by Rachel Smith
13 September 2013
I’ve worked from lots of different locations over the years. A desk in the corner of my bedroom. A laptop on a dining room table. A tiny sunroom in Darlinghurst with a view of Finger Wharf. And the office I have right now, which hasn’t got a sea view or even a door to speak of, but is functional and sunny and has its own quirky personality. I wouldn’t say any of them have been my dream home office – but as long as I feel comfortable and can write in there, that’s fine by me.
That said, I do love a stickybeak at other people’s beautiful home offices. I’m drawn to cosy offices tucked into corners, at the end of rooms that’d otherwise be ‘dead space’, or cleverly built under, say, a staircase. Every so often, I’ll stumble on a photo like this (right) and get a serious case of home office envy. Oh boy, I itch to work in there. With my laptop, a big cup of tea and my ugg boots, that’s my idea of heaven.
My dream home office would have…
A deep, wall-to-wall desk Plonking a desk in the middle of a large room like an island leaves me cold for some reason. It’s not very cosy. I’d also need a really gorgeous, comfy chair.
Big windows, lots of light Even better if you can look out onto a view of nature, a cool cityscape or best of all, the sea.
Drawers to hide all your papers in Perfect for when people come round and you can shove all your notes away and assume an air of general order. If you’re disciplined enough to leave a drawer empty for the purpose!
What would your dream home office or workspace look like? Are you lucky enough to already have it?
It is a lovely office, isn’t it Rachel. Not very aesthetic but I favour facing my desk to the wall. It means I can put stuff like inspirations quotes, keyboard shortcuts, poems I want to learn off by heart etc. on a cork board. Big is also good. My current desk is a little bit too small, if I’ve got a few reports etc. piled up to refer to, there’s no room around my keyboard and mouse.
I’ve never managed to finish any of Steven King’s novels but I reread his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the craft every year without fail and he talks about how he bought this huge desk and stuck it in the middle of the room during his coke addict days. Later got rid of it and replaced it with a smaller desk and stuck it under the eave, in the corner like he did with his very first desk. He says, “Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn’t in the middle of the room. Life isn’t a support system for art. It’s the other way around.
I love that quote Darren – must get hold of that book, I’ve been meaning to read it for years.
My desk is too small as well, so right now the dining room table doubles as my ‘other’ desk for papers, etc. I propped a massive corkboard behind my computer screen though which is super handy. But, I’d swap it for a window with a view any day.