Project: Home Office

Written by Verne on July 23rd, 2007

Five months ago I had a grueling debate with myself over what direction to take my career in. With a $40,000 piece of paper with my name on it, I was torn between taking the safe and traditional road, or the uncertain and risky (but inevitably more fun and rewarding) road. In the end, I took a leap. I jumped - eyes closed, arms flailing, and nothing but an anxious grin on my face.

I committed myself to running my business full-time.

Having never looked back since, I now plan ahead excitedly for the life of a true entrepreneur. First at bat: my home office.

My working life up to now has seldom involved me working at home, so the lack of a proper working space has never been too much of an issue. Now getting ready to settle into my 9-5 (that’s AM to AM, by the way), I’m inspired to transform the current space (i.e. my room) into a truely creative domain.

That was the preamble… here’s the meat of the discussion:

Having never designed a home office space (or renovated my room for that matter), I’m looking for guidance from everyone to help me build the perfect working environment. I’ll call this Project: Home Office (or Project HO for short… I’ll just stick with the full name).

I will be posting before/after photos and documenting the progress along the way, but I thought I’d get the ball rolling on building my potential shopping list first. So here goes nothing:

Entrepreneurs, freelancers, and all else alike: what things help you stay productive in a home office?

Q: What do I need in a home office?

A: Here’s where I need your help! I’m hoping to get ideas from all of you on:

  • What furniture I need (I’ve got bed, desk, and cabinet covered, what else helps?)
  • What equipment (i.e. computer hardware) I need

Assume I have nothing but a laptop and a tiny space.

Q: What will I do in my home office?

A: Namely, two things:

  • Work*
  • Sleep

* If you haven’t caught on yet, I’m a creative director/designer for my creative marketing agency. That should dictate a few things.

Suggestions on arrangements are also welcome! I’d also love to hear about the home offices that you’ve successfully built too!

Once I get some ideas, I’ll bust out the Ikea catalog and start forming a shopping list. The plan right now is to start and finish within September. *fingers crossed*

The countdown has now begun! Time to watch some episodes of Trading Spaces. :)

19 Responses

  • John

    July 23rd, 2007 at 5:11 pm

    If I were to renovate these are the things I would put:
    - Desk
    - Cabinet
    - Bed
    - Lamp
    - Printer
    - Laptop
    - Chair
    - LCDs

    That’s all. Everything has to look good too, like IKEA good.

  • Verne

    July 23rd, 2007 at 10:05 pm

    Bed.. check.
    Laptop.. check.

    Thanks for getting the ball rolling!

    The idea of dual LCDs has been commonly mentioned along with a docking station for my laptop.

    Other items I’m considering are:
    - a scanner
    - a fax machine
    - a tablet/electronic writing pad (I have no idea what they’re called)
    - a filing cabinet
    - a whiteboard

    Keep the ideas coming!

  • Andrew Peek

    July 25th, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    Dude… you need to take a trip to a toy store or gadget store. Spend $100 bucks on random crap that you can only find once.

    Additionally… you’ll need some vegetation so go buy some plants ;). If you’re going to be indoors all day then you’ll have to feel the breeze somehow.

  • Satish

    July 26th, 2007 at 1:18 pm

    1. Action figures are key. I recommend Batman for intellectual thoughts, Spiderman for random ideastorming, GI Joe for hardcore coding, and a Care Bear for design inspiration.

    2. 19″ HP Flat-Panel Monitor hooked to a TV input and a Xbox 360.

    3. A big comfy couch (or Woosa). Get rid of the bid, put it in a different room.

    4. Of your list up in the previous comment, scrap everything but the big whiteboard.

    5. A big wall calendar. See today’s YGG post http://www.younggogetter.com/2007/07/26/when-it-comes-to-organization-does-paper-beat-computer/.

    6. Swap your yellow energy eating light bulbs for bright whites.

    Good luck – IKEA and Toys’R'Us are key here.

  • Verne

    July 27th, 2007 at 6:45 pm

    Thanks for the helpful suggestions Andrew/Satish!

    Andrew, I like the idea of vegetation, but not the idea of having to do things to keep them alive.

    Satish, I currently have Spawn action figures. How can I put them to use?

    Keep the ideas coming! My list grows longer every day…

  • Satish

    July 28th, 2007 at 4:32 pm

    Personally I would say Spawn doesn’t mean much, lol. But to each is his own, so think about what Spawn (or any other action figures you still have) means for you?

    I’ve got an Owen and Bret hart set, Ninja Turtles, an old collection of tons of McDonalds toys, and more I would use.

  • Tiffany C.

    July 29th, 2007 at 1:18 am

    Hahaha… *stares at the clutter in her so-called “office”*

    - A few distractions (e.g. books, music, tv, etc). Whenever I’m stuck on something, I like to take a break from it and let myself get distracted. I usually come back from it later and find that I could solve what I couldn’t a while ago.

    - Fake vegetation might work too! No maintenance required! :D

    - Snacks, for those no-apparent-reason cravings.

    Well, that’s all I can think of for now :)

  • Verne

    July 30th, 2007 at 12:53 am

    Satish: Spawn was a pretty ‘innovative’ character in his time. McFarlane and co were revolutionizing the sequencial art industry and breathing new life into pages around the globe. Translation: Spawn was a cool comic! Can’t I keep him just for his good looks?

