“When you need to innovate, you need collaboration”
~Marissa Mayer
When I recently read these words from Marissa, the former CEO of Yahoo, I felt like she had personally delivered a package of wisdom, tied it off with a pretty bow, and dropped it on my desk. This package, as I examined it more closely, was exactly the insight I needed to execute this latest series on working from home spaces.
These pearls of wisdom encouraged me to tap resources across our great nation and collaborate with professionals from Indiana, Texas, Oregon, Florida and Connecticut. This inquiring mind wanted to know how the new normal of working from home, or otherwise known as… WFH, was going. I presented each with five questions for their feedback. The answers were quite insightful and full of challenges!
Welcome to my miniseries on WFH designed especially for you! I will address each question with answers and great design solutions. Some you can easily execute yourselves, others, well, you’ll need the assistance of a stellar design team!
My opening questions was simply, “What kind of privacy do you require (i.e. for meeting, concentration etc.)?”
With the exception of one participant, privacy was a huge issue. Holly actually requested sound proofing and to be as far away from the kitchen as possible! WFH with a young family can be a challenge. Steven carved away a space in his basement for his office and uses an online gamer headset with a microphone (which I found to be pretty genius)! “(The headphones) Boosts the quality and makes it easier to block out the noise from the kids banging at my door”! I can just see his beautiful little ‘gingers’ with big, blue, sparkling eyes, squealing and giggling begging for his attention. I certainly couldn’t turn them down. The headphones are brilliant!
Recently Kathleen and I tag-teamed a living room update for a client. This client, similar to those we interviewed, needed a space to escape from the happenings around her home. The biggest challenge was we needed to incorporate this new office into an already furnished and beautifully designed front living room. Challenge accepted!
The finished results are spectacular. Our client’s new space does showcase a desk. It is custom built with the ability to hide the computer monitor, essentially making it disappear! For the wall behind the desk we designed a panel detail which is repeated below the desk and hides the mechanism that accepts the monitor, neatly tucked away.
A pair of glass doors for privacy were added. These glass doors have a unique installation: they are hung on barn door hardware on the interior of the room. This application keeps the floor space in both the foyer and living room free and clear of door swings! Mission accomplished, minimal changes to the furnishings and décor of the original space, the space doesn’t read as an office and she has her privacy!
Just because this desk design has so many delicious details … I must share …
The accent on the legs...
The drawer hardware…
Ingenious, isn’t it? Our client still has a beautiful living room, and when she greets guest at her front door, she never feels like her office is front and center.
Now we all may not be building custom desks that hide away our computer like this. Although, let’s take a bit of inspiration here. A living room is a great space to tuck away a workstation and is often a quiet space; a ‘no go zone’ for little ones and, as Holly requested, it is away from the kitchen!
Stay tuned next week when I will address storage! And for all that are working from home, remember this: leave your ‘office’! Go for a walk, stretch your legs … it’s important to separate your home from your work!
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