Interiors for Home Businesses

Entrepreneurs have learned to not only conserve money but create home business spaces that function but may not be efficient or designed well.

A plethora of books, articles, and videos, almost 40 years of information of how to conduct businesses from your home, exists and is readily available. Architectural and interiordesign have responded to the trend and developed solutions that have translated into better furnishings, products and materials.Now, business owners, whether start-ups or growers, can create functional and aesthetically pleasing office spaces within homes.

One major question skeptics ask is how can you really create professional looking interiors for home businesses? The answer is - you plan. If you are going to design a home, use an existing apartment or house, create a space for your present career or future one. Design it specifically for that purpose. If the space is to serve double duty, again, design it for those specific purposes.

Businesses are more specialized, known as "niches", and technology has made it unnecessary to be "downtown." The business should be official, professional, and visible if it is to succeed. Mechanical requirements for your equipment such as the fax,computer, scanner, monitors, DVDRs, and VCRs, special lighting, and others specific to your services must be known in order to provide space and power.

There are many ways to create a thoroughly professional image from choosing suitable stock for your letterhead to different price ranges for interior appointments that reflect the space's purpose.

When I taught at the New York School of Interior Design several years ago, I used a two bedroom condominium drawing advertisement I found in a newspaper and designed a project for a first year drafting class around it. The designer had to create a home business of their real (or imaginary) client's choice.

One designed a beer brewery, another a wedding planner's office, and another was an interior designer's office in the second bedroom. The living spaces were designed to accommodate home living as well as the ability to receive clients. They were all wonderful and exciting solutions.

I submitted them for the end-of-year show where established interior designers often select students to work for them. I emphasized not putting my name on their work but the students did it anyway.

Even though I personally gave them to the "dean" at the time, somehow the work was displayed with an "Apartment Design" label, a second year course! That certainly uplifted the student's spirits.