Steve Richards of the great blog, Adventures in Home Working provided me with a link to his own home office today. Picture is below. Steve has a setup that I really like. Even though it appears to be windoze based, it is way cool.
Steve is also brain storming on a Home Office Update. And some of the ideas he is working on are some of the same ones I am looking at.
December 27, 2007
3 Comments
Home offices are home offices. I believe what these posts do is demonstrate for others what can be accomplished in very limited space. What I best like about this set up, as well as your setup and others is the use of multiple screens. In this day and age you have to be close to paperless if you want to practice effectively from home. This does not have to be expensive. However, it helps to have multiple screens or monitors on which to work. I use two. I wish I had three. And, in the over all scope of things, these monitors are not expensive add-ons.
I agree on the multiple screens. I just would not go back to only one while in the office. In fact, I have my eye on a piece of hardware that will allow me to run two externals on my MacBook. That way, I will have three displays to spread out on.
Hey Grant, I love the site! These snapshots of home offices are great, and I hope you keep them coming.
I’m building my own home office in Lakewood, Colorado (just outside Denver). My wife and I just bought a house here, and I finally have a spacious basement I can spread out in. In brainstorming some layout ideas for the office (my wife refers to it as “the bunker”), I browsed through the pictures you’ve posted on your site. And in so doing, I’ve noticed a few things in common about all the photos that have been posted so far:
First, it seems that most of the home offices pictured thus far are… well, cluttered. I don’t want to be rude, but it seems to me that in laying out their home offices, people feel the need to cram as much stuff (computers, books, etc.) into as small a space as possible. In some situations (e.g., small house) I can understand why this would be necessary. But generally, if you’re going to be spending 8-10 hours a day in your home office, why make it so tiny? Spread out, people.
Second, what’s with the total lack of usable desk space? People seem to want to cram a bunch of computer screens onto their desk, but this soaks up all the usable space! I know that this problem is mitigated by those of you who are “paperless”, but a few square feet of usable desk space can only be helpful!
Third, why do people stack their computers up against the wall, or worse, in a corner? Do you really want to be sitting all day staring at a wall? Why not put that computer monitor next to a window, or at least turn it around so you’re facing out instead of in. This is bad feng shui, to be facing a wall all day with your back turned literally to the world.
Again, I don’t mean to be critical, and I think those people who have shared their photos obviously have setups that work for them (and some wonderful toys as well)! It just seems to me that a home office should be an inviting, open, spacious environment, and the photos posted so far are not.
Great work on the site, and I hope to see more pictures posted soon!