In honor of the fact that I’m moving into a new apartment this week, I’m curious how other writers and freelance folks set up their workspace. Unfortunately, not all of us have our ideal space (says the girl who once had to squat in the hallway to get a wireless signal), so let’s talk about what works, instead of ranting about what doesn’t.
Personally, I’m looking forward to having a sunny room sans roommates. No, I won’t have a separate office just yet, but at least I’ll have a little corner of the living room devoted to work (finally!). I ordered a new desk and a super-comfy faux suede couch so I can move my laptop to different surfaces depending on my mood. I’m also planning to buy several wooden cubes to use as shelves for storing my magazine stash under the windows. Maybe I’ll put some cushions on top to create a little reading nook (I’m a sucker for a window seat and a good book).
What do you love about your space? What would make it better? How do you balance the need for a comfortable, inviting space with the need to get into a work mindset?
Photo by teadrinker
Luckily, I’m yet another creative professional who is not necessarily tied down to a traditional workspace. My favorite, although it relies on good weather conditions, is my garden (which does have WiFi). However, in the past 1.5 years my workspace has been in several Italian cities, Hawaii, St. Croix and throughout the U.S. Enjoy your new space!
Right now , I’ve got a desk under the window in my room. I love it ’cause it has plenty of drawers and space for books ‘n magazines underneath. Shelves up over it are filled with clippings and folders that I’ll use someday. It’s smaller than it sounds but it’s quiet , has lots of light and is only a minute from the kitchen ! Good luck with the new place
I usually end up sitting in my living room on the couch and use my coffee table as an impromptu desk. Sometimes it’s difficult getting into word mode because my TV is right there and I have to fight the urge to turn it on! When I get a house I will have a “real” office…
I have a house, and still have no nook to call my own. I think it’s great to hear so many different ideas. Some ideas I’ve experienced at one time or another, and other ideas I’ve only dreamed about. I know what you mean about having the TV nearby, Alisia, it’s the worst thing to have near me. I usually give in to temptation. Congrats and good luck with your new space, Susan.
Though my space is less than ideal, I am set up in the corner of the living room, and I have a great view. Not only can I watch the birds and squirrels eat out of the feeders, I also have a great view of my garden. Bonus: the window faces south, so I get some great sunshine too–especially during the wintertime. Makes me happy!
Currently I’m living in Italy and I have a decent desk, but no rolly chair. I miss dramatically flying across a room to do mundane things like refill a water bottle or clip my toenails suddenly. Sounds like your setup is pretty good, and I agree that varying the laptop position is key.
Moving is so exciting! You’ll have to post some pics once you’re settled.
At the moment, my “office” is a room barely separated from the living room by a folding screen, and my desk is smooshed between two litter bozes, the china cabinet, and my husband’s paper shredder (it’s his office too).I’ve huny up some pictures recently to make it prettier, but I dream of the office I have once we upgrade to a house.
My must-haves: sunlight, wall-to-wall bookshelves, and a reading nook.
I too harbor the dream of the “writer’s room” but in the mean time I boast of my corner office. It is a 4 foot wide by two foot deep by 8 foot high alcove in my bedroom next to the closet.
Fully stacked shelves above, wall space with my writing diploma, a photo collage of my family and a super large calendar, an adjustable clip on lamp, ample desk space for my desktop computer, my treasured metal basket holding files and stationary and some knick knacks – mini teapot for loose change and my precious glass sleeping-cat candle holder.
Within this tiny space and surrounded by everything i need to feed my passion, I find my center, connect with my writer friends, I read and I write.
I’m actually not that interested in a room of my own. I sit at the kitchen table, with my back to the glass doors. When I’m the only person home it’s quiet, and I open the sliding doors and listen to the parrots in the birdfeeder – with the sun on my back.
I have a shelf on a nearby bookshelf just for writing stuff. And that’s my space.
Otherwise, you’ll find me in the coffee shop at the national library, looking out over the lake.
Congrats on the new place and on having no more roommates!
The two of us frequently work together out of Dagmar’s three-people home office in Vienna with windows overlooking the city. I set up my laptop on their wireless network when I work from there.
