Live-Work Space in Your Home Office
You don’t need to live in a modernized 16th century farmhouse or double-height mezzanine on 5th Avenue to design a balanced space you can live and work in. We’ve put together a few ruses to make your home both comfy and handy.
Live-work space – what’s that?
We’ve all seen these beautiful industrial buildings turned into new residential space or top-notch studios for rich architects and lawyers. There surely must be a way to get a piece of this nonchalant beauty for a more balanced work-life space in your own four walls, right? And there is, so keep reading!
Create space to work
Working from home can feel like being stuck or even imprisoned. After all, most people spend at least eight long hours per day doing what’s commonly referred to as “work”. And since work takes up such a big part of our day, we should offer it the space it deserves to make it both more enjoyable and efficient. If you’re able to devote a whole room to your work – ideally one that offers a lot of natural daylight – here’s an idea. Clear it out completely before very carefully adding just a few bare necessities. A desk, chair, and small cupboard or shelf will do the trick for most people. And it’s easy to built! A very cool-looking table, for example, can be conjured up in a jiffy by screwing steely legs to a nice wooden surface – and the same applies to making your own shelf. Put the desk in the middle of the room to amplify the effect. Once you walk into your airy office room, the burden of work will feel ever so much lighter. And now may just be the time to create a custom mug to enjoy the atmosphere and your favorite hot brew.
Generate a live-work environment
Leaving the house and commuting to the office makes a big difference for adopting the right mindset for work. At home, it might feel a little different to get into that same frame of mind. Distractions and the notion that your home is not really associated with work can make things complicated. A simple trick can help you put your head on track for work. Planning your day with time slots devoted to certain activities will help you get stuff done. Such a timetable could e.g. look like this:
9am – Enter your office room and commence work.
10:30 – Have a coffee break. Added points for doing a stretching exercise while making the coffee.
10:45 – Get back to the office room.
12:15 – Cook a simple but healthy lunch. You’ll find some inspiration in this article.
1pm – Go back to the office room for two solid hours of crunch time.
3pm – You deserve another break. Open your windows and go for a walk or a quick jog.
3:30 – Get back at your desk. With all the good energy and positive vibes, you may be able to finish two hours from now.
Here’s a custom T-shirt to remind you of probably the best one-word mantra – balance.
Put the glass down after work
And now for some actionable advice. It’s very important to clock off and close the door to the office room once you feel you’re done for the day. Otherwise it may feel like holding a glass of water that you never rest on the table. Why that? You may feel that the glass is very small and it’s only half-way filled with water, so you can still carry on and hold it a little longer. But imagine holding this glass for another hour. Or two or three. In the end, it will become very strenuous, and when you’ll put the glass down eventually, you’ll end up feeling completely exhausted and tired. So allocate a time for putting the glass down aka stop working, and enjoy your life after work to recharge your batteries. There’s always a next day, and this custom mason jar can hold any drink you feel like after work.