Home Office Crick Preventer

According to an article in iVillage (Home Office Must-Have Supplies), one of the must have items for a home office is a cordless headset phone.
"'The two things I did splurge on were an executive chair and a cordless headset phone. I've only had the phone for a few months, but I can't believe I didn't buy it sooner. I do spend a lot of time on the phone, and not having that awful crick in my neck has definitely been worth the investment -- about $89 at Staples. I recommended it to everyone, whether for business or home. "
Now I agree with them that a cordless headset would be fabulous. But I have a small PBX telephone system that has multiple lines. These $89 headsets phones are all designed for single lines, two lines at best. To get something even remotely similar for these low end commercial phone systems seems to be either impossible or very pricey. But meanwhile, I have my array of telephone, cell phone charger, PDA charger and docking station, clock, camera docking station and cell phone blue tooth charger all lined up around the perimeter of my desk pad while I keep looking and hoping I can add another device and eliminate that crick.

Setting Up A Workable Home Office

In an article How to Set Up a Workable Home Office, Coral Nafie discusses the top needs and solutions for a great home office. Of these, I found two to be most interesting:

"Plan Your Work Area.
Think of all the things that you'll need to work comfortably and efficiently in your home office. Start with proper temperature control and lighting. Have a telephone installed in the space or be sure to have a portable phone available. Your desk chair will be moving around in the space, so flooring should be a hard surface, at least near the desk. Select window coverings (if you're fortunate to have a window nearby) that will allow you to control the light in your area."

Both temperature and lighting are often overlooked, but fortunately are simply fixed with use of task lighting and either ceiling fans or portable ceramic heaters that are available (depending of course on the lack or excess of heat!). Floor surfaces can be adapted to rolling chair use thorugh the use of a good quality chair mat.

She then goes on with another good point:
"A Place to Write.
Probably the most important piece of furniture you'll have will be your desk or work surface. Whether you select custom-designed cabinets and writing surface or use two file cabinets with a door stretched across them, this is where you'll spend the most time, and it should be large enough and the right height to most comfortably do your work. If your space is limited, draw out a floor plan on graph paper and move the shapes around until you find a workable space."

This is a key point in that the surface you utilize will have to allow multi-duties including writing, "mousing", cutting, keyboarding and many other activities related to your activities. Just as the use of a mouse can be improved with a mouse pad, writing and a number of other activities can be improved with a desk pad. In fact, a good desk pad can even do excellent duty as a mouse pad as well!

Home Office Revolution?

According to research analysis firm IDC, "Almost one in three households in America have some kind of home office." These home offices, according to senior research analyst Merle Sandler, cover everything from full-time telecommuters to part-time self-employed people and range in form from professionally decorated separate rooms to a corner of a kitchen table.

A reported 33.1 million 'home office households' in the U.S. certainly proves this is more than just a trend. And while this number does not appear to be rapidly growing, the functions performed in them is apparently growing quickly as owners are doing more with them.

Designer Mark McCauley notes that "home offices are a haven for both husband and wife, with many families creating home offices for each adult in the household." This allows each to adorn their spaces with personal items and decor that reflect their personal style and allow a feeling of comfort that makes work a pleasure.

The Natural Look in Office Decor

Another element to creating an office environment that is friendly, professional and even pleasurable is natural foliage. This can take the form of smaller flowering plants, larger plants and even full fledged trees.
Although some of us are blessed with "green thumbs" and have no problems keeping live plants healthy and thriving, the rest of us can achieve similar results by "cheating" with artifical plants and trees. These are available in a wide variety of materials including silk, plastic and other natural materials.
The advantages of plants and trees, whether real or otherwise, are many. But the most beneficial advantage is helping to disolve the stresses and pressures of everyday life at the office. And the inclusion of natures colors into the office space gives a welcome contrast to most office interiors.
For larger plants and trees, the container used to house the root system of the plant can also contribute to the welcoming nature of an office interior. Rather than a typical plastic "pot" container, consider placing the plant, into a dressier container that matches your office decor. The waste baskets trimmed with hardwood from successimage.com are ideal for this function due to the interior steel or plastic liners. There are a number of sizes to choose from and the solid nature of the waste baskets help in stabilizing the plant, protecting it from traffic and everyday busy office routines.

