Many of us have found a newfound appreciation for home offices, due to the coronavirus pandemic and stay-at-home orders. Even though some restrictions are lifting here, many businesses choose to operate with greater remote work flexibility than before.

People who didn’t invest in their home office design before the pandemic have probably learned a good lesson: It’s smart to have a solid work-from-home setup. Settling for your couch or kitchen table when trying to get work done isn’t the best for productivity or your comfort.

You may be wondering how to improve your home office design. Here are five steps you can take to create a dream work-from-home setup for your Houston, Texas home.

SEE ALSO: Why Go With a Pro for Your Smart Home Installation?

1. Install a Speaker System

The benefits of speakers for your home office are endless. Speakers can be an extension of your phone and computer, so whenever you have calls or video conferences, you’ll be able to hear everything with top-notch sound quality. If you need a mental break and want to play some music, you can play it on your high-performance home office speakers instead of your computer. In-wall or in-ceiling speakers are great options for enveloping sound — and they won’t take up room on your desk.

2. Add Lighting Control

Your home office’s lighting can go beyond a lamp or natural sunlight. Lamps don’t necessarily produce the best light for your productivity, and natural sunlight feels nice until it hits your computer screen and produces glare. Instead, you can install human-centric, LED lighting that simulates natural light and automatically adjusts color temperatures throughout the day. Human-centric lighting helps regulate your circadian rhythm (your body’s sleep/wake cycle) and can produce specific tones to stimulate activity and concentration. It can give you the benefits of sunlight without you needing to raise all your shades and worrying about your computer displays.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to work from home and spend time indoors as much as possible. Although this period is causing many to deal with the stress of uncertainty, at least there is certainty that collectively staying home limits the spread of the virus.

Now that you’re spending so much time in your home office, have you thought about how smart technology can enhance your space and make you more productive? With the right tools, you can make your home office more convenient, luxurious, and tailored to your needs.

Let’s explore four ways smart home automation can amp up your Woodlands, TX, home office, and improve how you work from home.

SEE ALSO: Why Go with a Pro for Your Smart Home Installation?

Audio/Video System

With stay-at-home orders in place, people have been communicating more and more through phone calls and video conferencing. You don’t have to worry about conducting video calls solely through your computer — you can connect your computer to a 4K monitor or television and hear your conversations through high-performance, in-wall speakers throughout your office. Don’t like the quality of your computer’s camera for video conferencing? You can set up UHD or 4K cameras to get pristine image quality.