Our guide to setting the mood and building the right space for working at home

As government think tanks and businesses alike continue to monitor the changing employment figures with tension, the UK jobs market has been quietly experiencing a quiet revolution which is both difficult to numerate but increasingly popular.

Working at home, self-employment and freelance work has become all the more frequent as the internet becomes indispensible to the majority of business enterprises, and the concept of the office expands to include diverse countries, outsourced partners and freelance writers and designers.

If you are a self-employed person, or beginning to establish yourself as a working-from-home individual, it’s wise to bear in mind a bit of advice Virginia Woolf once gave to aspiring women writers in the early twentieth century: “find a room of one’s own. Somewhere isolated, quiet and preferably stocked full of home office furniture.”

Ok, Woolf didn’t say the last part, but in translating her advice to working conditions in 2012, having a well-organised room of one’s own that is conducive to productive work, is absolutely essential. Just take a look at the range of home office furniture on offer at Ryman and you’ll see there’s a real plethora available.

One of the keys for working at home is storage – shelving and cabinets which allow you to build up a methodical, easy-to-understand archive of work, whilst also being easily reachable at all times.

Freestanding large shelving units rather than nailed-in shelves are ideal for those with large box files or plenty of books, especially art books or medical journals and any literature which is oversized.

A solid desk is also hard to come by, but worth shopping around for. Aesthetics aside, it is important to find something which doesn’t eschew practicality for fancy design. Avoid curves and obtrusive shapes if you’ll be doing a lot of sketching or standing.

Storage on your desk, from pen holders to large trays, are also worth investing in.  Finally, for some tips on how to add a little feng shui to your home office check out this quirky article on Inc.