At home in Vegas, I have a study that I painted lavender like the wildflowers in Death Valley. I have lots of bookshelves, a comfy reading/working chair and a pretty desk in front of a window. The desk is covered in cute things, like my worldwide sand collection. And funny pencils, like the one from Salzburg with the wooden Mozart on top — sometimes he inspires me.
Other than my personal space, I also like to work elsewhere and take the laptop outside into the backyard (WiFi rocks). My husband just bought me this cool cushion/table thing at Ikea that turns your lap into a flat laptop surface — very handy.
Thanks everyone for weighing in!
@Steph: I will definitely post photos and maybe if I do a really stellar decorating job, they’ll be on Apartment Therapy. At least that’s my goal!
I have three spaces to call my own and one that I share with the rest of the city. I am usually plopped into my Prairie chair with a puppy in my lap and the laptop perched on the arm of the chair. My wife and I also have a dedicated office at home with a really nice three wall work area and a large window. My favorite morning place it in the garden near the fountain.
The place I share with others is called the Caroline Collective in downtown Houston, TX. It’s a co-working site and offers everything from Wi-Fi and conference rooms to coffee and donuts. The big thing it offers is interaction with other creative people. As much as I love to write, I am still a social critter.
And congrats on the new place. Hope it inspires you to more and better things.
I’ve always claimed a bedroom for my office wherever I’ve lived. I need a separate space because my office always, somehow accumulates lots of STUFF (i.e. piles and piles of papers and books). Before my 2nd child was born, we finished our attic so that I would still have a work space. I love it up here. It’s a big, large room with 3 windows and 2 skylights, sloped ceilings and, well, lots of stuff accumulating.
I love that my space is dedicated – I have an actual study. Even if I didn’t, I’d carve out a corner of the house just for work. I like that I can shut the door when the house is full and I have to work while everyone else is playing. I like that my study is separate from the rest of the house – I don’t have to walk by it, but rather through another room to get to it. I have a window – I don’t face it. I’d never get anything done that way!
What I don’t like is the HUGE file cabinet beside me. It’s cluttered, it’s a horizontal file, meaning it takes up too much space, and it has most of his stuff in it and very little of mine. It also blocks access to a much-needed outlet. I need more organization to feel ultra-productive, starting with getting my all-in-one located somewhere that isn’t in a corner and over a few dozen cords.
My ideal workplace is somewhere far from the noises of the city life just like my essay writers group members will always say.. I always imagine myself sitting under a tree, looking beyond the greens and the mountains, hearing only the chirping of the birds, the buzzing of the breeze while feeling the cold air through my bare skin…hmmm. Right now, I enjoy my small sanctuary. The blue glass windows are perfect for the sunlight and the low ceiling makes my room like an attic. I have everything that I need inside my room – my laptop, good broadband connection, magazines, books, food, pillows; everything that will make me productive.
I gave up a certain amount of comfort (read: heat!) to have my own space far away from the action in the house. I took over a corner of the unfinished basement with two bare light bulbs and one decent south-facing window. There’s room for my old farmhouse table so I can have a wide work surface. I also made a divider between me and the chaos of the storage area by hanging four old five-panel doors. It’s the closest I’ll get to a wood-paneled study. But it’s peaceful, and I need that.
I don’t ever use my desk at home. It feels to much like I’m at work. I prefer to work on the couch. my work office is cluttered in a way where i can find everything. I like to make folders for each project I’m working on. That way nothing gets lost!
I’m blessed in that several kids have grown and moved out and I snagged a room as my home office. Turns out it USED to be a kitchen when the house was two apartments, so it’s perfect for an office. Two walls have wooden kitchen cabinets and countertops, and I put two long conference tables in an “L” shape along the other two walls (part computer desk, part flat work space for hard copy work). And the linoleum floor means I can roll the comfy desk chair around without snagging it on carpeting.
I even put in a small dorm fridge and a coffeemaker. Add an ethernet outlet, cable TV outlet, and a rolling file cabinet, and it’s perfect.
The only down side is that it doesn’t have a door. There’s no way to keep anyone OUT.