    Tiffany: Thanks for your suggestions, though I prefer to term ‘distractions’ as ‘inspirations’! And I agree on the snacks – a full stomach promotes a creative mind! (ok, I made that up)

  • Renata23

    July 30th, 2007 at 9:41 am

    I recommend a giant bulletin board, to tack up to-do lists, inspiration pictures or swatches, calendars, phone numbers, etc. Incidentally: get a calendar, and an easy-to-read clock. “NO” to the snacks — this is how you end up with extra 10 pounds, the mindless munching while working… Lots of light is important. You’ll probably want some kind of filing system; I have a small two-drawer cabinet that works for me. Bookshelves for references and storage. And the important part of the organization is for everything to be within arm’s reach. The rest is up to you :).

    ps – I second the need for toys. I have several red stress balls in my 9-to-5 office, and I swear, every single person who comes in plays with them :)

  • Verne

    July 30th, 2007 at 3:45 pm

    Thanks for the great recommendations, Renata23!

    I’ve got the giant bulletin board covered, but I manage my to-do’s electronically through Outlook and my trusty BlackBerry. Likewise for calendars and contacts. I appreciate the tactile aspects of writing on paper, but the convenience of accessing the data on the go outweighs that!

    I’m with you on the filing system and the book shelf though – we live in an electronic world, but some things really do need to be printed and stored.

    Having everything within arm’s reach won’t be a problem either – the space available isn’t all that generous.

    I’ll watch out for the snacks too… sometimes. ;)

    Great comments! I’m going to consolidate a list of shopping items soon, so keep throwing ideas out.

  • Satish

    July 30th, 2007 at 7:21 pm

    Make sure you update us on what you choose and what amounts you spend!

  • Steve

    August 17th, 2007 at 10:06 am

    When I built my home office, I made a rule that no area of the room would be either too functional or too fun – in other words, I didn’t want to look at big chunk of tools, computers, or documents, but I didn’t want to just have a bunch of toys dominating any one area, either.

    So, I combined my love of classic Universal monsters, superheroes, Kiss and other toys and fun things into my home office – all painted to match my logo color. It’s a great place to work – here are some photos:

    http://www.stevespatucci.com/office

  • Verne

    August 17th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

    Steve, that is a great looking office! Thanks for sharing! I especially love all the classic toys and framed art.

    Something to shoot for, for sure. :)

    How long did it take you to build your office into the state it is in now?

  • Steve

    August 17th, 2007 at 5:39 pm

    Thanks, Verne – I’m glad you like it. My wife and I were in a two-bedroom apartment until we bought our house in December – so we had both of our computers set up in one cramped room.

    That original office had a lot of the posters and toys, and so I’d say it took a couple years to slowly gather a lot of it – but it was so crushed into the small space, you couldn’t really appreciated (or even see) a lot of it.

    So when we got into our house, the office was my first project – I got it together inside the first month, buying a lot of the shelves online before we moved. Even though I had a bunch more toys and things, I put them all into another (empty) room first, and slowly planned where I’d put them into the office – that way, instead of trying to force everything in, I made sure everything had its own discrete space. A few things got left behind, and eventually made their way into our guestroom.

    So it took lots of thought, but it was worth it – it’s a very enjoyable, personal workspace, and it encourages me to actually be in there working – in the past, at times, I dreaded cramming myself into my workspace.

    Good luck with yours – I’m curious to see how it turns out, with all the input you’ve received. Looking forward to the update!

  • Verne

    August 17th, 2007 at 5:45 pm

    Thanks for the follow-up, Steve. Your story gives me some insight on the things I should do before diving into my project.

    You mentioned that you bought some shelves online – can you suggest a few links that you used? Did you find any other particularly helpful places to shop for the things you needed?

    My intention thus far is to spend a day at Ikea. Is this a rookie mistake?

  • Steve

    August 17th, 2007 at 5:55 pm

    Ikea should be great for you – and of course, you can visit:

    http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/

    I used CB2 – an offshoot of Crate and Barrel. They’re not cheap, but they have stuff no one else has. And I used West Elm. We used to have a store called Organized Living near us – they closed, but it looks like they still exist online.And Target – I got my brushed metal shelves there, on the discount shelves, I believe.

    links:
    http://www.cb2.com
    http://www.westelm.com
    http://www.organizedliving.com
    http://www.target.com

    That should help. I’d recommend sketching out some rough layouts before you go to deep – that’s the best way to avoid overfilling your space. Good luck!

  • Verne

    August 17th, 2007 at 6:04 pm

    Thanks Steve! These’ll keep me busy and un-focused on my work for a while. :)

    An update on this project will be coming soon!

  • Andrew

    September 10th, 2007 at 4:02 pm

    I’m on my final week of 2 weeks notice and about to make a similar leap that will involve working from home. Can’t wait to see the before and afters and hopefully it’ll give me some ideas for setting up my home office. Thanks to those who posted some great links above!

  • Verne

    September 11th, 2007 at 11:27 am

    Hi Andrew, glad to hear you found everyone’s suggestions useful! I’m finally getting a move on things and will be sure to look for more guidance as I take on my first quasi-renovation project.

    PS – love the designfloat.com site and have been a loyal subscriber for some time already. :)

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