Working from Home

With increasing numbers of us being able to work from home, the Home Office is now becoming an important feature in our homes. It must be one of the few upsides to the Covid-19 pandemic that this new flexibility on the part of employers has freed thousands from the daily commute to and from an urban office environment. It is quite refreshing to be able to just walk to another room, or perhaps the end of the garden, and settle down to a day’s work. The suddenness of this may have caught some people out, however. Are you one of the many who, in a bid to keep going, just plonked themselves down at the kitchen table and beavered away hunched over a small laptop? I must admit to being guilty of this! It is amazing that even though I am surrounded by some fabulous furniture at work, I have yet to get around to ordering some comfortable dining chairs. Well, after several hours sitting on my current chairs I soon realized something needed to be done, and soon!

There is a fair amount to consider if you are going to be seriously working from home long term, and getting the correct location for your office space is probably a top priority. Having a separate, designated work space will encourage creativity and also enable a proper separation between work life and home life; if you are spending your working day lolling on the sofa with your laptop, it wont feel much like work and your sofa wont feel much like a relaxing place to be when you aren’t working.

Once you have identified a good place to set up your home office make sure it is clutter free. If it is a small spare bedroom perhaps normally used to dry laundry, do you really want to be working surrounded by wet underpants? Sort this out, and organize good storage for files and papers.
There are a number of ranges we stock that can help with this, and they come in all sorts of styles, from our traditional Harbour Office range through to the extremely hardworking Optimum Office Furniture ranges – these may lack some of the more ‘fluffy’ design elements, but boy, do they do the job well. I have been using one of their desk for years and it is pretty indestructible, and I have to say looks much the same now as it did when new.

We keep a good selection of Optimum Office Furniture in stock, and if you want a good, solid practical solution to your home office needs they are definitely worth a look. They are basically a modular system so you can buy filing cabinets, shelving, desks and more and build up an arrangement that works for you. You can always add more if you need to expand your office. I hope I haven’t sounded dismissive of their looks, as the units are actually quite smart, and come in several different finishes, with a couple of stylish darker shades recently added. As well as various desks and units in stock, we have brochures available for you take away. Oh, and they are all made here in the UK. Click here to read more about Optimum Office Furniture.

Not everyone has the space to allocate a whole room as their office, so something a little more in keeping with the rest of the interior decor might be the answer. A smart way to add a discreet desk has to be the British made Dali Glass desk – this is literally just a sheet of toughened glass bent into a desk shape. There aren’t any drawers or places to hide wires, so this is not for everyone, but it certainly makes a stylish design statement.
Ercol are another British company to add office furniture to their ranges. They recently added the beautiful Ballata collection to their ranges. This is a small range with just a desk, storage cabinet and shelving unit, and with its pale oak finish it just exudes style (there is an amazing Ballata drinks cabinet too, but perhaps that shouldn’t be in your home office!)

Something else to consider is a small office cabinet that you can close up and leave all your work things hidden. The Bergen range includes a Home Office Unit, which is really a modern take on old style bureau. The fold-down front creates a desk space with shelving and storage behind and beneath. There is even an internal light.

As I have found to my cost, seating must not be neglected! A chair which is comfortable and adjustable is essential. There is a huge range now available, from fancy Bond villain-type director’s chairs to simple ‘operator’ chairs. Most come on castors and are height adjustable, but look out for those with extra lumbar support and further adjustment options (eg a tilting back rest or adjustable arms). You quite often see a description that advises on the length of time a particular chair should be used, so if you are likely to be working all day look out for 8 hour recommended usage. If your budget with stretch to it Stressless® do most of their amazing recliners as office chairs, with all the Stressless® comfort features and beautiful leather options but on an office chair base with castors. For more modestly sized pockets, the Comfort Office Chair offers a high level of comfort (they even say it is good for 24 hour usage, for workaholics out there), and is available in a choice of 60 fabulous colours. If you have more Bond villain aspirations, have a look at the stunning Aviator Keeler Wing Desk Chair (pictured), but you will need a white cat to go with it of course … Click here to see our range of office chairs.

Hopefully working from home will soon become the norm for a lot of us, although there are certain aspects of working in an office that will be missed, certainly the social side; being able to chat and have a laugh with colleagues is one of the benefits of office life, but maybe this will be replaced with greater productivity!