Options vary greatly, depending on occupation and personal tastes.
by Jane Bokun
When it came to working at home, I'll admit it. I was afraid of the freedom.
I needed an angry supervisor and a rudimentary desk, combined with coworkers who talked about the same things throughout the day. You could say the freedom of a home office and no one but me watching the clock was daunting.
But, with more people working from home or telecommuting, offices can be essential in today's homes. The problem may be finding the right balance between work and home.
Cathi Lloyd, owner of Decorating Den Interiors in St. John, says that's not a problem at all. “I have always had my office at home,” Lloyd says. “I enjoy the convenience of an office with the comforts of home.”
Many are finding that there are many options for today's home offices. In fact, the home office field is wide open and the home office furnishing options are all but endless.
Lloyd says first you need to determine what you want to accomplish in your new home office, and then match those needs with the right furnishings. Sometimes a home office must also function as an occasional guest room that must be big enough to accommodate a small mattress.
Some people purchase a conventional desk and make their work space their own. According to Lloyd, with an L-shaped desk configuration, you should find that it provides approximately twice the work space of a traditional desk. Plus, the storage options are virtually endless–cubbyholes, drawers and cabinets are all designed to store office essentials.
Popular St. John interior design firm De Young Interiors features a traditional desk set that accommodates any kind of room configuration. “More and more people are working from home,” says owner John De Young. “They have other jobs now and they need to do extra things.”
De Young Interiors is a longtime family-owned business. He says the type of home office you're looking toward might depend on what you do for a living. A consultant is going to spend more time than someone in sales. “If you're going to be spending a lot of time in the office, it matters more that it is tailored to fit your needs,” he says.
De Young says this year sales of home office accoutrements are up. “As the economy gets better, more people work at home. It's nice,” he says.
Another nice feature for home offices may be unique chairs. Desks from the 1960s- and '70s-vintage modular furniture, dented from frustrated kicks and general carelessness, can also be recycled for the home office.
Valparaiso designer Constance Bowman, who owns Hattie Smith Designs, proudly has “I never met a chair I didn't like” emblazoned on her website. Smith provides interior design for clients throughout the country.
Designers at Hattie Smith like to showcase her passion for chairs. In home offices, seats are now more comfortable and look better, too. Chairs can really put a personal stamp on your home office. Once you've determined your style preference, you can give careful consideration to how it feels. There are now seats that can help with those pesky back and neck problems as well as make the day much more enjoyable.
For the adventurous, chairs can be custom-made to look like motor scooters and more. Some people are ditching the idea of an office chair altogether and sitting on a workout ball throughout the day. Still others are opting to use treadmills underneath stand-up desks. With these, you can walk miles as you do your work.
Proper lighting can also make a difference in everything including your mood. There are now natural daylight bulbs that can last more than 10,000 hours and can even be used to combat seasonal affective disorder.
Color rounds out the process of wanting to spend hours in your home office. “If you're under the impression that you need a spare room or a huge master bedroom to set up a workspace in your home, you're wrong (although both sound quite nice). Brilliant work-friendly spaces can emerge from a spare corner, a few inches of a wall, or other areas you never thought to explore,” Lloyd says.
I've taken all these suggestions into consideration as the proud owner of my new home office. It has a large desk, comfy chair, fresh flowers and a candle that smells like the beach. I've also installed music, which makes the work go even better. Now, instead of someone who fears freedom, I embrace it–from the comfort of my own, personalized home office.
