Working from home
Posted by Bath Bespoke on 8 May 2020
Working from home and creating a space in which we can be productive has become a new priority for many of us over recent weeks.
When working from home, creating a dedicated home office which promotes concentration and productivity and is a space where you are happy to spend time becomes crucial. It must be an area that enables work but also allows for a boundary to be drawn between home and working life.
We take a moment to consider how to effectively introduce a home office to your space…
Reinvent your space.
Optimising the available space is key. There may not be an obvious area in your home that can dedicate itself to productive endeavours but reinvention and thinking creatively can pave the way for unique design solutions and innovative repurposing of space.
Working in partnership with a designer can help develop these initial inklings into a fully formed scheme. An experienced, expert eye can develop the scope of your space to maximise its potential and create an intelligent design solution that is customised to you and integrates seamlessly into your space.
Be it a home office desk, practical bookcase storage and a bespoke table for spreading out paperwork on or a compact built-in desk that allows for an organised approach, finding an area that allows for dedicated time to focus, ideally separated from home life, promotes healthy boundaries and enables you to ‘go to work’.
Organisation is king.
“Good design is as little design as possible” – the essence of one of renowned industrial designer Dieter Rams’s iconic design principles, coined in the late 1970s, still holds true today when considering the collision of working and home lives. Rooted in simplicity, a focus on the essential only (arguably sound advice for a plethora of aspects of life) allows for both intelligent design and organisation of a space.
If your working space is designed to effectively blend form and function and kept clean, clear and feeling under control, this can’t help but impact positively on your approach to work. Get organised and stay organised within your home office. Streamline shelves and storage spaces. Create a space that allows you to have what you need to hand but doesn’t become overloaded with everyday clutter creeping in from the periphery.
Make your home office your own as far as you can – introduce personal favourites such as plants, photography or art to make it an area of your home you’re happy to spend time in, not be banished too. By finding the best place, keeping it organised and adding elements that express who you are, you’ll create the optimum environment in which to work better.
Work smart.
Our homes have now become spaces which need to provide us with both the room to relax and recuperate (whilst staving off boredom and cabin fever) as well as enable productivity when required, and as such, our mindset has to adjust too.
Maintaining a sense of structure is crucial, as well as upholding the distinction between work and rest. Establishing a routine will create a feeling of regularity and rhythm in your day as well as helping to bring support and comfort to difficult times.
Take advantage of what would have been the commuting hour and use the ‘bonus’ time wisely. Mindfulness practices could help focus on the day ahead, exercise, fresh air, extended time with loved ones – any or all can’t help but ease the start of the day, or draw a working window to a close more enjoyably than a crowded commute.
Make the most of your space and make it your own, keep it organised and set your ground rules. These are testing times but they also offer up the opportunity to experience our homes in new ways and look afresh at their untapped potential…