If you’re one of the millions of people still WFH (that’s working from home, just in case you’re not a fan of acronyms!) – or even WFB (working from bed) you’re probably pretty expert by now, right? Can you believe that it’s heading towards a year now (well, 11 months really if we’re being pedantic – but still, a long old time!). And it looks like we’re in it for the long haul. So if you’re getting itchy feet and hankering after new ways to switch things up, we’ve got some handy hacks for you, courtesy of a Sunday Times home article by Jayne Dowle. Here we share a selection of our favourite snippets. She says…
In March 2020, evicted from the office, separated from daily interactions with colleagues, the bottomless coffee supply and the riches of the stationary cupboard, workers from home swiftly had to reskill as interiors consultants. Creating new patterns of use for our rooms, balancing the demands of the home worker with the needs of the rest of the family, is the sort of brief that might defeat many a professional…Here’s your chance to personalise your workspace like never before:
• Look beyond four walls: Draw a floor plan of your home; it helps you to think laterally about how you could divide off a room or use a corner. Keep your work activities foremost in your mind. Some can work from their sofa with a laptop, others might need specific requirements such as a large table
• Embrace hallway hustle and bustle: If your house is as busy as (pre Covid) Piccadilly Circus, working in the hallway might give you a permanent headache, but you’ll never feel isolated. You could use a traditional bureau with a fold out working area
• Or let in light on the landing: Find a little more privacy on the landing. Position your desk as close to a window as possible so you get the happiness benefit of lots of natural light
• Divide the room and conquer: Open-plan living may have lost its appeal since lockdown forced us all to hunker down together. Use furniture to create broken-plan zones to separate work, cooking, eating and dining. A large sofa or a tall, open bookcase can be used as a divider
• If you’re lucky enough to have an outdoor office, make it a sanctuary not a dumping ground: Try to ensure it does not end up overwhelmed by clutter including bikes, toys and garden implements. Perhaps sneak an armchair in there so it’s a place to go when you need a change of scene
• Be a role model of tidiness: It doesn’t take long for a home office space to turn into a magnet for clutter. Try to keep paperwork to a minimum – now is the time to begin using cloud-based storage and make your long held resolution to go paper-free a reality
