What Would Be Your Ideal Home Office?
17 July, 2008 - Motivation - 18 Comments
Photo by Dziner
As bloggers, employers, employees, entrepreneurs, writers and researchers, our office is a key component of our home. It’s where we think. Motivate. Inspire. Create. Contemplate. Brainstorm.
Practically. Spiritually. Form. Function. Taking all those in to account, what would be your ideal home office? Take away all limits of money, space and trying to please others.
In an ideal world, what would your ideal home office contain and how would it be laid out?
Before I paint, in words, what my ideal office would be, I want to share my current office and discuss some of the points I like and dislike.
Jamie’s Current Desk - Click to Enlarge
I Like…
The flat LCD monitor.
The desk. Hand made specific for this room.
Accessories. Lamp. Phone. Fax. Printer. Copier. Scanner. Shredder. Storage.
I Don’t Like…
Too many wires.
Close proximity of all accessories. Lamp once burnt the top corner of my monitor because it was so close!
Poor access to printer
It’s in the corner of my dining room, facing nothing but a dark corner.
My Ideal Office
My ideal office must first have an immediate focus on calm and positive energy.
It would be very minimalist, and would have nothing but Mac hardware (both for their quality and their design).
Everything that could be wireless, would be. All wires would be packed away out of sight.
Subtle, mood lighting would be used to calm the environment.
This is almost my ideal office
I would have a 30″ LCD Apple monitor, wall mounted at eye level. This would avoid the desk being cluttered with a large monitor. Can you imagine a desk with nothing but a wireless keyboard and mouse?
I would have a surround sound speaker system to take full advantage of the 30″ monitor for watching movies.
A large window in front or to the side would be very important for me. A window behind, like I have currently, is hardly worth anything.
All walls would be a plain colour. One wall would contain too framed images. One image containing my favourite motivational poster, and the other containing choice quotes from my blog posts or testimonials from my blog readers.
Another wall would have several clocks set at different world time zones.
And that, right there, would be my ideal home office. Simple. Calm. Inspiring.
What would be your ideal home office? Write a blog post or let us know in the comments.
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Posted on 17 July, 2008 by Jamie Harrop
Filed Under Motivation |
18 Comments»
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I’ve seen lots of desk spaces that I envy, people putting their own stamp on their office. This would be really great to have if it weren’t the cost involved that puts me off.
One of the nicest office photos I’ve ever seen is this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marvelgulp/489871408/ and this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marvelgulp/489836145/
Just so simple! The cables go INTO the desk.
I’d love something like that, but with long green grass type carpet so I can have my shoes off, and lava lamp and maybe a white desk with more comfortable chairs than that. Then I’d have some sort of climbing plant (not sure if fake or real would be best?).
The front of the desk would open up too, to store things in like paperwork and stuff.
Oh, and there would be a bar too.
Wow. That’s a lovely desk and office space. Not sure about the chipboard though.
Green grass carpet? This sounds like a Google office to me.
Yep, I forgot to mention a lava lamp when I described my office. That would certainly be on my list.
lol, always wanted grass carpet!
The chipboard thing is certainly unusual, but I like the way that it is still wood, but quite industrial and obviously so.
Oh what a great question and dream! I would love a nice L-shaped desk with a cushy office chair, a couple (2-3) large 24″+ LCD monitors with surround sound audio. I also hate all the wires and would like everything hidden. I’d also like nice lighting and an additional plasma TV on a separate wall so that I could take breaks.
Erik Kareys last blog post..Overcome Project Fear, Start Your Project Today!
Sounds lovely, Erik. Can I visit once you have it finished?
Yeah, a big office chair is a must. Sitting in the office for eight or more hours a day, you have to keep the ol’ back comfortable.
Hey, I like your idea of focusing on calm and positive energy. That’s what I want to!! Hopefully, the window overlooks peaceful surroundings. A lake will be nice!
A beach would be even better, Evelyn.
It would have to be a view of the sea for me! My current view is of the village church rising above the trees, but it is tarnished by the plethora of telephone and power lines! So an uninterrupted seaview would be top of my list.
A larger room, with a sofa and/or recliner and lots of natural materials like wood and stone.
Equipment? I am pretty happy with my current setup, but maybe a larger monitor and a wireless keyboard and mouse.
Currently? A mess! I hate it! I have been so busy lately that I have pretty much left everything I have been using/working on laying around, so along with the usual clutter of wallet, MP3 player, BlackBerry, loose change and two phones, there are several folders, a couple of programming books, spindles of CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, a glass, a mug, envelopes, chewing gum and just under 5m of nylon strimmer wire (don’t ask!) and that is just on my desk! On the floor is a printer, an old portable TV (on a chair), a second computer (that I must get round to doing something with), more programming books, a few copies of Linux Format and my travel bag (though I have just noticed that my passport that should be in it is actually on my desk!)
Oh well! I can but dream eh?!?
That certainly sounds like a mess, Andy.
A sea view would be lovely. I envy those people who can spend their lunch breaks on the beach.
I’d want my home office outside the home but within walking distance! I prefer the retro look. I would want visitors to feel as though they’ve just stepped back in time to what we typically imagine to be a simpler time. Well, there would be computers of course, but they would be modified to look like they belong in that era.
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Hey DCR,
That sounds like one very exciting office.
Thanks for the comment!
I would love one of those huge monitors too Jamie and also a window with a really great view of mountains and waterfalls or the sea.
Sounds good, Cath. I remember the waterfalls in Switzerland. That would have been a lovely view from an office.
I have my ideal home office. I have a nice big desk inside with a desktop computer system and a hardwired VOIP phone then I have notebook computer and a wireless Grandstream VOIP phone that I can (and often do) take with me out into the backyard where I have a slab of wood acting as a makeshift desk.
My yard is right on the edge of densely wooded area (for around here) and I can watch animals running around all day if I wanted too. The only limitation is making sure I keep my wireless connection going.
As far as I’m concerned you can’t beat my “office” with a stick! If I need to get out of the weather I can and literally not miss a beat (aside from the 20 seconds it takes to get in the door).
B. Durants last blog post..Wanted, my money back!
Awesome! That sounds perfect, Brook.
I tend to sit in the garden while working a lot too. I was sat down near my pond writing blog posts a couple evenings ago. Very nice.
Hi Jamie,
I, too, hate all of the cords. A totally wireless office would be awesome.
I have a window to my right, but I hate all of the paperwork that piles up on my desk. I am continually trying to find ways to get more organized, but my desk remains at the bottom of the list.
Ideally, I would love to have someone come by and take care of all of the paperwork for me, so I could concentrate on blogging or my other computer activities.
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Hey Barbara,
Yeah, I’m lucky that I tend to be very good at filing away paperwork. I couldn’t imagine working on a desk that is covered with paper and sticky notes. I’m a neat freak at heart.
Your ideal office sound pretty good to
me Jamie. The only limitation is that I don’t have $500 US to blow on an Apple monitor. Getting rid of all those cables wouldn’t really nice. Hopefully wireless USB or some similar technology will become standard in the next couple years so that desks and their undersides don’t has to be such tangles any more.
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