A home office should have function and form for working life
I DON’T TRUST a completely tidy desk. When someone is really working, the scene is generally stormy.
In truth they are navigating their way through those heaps of notes and paperwork like a silvery scimitar — but there’s sweat and elbow work pushing a project forward.
Male home offices and cubbies were traditionally a serious meeting of worn-in leather and manly, steely things — women being relegated to twee Bonheur du Jour dropdown desks if they were lucky.
His n’ Hers?
Don’t be talked into gender roles in the décor of this highly personal space — be yourself. Women, especially mid-century loving gals may favour sleek, no-frills industrial and many granite-jawed men long for a soft place to fall after hours in business. A rustic, upholstered woody den studded with family pictures, even.
Certainly, gentling-up harder materials with softer textures and themes can be pleasing — physically and visually. Go your own way.
Plonked in the centre of the family space, small office furnishings must accommodate their surroundings.
Make that working space yours — clean the area of domestic distractions, shield yourself for distinct periods of time from infant intrusion — in short, stamp it as your territory.
It’s hard to follow a list of clear objectives as a remote contract worker with the kids baying for use of the PC, and frankly I’ve found myself back in bed with the laptop at times. Two essential words — wireless hub.
Even if you work exclusively from a laptop, pointing into a physical space that says ‘I’m working’ is a psychological sweetener. A desk can swallow the storage solution in one gulp or support, shelter and centre other pieces.
A sliver of style with a kicked out leg might be fashionable but it’s a lightweight choice for real grafting. For set dressing with an occasional desk, M&S have taken minimalism Japanese, in the lovely Nayoko in oak and lacquer, €739.
Going into a corner, with the addition of good, non-glare lighting wrings the ultimate in ergonomics from a chair, desk and shelving.
Galant desks, a first choice for many starter-uppers in their home office has been replaced this season by the Bekant at IKEA.
The new desks come with a cable management net suspended under the top, and the company are sticking to their primary solution of frame supports with your choice of table top, screens and desk-top sections.
I really like the 65-125cm adjustment of the new sit/stand models, ideal for tweaking a truly comfortable position at home or at work, where you may be grabbing a quick bulletin from the office perched on a stool. Choices from €555.
Determined on serious office furnishings or sharing a dedicated office for two? Trawl the second hand office market online or open wide your wallet for something 150cm plus.
The elegant wonders of Arkitek, myPod and the period inspired Art & Moble are available at dedicated commercial suppliers including O’Brien Office Solutions, Cork — www.Obos.ie
You will get away with any sturdy, rangy table at the right height but if you’re going to throw the money at any single item, make it the chair.
The more time you spend in your chair, the closer it should be to a commercial grade, quality piece of furniture. I’m a chair nut, and ride on a 1970s Eames Aluminium group chair I drove half way across the country to secure.
The point is, it was built for a business executive stuck in it all day — it not only brings me joy every time I look at it, but is exquisitely geared and upholstered (alright — the whole sheepskin was added in a moment of weakness).
Chairs are rated by use, and for long hours, you get what you pay for.A cheap chair with simply pneumatic height adjustment will not include posture features.
A chair in use for seven to eight hours should support the lumbar curve and have arms that are fully adjustable to the height of the desk rather than being fixed.
My top choice and the main rival to the iconic Herman Miller Aeron, is the Humanscale Freedom, designed by Niels Diffrien and winner of 10 industry design awards.
Nothing short of sculpted to the body, it includes weight-sensitive recline, synchronously adjustable armrests, and a dynamically positioned headrest. Breathtaking to behold with a chrome spine and guaranteed for 15 years of use — pricescome in at about €900 for the leather finished model.
If you have the luxury of an assigned space you don’t have to share, the storage requirement will differ from that of a communal area.
Still, putting things in order and ultimately away, at end of a shift is a good tenet for keeping all work straight. Procrastination is enemy number one.
Crafting, writing, sewing, whatever — try to make your greatest exertion fetching things you use daily — stand and reach or rumble by chair to yank open a drawer. Shelving paperwork without separating files or boxes, demands discipline, so if you simply cannot — go behind drawers and doors.
The single piece of kit I can’t live without? My vintage filing cabinet, picked up for €35, its original 1940s finish is the sombre green of an old penny.
Commercial grade new or lightly used cabinets such as Bisley or Pierre Henry, are immensely strong and can take heaps of research materials, reams of paperwork and can even swallow the laptop.
Styles vary from loveless business styling to woodier types — the crucial thing is the cabinet’s tall profile which inhabits no more than 45X65cm of real estate.
Look for older examples with metal handles and brass card plates such as Vickers & Armstrong.
If you want a stripped and polished bare steel example from the 1930s forward, expect to pay around €500 for a four-drawer — otherwise consider a spray job in a rocking new colour.
Low filing cabinets with A4 suspension files can be slipped under your work surface or even serve at the supportive plinth for a DIY desk, but the height must agree with Dr Bates’ parameters for back survival. (See above right).
Bisley have introduced a range of retro colours (GLO Soho) for their much loved desk-top multi-drawers — rom €60 on sale at www.lowcostoffice.ie
Global studies have shown that sitting could be described as the new smoking, and likely to increase the risk of diseases such as colon, endometrial and lung cancer. With the demands of information technology, most of us are sitting far too much. Chiropractor Ed Bates puts us straight.
* Take frequent breaks. Stand up for one minute at least once every 30 minutes and walk around, stretch a little, do some lunges or squats — anything, just move.
* Sit upright, keeping your spine nice and tall and do not slouch. Try and keep a little tension on your stomach muscles throughout the day — simply imagine someone is going to punch you in the midriff. This is called bracing.
* Keep your elbows by your side bent to 90 degrees with your wrists and elbows in line and shoulders backwards. Your hips should be slightly higher than your knees, bent to 90° with your feet flat on the floor. Do not cross your legs or ankles.
* The computer screen should be tilted slightly away from you, set with your eyes level with the middle of the screen. If you are working off a laptop, use a separate key board and lift the laptop up by placing some books under it. Same for your PC is too low.
* Mix it up and move often. Vary how you are sitting, sometimes sit right back in to the chair with your back against the back rest, other times sit at the edge of the seat and occasionally kneel on the floor on one knee and then the other (like a lunge). If you have an exercise ball use it to sit on. Invest in a desk that you can vary the height on so that you canuse it to stand or sit.
* An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure so do yourself a favour and get your spine and nervous system checked by a qualified chiropractor (registered with the Chiropractic Association of Ireland). Kilworth Chiropractic Clinic 025-27436. www.kilworthchiropractic.com
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