat fits most office spaces and gives your waiting area an air of casual, but professional, comfort.