Like many, my commute has changed from a thirty-minute drive through rush hour traffic to a stroll from my kitchen to my home office. The majority of us, who can, continue to work from home, and it looks like we’re going to be in for a long wait to return to our offices.
With this in mind, we must turn our attention to redesigning our living spaces to accommodate our work lives. As we invite the transformation of our homes, the challenge lies in creating a space that allows for our work-life while maintaining the ease and relaxation we need in our home.
The most significant challenge to working from home is now working in the same space where you are living can allow the two to run together. This blending can be detrimental to your mental and physical health as it invites a feeling of being “always at work.” Not taking a break from working can send your stress levels through the roof. Excessive amounts of stress can weaken your immune system, which needs to remain robust – especially during this time.
Make Space and Find Success
Make space and reduce stress by setting up your home and work life to find success. Here are three ways to do that:
- Select an area to be your workspace.
Pick a specific place to be your workspace, and mainly work in that space. If you can’t set up a permanent (or semi-permanent) spot, you can set up your equipment each morning when you “go to work” and then break it down each evening as you “leave work.”
One way we support the work/home boundary is by creating BETO (Boggs End Table Office), a simple piece of furniture that fits into your home like a side table while you aren’t working. When you are working, you can pull out the handy “C” table to hold your computer. With a shelf for your printer and a convenient drawer to stow other necessities, BETO holds everything you need for a day of work in one compact location. At the end of your workday, stow everything away and your office disappears, transforming into a side table.
- Create a work schedule.
When you create a schedule for working, you decrease your stress and increase your productivity. By defining your work time, you concentrate on your work during those hours and let yourself have office-free time off. Another easy way to create a boundary around your working time is to dress for work. You don’t necessarily have to get as formal as you would to go into the office, but a little upgrade from relaxing at home can put you into the right frame of mind. And changing back to less formal wear at the end of the day can release your brain from your workday cares.
- Take advantage of the flexibility
Increased flexibility is the best part of working from home! You can decide to set up on the porch one day and hide in a back room on another. Our new BETO supports this by promoting flexibility in your working space. With the lightweight “C” table, you can move your work surface to another area of the house or even onto the deck with relative ease.
But perhaps you have an actual desk for your home office. Most likely, you need to make some tweaks to that space. Enter our new office accessories.
The computer riser elevates your monitor, making your tasks at the screen more ergonomic. We also have tissue box covers and file organizers built from our high-quality hardwood to match your riser and bring together a beautiful office. These accessories are beautiful on their own and complete your more flexible office setup with BETO.
Whether you actually have an office in your home where you can shut the door or you need a setup that allows you to store everything away in the evening, our office furniture and accessories can make working from home feel official.
And relaxing at home that much more leisurely.
