Food, Home and Style
Making Your Home into Your Office
Too many of us never expected our spare rooms or entire apartments would become our cubicles, too. With that in mind, the New York Times signed up five interior designers and five new homeworkers and paired them up to find new solutions for their space.
I was fortunate enough to be one of them.
When the process began, I had visions of four-digit expenditures (to be paid by the newspaper or the designers) on major renovations to turn this crowded and sometimes gloomy 12×17 space into a livable and workable environment.
It turns out, it only took $326 and a designer with some good ideas.
Here are a few small things you can do to turn any home area into a workspace that is comfortable and inspiring—and where you can pull off professional meetings. Tips come from Hilary Unger, who applied them to my Manhattan apartment:
Organize!
“Make it feel not too cluttered: Pair like with like — pencils in pencil holders, baskets for paper, message pad next to phone,” she says. Order and neatness go a long way toward creating a work environment that is pleasing to the eye.
Separate
“If you’re working at your dining room table and you have to fold it up every night to use it for eating, you lose productivity,” says Unger. “Think about getting a separate desk, or at least a separate area.”
Like It
“Look at your priorities: What items do you want to keep? What items do you need to keep? What are your goals and what is bothering you about the space?” Unger suggests an evaluation of your work area to find what you like and don’t like will help you focus on what you need to rework.
(Hilary Unger is owner of Perianth Design and Buy My Eye. Buy My Eye is a slimmed-down service that involves a consultation followed by a detailed analysis and shopping list with options.)
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8 comments for “Making Your Home into Your Office”
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Nice Site layout for your blog. I am looking forward to reading more from you.
Tom Humes
How can someone out of work afford to live in the West Village is what I want to know. A studio like that has to be at least a couple of hundred grand. I smell a trust fund baby somewhere. Here’s a tip: sell the studio and move to flyover country before you start bellyaching about being unemployed.
Ha! Trust fund – I wish! Starting a business and working two jobs on top of it, so no, no trust fund unless someone hasn’t told me about it! And I’m a renter, not an owner (and if I did own, I think it would be more like *several* grand for a studio in the West Village). And besides, I don’t mind so much flyover country – I’m originally from Cleveland! Any other questions?
I love the changes! Congrautulations on being picked for a makeover
I found your site after reading about your apt make-over in the Times. Very nice(and a cute dog). I’m curious – what is the depiction in the painting/pic you have? Looks like an illustration of an old bath house? Also, with the new layout, how do you watch TV? Well, best of luck to you!
Hey! Interesting how new placement of objects and fresh paint can really pep up a room! What’s really nice about the space is that you can have some people over for brainstorming.
Hi
this is a really lovely job. One tiny thing though-how do you watch the TV now? Did they make the space attractive to photograph but less functional or does it actually work better as a space after the transformation? Looks very cute though
Hi! This is Hilary, the designer for Laura’s apartment. Thank you for all the compliments. The TV seems to be the biggest item that people are curious about. Actually, it works perfectly. Laura can watch it from her murphy bed right across from the dresser and she can also turn it towards the Living Area and watch it from the sofa. If she has friends over who want to watch TV, the chairs can be turned around (the chair closest to the TV might have to be moved against the left wall). Since Laura did not want the TV to be the focal point of the Living Room, the concept worked great for her. Also, Laura does plan on having more ‘brainstorming’ sessions with the new layout and meetings will be more comfortable.
About the picture, it is of an old bath house and is one of Laura’s favorite. We painted a “frame” behind the painting with the same silver paint as the lower walls so as to make the painting feel larger and have more importance.