Habitude

By Marie

August 5, 2008 8:39 AM | Link to this

My home office is 300 square feet with a huge oriental rug chairs, shelves with books and art supplies I tuck into boxes to keep them organized and hidden so the room won’t look junkie. I have a printer, fax, scanner and every thing I need and it is always nice and cool. The lighting is nice and not harsh like the office. I can get more done in here in 4 hours than I can in 8 hours at the office. I am the boss and just like my folks, I have a to-do list. But members of my staff interrupt me a lot more than each realizes. Folks are not always aware that just barging in your office to get you to handle their issue when it pops up on their to-do list is very distracting and impedes production. I set the staff off on their to-do list and make a point to give them the time to do what I have assigned without interrupting them for this reason. So, working from home is the alternative to appearing to be a haughty and self-important leader and makes the staff think for themselves a little bit.

By Hillary Coy

August 5, 2008 9:19 AM | Link to this

Just this year I turned a downstairs guest room into our family office. We did major renovations (had hardwood floors put in the entire downstairs, replaced 31 windows, added a front porch and had structural work performed on entrance to the house and replaced a major beam in the back family room that had been eaten by termites). Our downstairs guest room was hardly ever used. Our children are almost out of the house (23 and 25). So we thought it would be nice to have a real place to put our computer (rather than the living room). I just in the last two weeks painted the room a neutral color and purchased curtains for the two front windows. Since I am a banker, I found a picture of old money framed and put it on the wall. We even purchased a chaise lounge. The room is used all the time now. Our dog’s like to follow us and lounge in the room with us (pack animals they are). I have to constantly ask my grown children to let me use my computer, as they think the room was redone for them. I also know where to find my husband when he is not in front of the TV. We love our new study, library, computer room, etc….

Hillary

By Katie Leslie

August 5, 2008 9:30 AM | Link to this

Marie I completely agree with getting more done at home; I’m wondering why I didn’t stay there today, in fact.

Hillary Thirty-one windows? Let there be light!

I’d love to see images of these home offices; maybe our readers can learn some things from the two of you. If you like, pop some low-res pics to kleslie@ajc.com. Thanks!

By verlin campbell

August 5, 2008 10:30 AM | Link to this

My home office is my second bedroom. I have a townhouse so its the only room downstairs. I’ve taken the carpet out to expose the brick flooring to add to the loft effect. It has a large screen door so there is plenty of light and the room is always cool. I have several clocks displaying times around the world (I’m a consultant) and have all the usual office trappings (computer, executive chair, polycom phone, file cabinet) but what I use the most is the wall I’ve turned into a white board along with the art work comprised of old blues/jazz concert posters, for some reason it makes the room feel like its not even in my house.

By Shannon, M.Div.

August 5, 2008 12:37 PM | Link to this

Heh. My husband and I joke that we have decorated our living room in early modern cubicle. He’s a programmer and I’m a graduate student, and in our spare time, we prefer video games to TV. We have island-style desks that face each other in the middle of the room and rows of tables and hutches along the back wall next to the desks for storage and workspace. We love it. We have a couch, but the poor thing is marginalized and off to the side. The TV is arranged so that we can both see it from our desks. People think our living room is very weird, and I suppose it is… but it’s tres livable for us.

By Lisey P.

August 5, 2008 1:53 PM | Link to this

Our home office is one of our 4 upstairs bedrooms. Nothing fancy — it has a daybed for overnight visitors, a computer desk and, of course, our computer.

The kids (14 and 17) use it for schoolwork and Internet surfing and husband I use it for work and home business. The dog just likes to be in there, for reasons I’m not sure of.

By Cammi317

August 5, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this

Our home office is downstairs in one of the rooms in our “rennovated” garage. It has hardwood floors (in need of treatment), boxes that were never unpacked when we moved in last year, a futon, sewing machine, a stereo and the computer which is set up on a makeshift desk. We did not feel like hauling our old computer desk and never got around to buying a new one.

By mechi

August 5, 2008 3:28 PM | Link to this

My home office/guest room is on the main floor. I have a teak-wood futon (which I debated about, but ended up finding a really nice cover for it), trunk (used as a coffee-like table) computer, desk, and because the room isn’t that large, I converted my closet into a bookcase (took off the door and added a shelf), I have a nice size window which lets in a lot of light and one wall painted a spicy orange color (I’ll soon be putting hardwood floors on the entire main floor). Even though I’ve created this space, I work a lot on my laptop, on the kitchen breakfast bar anyway..:).

By GirlAfraid

August 5, 2008 4:20 PM | Link to this

Our home office sounds the same as Cammi317’s home office. Ours is a second floor bonus room that is our: home office, home gym, craft room, catchall room to shove stuff when guests are coming. In fact, when I do WFH I go downstairs to our formal dining room and turn it into a temp office.

By TrailerTrash

August 5, 2008 4:23 PM | Link to this

My home office is in the laundry room in my double-wide trailer. It’s very cramped as my three pit bulls stay in here as well. I hate it when the washer is running and I get a phone call - not good. It sure beats paying these high gas prices!!