With so many of us working from home for the foreseeable future, we should make our experience the best possible. We need to make our home or apartment excellent for our health and psyche.

 

As architects and interior designers we specialise in a really great ambience. It definitely enriches lives. Which in turn makes us more creative and more productive.

 

Here are some tips from our team to improve your working from home experience.

 

A space which is your particular taste works best. Some people like light walls, ceilings and floor and find that the bounce around of light is so much better. Others prefer dark and sombre. A pin board, or pictures and paintings add visual excitement. Try to have an outlook that you find relaxing, or inspiring. Psychological tests have been carried out which show that daylight has a positive mental effect. We had an office once we changed our old fashioned fluorescent tubes for daylight corrected alternatives, and our well-being improved significantly.

 

Sound is an important factor for all of us. Some people like to work in silence and others with background music. Some people are affected by the tram or the train sound. It depends on how easily distracted we are and how we focus. It is an issue for us to consider and to realise that different finishes help create different ambience in relation to noise. Hard surfaces provide more echo, and soft surfaces absorb more soundwaves. You decide which is best to you!

 

Make sure you have a desk at the correct height. If it is too low or too high you will hate it after a while and it will wreck your back, neck and shoulders. The ideal height for a fixed desk, and this is hotly debated, is somewhere between 690-720 mm. Better still if you have a desk or adjustable stand which you can raise and lower so that you can sit and/or stand. This gives you variety physically and mentally.

 

Your chair should give you proper support and be properly designed as it ergonomic office chair. This will enable you to raise and lower to give you optimal height both off the ground and for elbow and forearm height.

 

Most people work with a desktop or a laptop and a screen which need cables! The more you can conceal them the better and tidier your work surface. The simple and uncomplicated method of concealing these is to use gaffer tape under your desk! Where will you recharge your various tools such as phone, laptop, headsets. Make that simple and easy and without clutter.

 

You can have very bright ceiling lights or alternatively task lighting. Sometimes natural light with some specific task lighting works well but task lighting takes up space unless you can bracket it off some overhead shelves or off your desk edge.

 

 

And from PlanPlus:

1. Get moving first thing in the morning—exercise and dive into your to-do list.
2. Dress for the job—shower, dress for the office.\
3. Define a workspace—make it a space that inspires you.
4. Create a schedule & stick to it—plan your day the night before.
5. Get yourself organized and tidy up each night.
6. Eat healthy—don’t let the Coronavirus become the new Freshman 15.
7. Work effectively & time block.
8. Take strategic breaks—don’t sit all day.
9. Stay focused—limit news, social media, and other distractions.
10. Permission to call it a day—shut down and enjoy life.