How to Connect with the Outdoors in Your Home Office

January 01, 2021 5 min read

A man working on his laptop on a hammock in his home.

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Stay Grounded At Work By Incorporating These Natural Elements

Pandemic or not, it's common to want to escape to the outdoors while you're stuck inside working. But now with your at-home office, you have all the freedom to bring the outdoors to you.

So why not use some of these tips that’ll have you feeling thrilled and relaxed even when faced with a mountain of paperwork and a view of a mountain of snow behind it?

How To Connect With The Outside While Working From Home

The Basics: Plants, Flowers, Succulents

Step one to filling the void of being outdoors? Bring the outdoors to you with plants. Plants are not only beautiful and healthy for the environment, but they also help clear the air around you and give you something to care for. Don’t just fill your home office with them, place them in other rooms in your house, as well!

Use Natural Materials And Textures

Bamboo, jute, beech wood, seagrass, hemp, and wicker are all beautiful and natural-looking materials that will give your space a nod to nature. Try using a seagrass basket for storage or as a planter for one of your floor plants. Or, try opting for beech wood finish shelves or a desk. A jute rug may do the trick, as well.

Get As Much Natural Light As Possible

Natural light keeps your Vitamin D levels up, helps you stay awake, and is good for your general health as well as the health of your plants! If you can, set up your home office in a room that gets a lot of natural sunlight, so much so that you won’t need to turn on any artificial lighting until it gets dark outside.

Clean Your Windows

Quality lights need quality windows. Give your windows a nice, regular scrubbing and top it off with a wipe down to ensure that they’re always clean and ready to receive the rays from outside.

Create An Herb Garden

Whether you use your herbs for tea or for cooking, or you make your own essential oils, herbs are a great thing to have at home. Rather than scrounging the grocery store for dried options (or even fresh herbs that will rot quickly) grow your own! In-home herb growing kits are easily available, or you could create one in the sunniest spot of your kitchen. Some great herbs to grow that will help you year-round are basil, thyme, sage, rosemary, and oregano. They will also make your house (or at least your kitchen) smell incredible.

Frame Your View With Vibrant Nature-Inspired, Full-Length Curtains

Why not go for a fun printed curtain when choosing your drapes? Patterns that are nature-inspired are a great way to make you feel immersed in the outdoors. If your curtains are adorned with images of branches, palm leaves, or the like, it could blend in nicely with the outside view or even contrast against the cold, bare winter in a way that would make you feel excited for spring.

Decorate With Earthy Tones

Alternatively, you could choose to give your curtains an earthier, solid look with some nature-inspired tones. Deep greens, beiges, taupes, and yellows are great earthy tones that also go well with wood elements. Green is an especially lucky color to have around. Not only is green the quintessential color of nature, but it is also the color of money. Ancient traditions believe that the more the color green is around you, the more it may draw money into your life.

Reorganize The Room To Make It More Zen

Reorganizing your furniture and adding elements in accordance to Feng Shui can help allow a more peaceful, Zen (and positive) energy into your life. Also, adding an element such as a mini fountain might add prosperity. A Zen bonsai tree is also a nice addition. Just make sure your desk is facing the sunlight.

Play Nature/Spa Sounds (Youtube, Sound Machines, Etc.)

Having trouble concentrating? Feeling restless or annoyed being trapped indoors? Sometimes, the answer is as easy as YouTube. Pull up a sound machine playing nature sounds or relaxing soundwaves akin to what they play at the spa. Not only do these types of frequencies help you concentrate, they also send you to another world where you feel surrounded by nature.

Introduce Aromatherapy

Nothing is lovelier than a room that not only smells nice, but relaxes you. Investing in a collection of soy candles, incense, or even a diffuser to expel essential oils is a great idea to create a calm and relaxing environment. Candles bring great energy, but make sure you get environmentally-friendly candles such as soy candles, which are more expensive but burn slower than your traditional candle does. Aromatherapy is extremely soothing and may help you deliver your best work to your employer. By choosing scents that remind you of the outdoors, you can enjoy a woodsy, beachy, or post-rain feel amidst a boring work day.

Retreat to A Hammock Nook

Sometimes, you just need a little break and it’s all too much. This is perfectly okay. It’s also okay for you to be creative with your break space. It’s a little too easy to retreat to your bed and nap, but it would be so much more luxurious and relaxing, and really feel like a treat if you were to put your work down for a minute and climb up onto your hammock and rock gently for a little bit.

How to Connect with the Outdoors in Your Home Office

Stay Grounded At Work By Incorporating These Natural Elements

Read More: TIPS TO HELP YOU CREATE THE PERFECT AT-HOME OFFICE SETUP