Add Class to Your Office Decor with an Art Reproduction

Often we consider our office decor to be dictated by the furniture and the colors of the paint work. But there is another way to boost the "class" of your office space without full blown redecorating. In the article "Add Class to Your Office Decor with an Art Reproduction" David DeGroot shows us how to do this inexpensively.
"Office decor doesn't have to be boring, or even all businesslike. You can spruce up your office walls with elegant oil paintings even if you're on a tight budget. Art reproductions are beautiful works of art that are hand-painted by talented artists to capture the true colors and meanings of famous paintings from the past. With the low cost of art reproductions, anyone can decorate their office using famous paintings."
He then goes on to say:
"Decorating your office with art reproductions will give it the look and feel of a high-class work environment. Your clients and business associates will assume you spent a fortune decorating your office when you really didn't. Art reproductions make this possible because they usually cost so little while their original counterparts might cost thousands of dollars. This enables you to have a professional office decor while also saving money."
It goes without saying of course that utilizing his suggestions along with desk accessories from successimage.com can boost the look and feel with very little work!

What your office says cont'd...

In the previous post, a psycology professor gave us a hint of what your office says about you. We continue his analysis in this post and conclude that the overall theme of the space is what is most important.
In "What your office says about you" the article continues:
"Whether you work at a mom-and-pop operation or at a major firm like JPMorgan Chase (nyse: JPM - news - people ), Advanced Micro Devices (nyse: AMD - news - people ) or Cisco (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ), you don't have to be named Sigmund to figure out what you're supposed to make of a degree from a big name university hung at eye level for all to see when walking into an office: I'm smart! Never mind that the truly brainy don't feel compelled to advertise the name of their old school. This malady afflicts many run-of-the-mill politicians who always let you know they went to a fancy school and often seem to be saying that the rest of us should shut up and listen to our betters.

'A lawyer with cases and cases of law books, scientists with rows of journals or English professors with all the classics are making implicit associations with various sources of authority,' Gosling says. 'The bound volumes persist even though they may rarely be used. If I'm looking up a psychology article, it's more efficient to get it online, even if it's in one of the journals on my shelf.'

Pictures of the cubicle dweller with famous people may be intended to convey a similar message: I'm important. But not all pictures are created equal. There's probably a difference in status and accomplishment between someone pictured with presidents, popes and Nobel Prize-winning physicists and someone shown with movie stars, rock bands or sports heroes. There also may be a difference in intent: The person displaying pictures of matinée idols could be star struck or just having goofball fun.

Warning: There is no cookbook that tells you this or that gizmo or knick-knack means X, Y or Z. It's therefore very easy to become an armchair shrink and over-reach for meani"
Warning: There is no cookbook that tells you this or that gizmo or knick-knack means X, Y or Z. It's therefore very easy to become an armchair shrink and over-reach for meaning. Ask several people what the junk in Joe's office says about good old Joe and you're likely to get several different answers. So, think of office decor as the first take on a person whose personality will unfold over time as the working relationship develops.

"Look for an overall theme," Gosling says. "Individual items may be ambiguous. A single object or picture is just one piece of the puzzle."

What your office says about you.

It's interesting the variety of office spaces and arrangements that are out there today. Two identically furnished offices can take on completely different personalities. In the article "What your office says about you", a psychology professor unravels some of the answer for us.

It's clear that the pictures, mementos and even the rubble piled in a corner of the office say a lot about the mug behind the desk.

But what? Arrangement of the junk is a good place to start when sizing things up.
'Take a look at the placement of the object,' says Dr. Samuel D. Gosling, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas, Austin, and author of The Secret Language of Stuff, to be published early next year by Basic Books. 'There are two audiences: others and ourselves. Some items are intended to show or build status. Others are simply expressions of values or personality traits, with no effort to establish status.'

This insight helps you get a first read on a person when you walk into an office or past a cubicle. A person unsure of himself may try on various 'looks' and work hard to be outrageous. A person trying to build status, and perhaps a little unsure of his standing, could place a pricey antique barber chair in the center of the office and perch on it during staff meetings.

“People sometimes make these status statements in a desperate way,” Gosling says. “But that doesn’t mean they’re being disingenuous. We want others to know who we are and just because someone is deliberately trying to tell us doesn’t mean they’re trying to pull the wool over our eyes.”

What Makes an Office Tick?

There seems to be a lot of confusion surorunding office space and decor. Often an office is a very emotional issue, though many would not admit that. But having an office space of your own, be it a windowed office with a view, or a numbered cubicle never-the-less creates pride of ownership.
How a person works, their preferred method of keeping "stuff", and their personal interests all contribute to their default office "look and feel". This blog exists to help unravel the mysteries of what is great and what is not so great, how it contributes to the owners pride and peace of mind, and how it affects co-workers and customers alike.