How to set up your home work station to improve comfort and focus: Experts share top tips to refresh your WFH space

After years of working from home, I turned to experts for simple, effective ways to refresh my workspace for better comfort and focus.

A calm, well-lit home workstation with clean lines, soft tones, and smart storage that makes everyday work feel easier and more organised. (pexels.com)

By Neha Ravi Khandelwal

Neha Khandelwal
Content Lead, HT Travel | Travel & Lifestyle Journalist
With over 10 years of content writing experience, Neha Khandelwal is a lifestyle journalist and the Content Lead at HT Travel. She specialises in destinations, hotels, aviation, luggage, travel gear, and practical guides that help readers plan smarter and travel better. Her work combines first-hand experience, expert insights, and extensive research to create stories that are informative, useful, and easy to follow.

Career Journey & Experience
Neha began her writing career as a freelance journalist in 2010 before entering mainstream media with The Times of India in 2022. She later joined Hindustan Times, where she has written extensively across travel, lifestyle, home, and consumer trends. Her professional background extends beyond journalism. Before moving into digital media full-time, she spent nearly a decade in interior design, managing residential projects from concept to execution. She also trained in visual merchandising with Shoppers Stop and Pantaloons and worked with women-led startups across design and operations. These experiences continue to shape her storytelling, especially in how she evaluates hotels, design-led stays, hospitality spaces, and travel experiences.

A naturally curious learner, Neha has completed beginner certifications in pottery, scuba diving, baking, creative writing, and other creative pursuits. She has read more than 2,000 books, trained in Bharatanatyam for 8 years, and ghostwritten a book on Ladakh tourism.

Subject Expertise
Travel is at the heart of Neha's work. She covers destinations, hotels, airlines, luggage, packing strategies, travel accessories, and emerging travel trends through a mix of reporting, product testing, and conversations with industry experts. A frequent traveller herself, she approaches every trip with a journalist's curiosity and a planner's mindset, focusing on experiences that readers can realistically recreate. From choosing the right cabin bag to decoding hotel openings and destination trends, her writing prioritises practical advice over promotional claims. Her background in interior design also gives her a distinct perspective on architecture, hospitality design, boutique hotels, luxury stays, and thoughtfully designed spaces.

Education & Professional Background
Neha holds a Master's degree in Interior Design. Her early experience in interior design, visual merchandising, and design operations gives her a unique understanding of aesthetics, functionality, and user experience, adding depth to her coverage of hotels, resorts, and travel spaces.

Editorial Philosophy
"As an avid, research-driven traveller, my goal is simple. To answer the questions you actually have before booking a trip. I cut through the promotional noise with honest reporting and expert insights. Making travel planning seamless, smart, and reliable so you always know where to go next."

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I have been working from home for over a decade now, and recently I realised my workspace needed a serious rethink. It was functional, yes. But not quite inspiring. So I did what any curious work-from-home writer would do, I asked the experts. Turns out, creating a good workstation is not about squeezing in a desk and chair. It is about comfort, focus, and a space that quietly supports your day. With inputs from designers and architects, I pulled together ideas that feel practical, stylish, and actually doable.

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Start with the right spot

The first thing I learned is that location quietly sets the tone for everything else. A calm corner with minimal distractions can change how you approach your day. Natural light is a big win here.

As Rashi Bothra and Ruchi Gehani, Founders and Interior Designers at Azure Interiors, put it, “Position the desk near natural light to enhance focus and create a bright, uplifting atmosphere.”

Priyanka P. Mehra, Founder and Principal Architect at PS Design, echoes this, pointing out that daylight not only reduces eye strain but also lifts your mood. I moved my desk closer to a window, and it instantly felt less like a chore.

Get your ergonomics right

This one is less exciting but essential. A good chair and the right desk height make a noticeable difference by the end of the day.

According to Priyanka P. Mehra, “Ensure that the desk height allows your elbows to rest naturally while typing.” That tiny adjustment can save your back and shoulders from constant strain.

The team at Azure Interiors also stress that proper posture is key for long-term comfort. I swapped my chair, adjusted my screen height, and suddenly those long hours felt far less exhausting.

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Let there be light

Lighting is not just about visibility; it shapes your energy levels throughout the day. Natural light is ideal, but it cannot do all the work.

“Alongside natural light, a well-designed desk lamp with adjustable brightness ensures comfortable working conditions,” says Priyanka P. Mehra.

Layering your lighting helps, too. The experts at SD House recommend combining task lighting with softer ambient light to keep the space balanced. I added a simple desk lamp, and it changed my late evening work sessions completely.

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Declutter like you mean it

I used to think a little mess was harmless. Turns out, it quietly chips away at focus. A clean desk makes it easier to think clearly.

Azure Interiors suggests maintaining visual simplicity to support efficiency, and honestly, it works. “A space for everything, and everything in its place,” sums it up perfectly. I started clearing my desk at the end of each day, and mornings now feel far less chaotic.

Build smart storage

What to focus on	What it means in real life	Why it helps
Purposeful storage	Think beyond stuffing things away. Use storage to make daily work smoother.	Keeps essentials easy to access without overwhelming your desk
Vertical solutions	Add shelves, wall organisers, or stacked units	Frees up desk space and keeps things within reach
Drawer units	Use drawers for cables, stationery, and smaller items	Reduces visual clutter and keeps surfaces clean
Concealed storage	Cabinets or closed boxes for less-used items	Maintains a calm, tidy look
Smart organisation	Assign a fixed spot for every item	Saves time and avoids constant searching
Personal takeaway	I added organisers and a small drawer unit	I stopped wasting time looking for cables or pens every hour

Top tips from our experts

Sometimes, it is the small styling choices that quietly shape how your workspace feels. Keeping things personal yet controlled makes all the difference.

“Add refined elements such as plants or artwork to create an inspiring atmosphere,” suggest Rashi Bothra and Ruchi Gehani, Founders and Interior Designers at Azure Interiors. A tiny plant and a simple framed print worked perfectly for me, adding warmth without distraction.

Colours and textures play their part too. Priyanka P. Mehra, Founder and Principal Architect at PS Design, recommends sticking to neutral tones with subtle accents, along with natural materials like wood and linen to keep the space relaxed and inviting.

Creating a sense of separation is just as important. As the Azure Interiors team explain, visual cues like rugs, shelves, or screens help define your work zone and mentally switch between work and home. The SD House team also suggest gentle zoning within the same room. I tried this with a rug, and it genuinely helped me draw a line at the end of the day.

Rashi Bothra and Ruchi Gehani, Founders and Interior Designers, Azure Interiors(Left) and Piyush and Priyanka P. Mehra, Founder and Principal Architect, PS Design (Right) (Azure Interiors, PS Design)

After going through all these tips, I realised a good workstation is not about spending big. It is about small, thoughtful choices that make your day smoother. A better chair, cleaner desk, softer light, and a bit of personality can go a long way. And if you are like me, working from home for years, a little refresh might be exactly what you need in the summer of 2026.

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The author of this article holds a Master's Degree in Interior Design and has spent over a decade in research, teaching, and designing homes from scratch.

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