In October, I announced I was going to be redesigning a new work area. A quick recap: I have office furniture in storage, but my current living situation doesn’t have the room to set it up. I had three requirements:
One of the best parts of freelancing is you can work anywhere. One of the worst parts of freelancing is you can work from anywhere. What do I mean? In theory, I only need my iPad or MacBook and my mobile hotspot and I’m in business. This is a good thing. In practice, however, a few other things get added to the list. Headphones. Chargers. A mouse. You get the idea. It is AWESOME to work anywhere, but it is definitely an adjustment of sorts to have dedicated space to work but to also be ready to take your work with you. Most days, I work from home. But I also work from a co-working space. And there are days I travel and bring work with me. So while this project started out as “new work area,” it evolved into “new work area and mobile office.” I needed functional, cheap, and nice to look at for both pieces. For my home area, I decided I wanted it to be a great place to work on days I need to do any bookkeeping or bigger projects that get done faster with two monitors. On days I’m not at home, I need to have a way to tune out distractions as well as the ability to keep working no matter where I am. And no matter what, I needed functional spaces. This hasn’t been as big of a project as I expected. This was made a lot easier, of course, by the fact that I already had most of the things I ended up using. Mobile Office Set-UpI was keeping a shoulder bag next to my desk, but it wasn’t working out. The bag was great as an overnight bag, but it turned into a black hole as a work bag. I also didn’t want to switch bags when I travel overnight, so I went with a backpack that had several pockets I can use for everything from co-working to catching a flight (its also a nice neutral color, so it goes with everything). There are a few things that always stay in the backpack:
A few other items can be easily tossed in (wallet, keys, etc). There’s a separate pocket for my MacBook and/or iPad. I end up with a functional bag that holds everything I need to stay charged, connected, and productive. Working From HomeI first needed a place to put things, and a chair to sit in. I have an older (but small) writing desk, which I removed from storage. It has a slide out tray and a small drawer. I already owned a wicker rocking chair that works well for the decor, so it stayed. An extra TV was added as a second monitor. I do have a few things I need to store in this area:
Cheap, yes. Functional, no. On days I worked somewhere else, I had to remove a lot from my shoulder bag, which was already not a great bag for working out of. My desk felt super cramped. I knew I needed a better way to store items to get them off my desktop and out of my bag but still allowed me to get my hands on it easily. I started my search looking for drawers or baskets, not totally sold on the idea. Eventually, I stumbled on to ottomans. A lightbulb went off. What if I could find a nice (but cheap!) ottoman with storage? I could recycle it when my situation changes and use it to store items without having to look at them? And even put my feet up from time to time? I found one for $10. And yes, I am bragging. Its small and has two exterior pockets, and supposedly it holds up to 300 lbs, although I won’t be attempting to test that anytime soon (its from a dorm room furniture collection, so I doubt it will last longer than four years, but…TEN DOLLARS). I know you may be thinking that an ottoman is a pain in the rear to use for desk storage, and I can’t completely disagree. However, the things I needed to store are items I don’t use very often, so sliding the top off and reaching in for what I need isn’t something I do all day every day. Still very functional for my needs. In short, I put things I need throughout the day or quickly in the drawer (notepad, pens, pencils, stylus, and scissors). Everything else went into the ottoman. I need my portfolio or planner more, so they go on top: After I got everything off the desk, I could already feel a difference. To make it look nicer though, I had to deal with the cords. Velcro is my friend. I gathered up the cords for the TV, keypad, and HDMI cable, and fastened them all together with velcro. I then velcroed this bunch to the desk along with my MacBook charger. Now, the cords stay neat and the MacBook charger is easily removed, and best of all, they’re all invisible. I added a picture I have from my happy place, and a blanket (I’m always cold, and it makes the chair comfy). Because my space is next to a window, I found there’s plenty of natural light to keep me focused. Here’s a final photo: In a dream world, I’d have an office that was a cross between the Oval Office and the library from Beauty and the Beast (actually, in a dream world, I’d be traveling the world with nothing but my work bag). For the time being and my current situation, this space works. I’m pleased that its functional and flows with the decor already in place, and even happier it cost a total of $30 ($10 for the ottoman, $20 for the bag). Done deal. You can subscribe to my mailing list here. You can also follow me on Twitter or Pinterest. If you’re in need of a virtual operations manager, check out my FAQs or available services, then head over to my consultation page so we can connect.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |