WorkingSmall

feng shui for your desk

andrea — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:02:14 +0000

Fresh from the pages of my favorite magazine, Whole Living, I bring you “Feng Shui at Work” –

When you take control of your space, it creates positive energy for improving everything else. To feng shui your desk, start with a basic tool called the “bagua,” an energy map that divides any space into nine areas, each corresponding to a part of your life (wealth, career, creativity, etc.).

Ask yourself what one or two goals are most important to you, whether it’s improved health, success, or inspiration. Then rearrange your desk based on the area of the bagua that matches those goals.

For the map and suggestions, go to Wholeliving.com: Feng Shui at Work.

I’ve never tried feng shui, but I like the idea of good energy flow through your space. Learn more here, or click here if you want to confirm your skepticism.

For more on feng shui for your office, there are several great posts at Shui to Go!

Feng Shui Your Desk
Big Spaces, Little Spaces – Feng Shui Your Office – Same principles as with the desk, but applied to the room.
Traditional Feng Shui for Home Office Success – With tips for different kinds of businesses.
Feng Shui and the Power Position – Where to put your chair. I break this one, but only because I like to look out the window!

backyard office

andrea — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 12:12:08 +0000

If you don’t have room in your house for an office, but you have a yard, why not build a separate structure for your office? I keep coming across pre-fab outdoor spaces on other blogs that would be perfect for a home office. Talk about keeping your work space separate from your personal space!

One thing to consider is the climate where you live. Something like this is much more practical in California than in Minnesota. I’m not sure how any of these are insulated and presumably you’d have to use a space heater. Also, I don’t think I’d want to be running back into the house every time I needed to use the bathroom if it’s below zero outside!

The OfficePOD. Highlights: partly recycled and $24,000.

Source: OfficePOD; via Chuck Newton and Unplgged

From the OfficePOD website: “The ability to work from home is a trend that is here to stay. Technology allows it, legislation permits it and employers often now encourage it.” Though this is in the UK, so I’m not sure what “legislation” they’re talking about.

Garden Pod by Archipod. This heated and insulated sphere also uses green materials.

Source: Archipod; via Re-Nest

Or try converting a shed into an office like Lifehacker reader Brian DeHamer did for just $6,000.

Source: Lifehacker

How about a shipping container home office?

Source: Mike Corvi, The Oregonian via Chuck Newton

Source: Jetson Green via Chuck Newton

Though not pre-fab, this home office is pretty fab. Lifehacker reader Peter Frazier takes full advantage of his view of Chuckanut Bay in Washington.

Source: Lifehacker

Source: Flickr via Lifehacker

This is surprisingly nice for a 9×7 wooden shed. Not available in the US, but probably closer to something you could DIY than some of the others.

Source: BillyOh Woodman Log Cabin via ReNest (and also here)

A similar concept (but a little more spacious), this one belongs to Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Source: Michael Pollan via ReNest (and also here)

Another one with a great view — and love the colorful trim.

Source: photography by William Wright, in Debra Prinzing’s book Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways

via Apartment Therapy San Francisco (via ReNest)

Looking for something simple but cozy?

Source: Sunset via ReNest

You really can do it yourself! Here’s a fantastic little house by Susan Herr of Burlington, Vermont, where you can actually take a class to build a tiny house.

Source: Susan Herr via Design*Sponge

For more permanence, see my earlier post on this garden office.

And a few more less realistic (expensive or unique) but equally thought-provoking options: Blu Folding Prefab Home Office and Would You Live in a Blob? Or there’s always a treehouse.

getting enough sleep

andrea — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:40:17 +0000

I’m kicking off my Life Rules list with something very important to me: getting enough sleep. It seems only fitting to write this after being knocked out with a cold/flu/plague for a week, but sometimes when we are forced to rest, it helps us remember how important is is.

Some people take the attitude “I can sleep when I’m dead.” This is actually very appealing to me. Sort of a “Suck it, mother nature! I defy biology!” I’d love to have that attitude.

Too bad you can’t overcome the need to sleep with willpower! Believe me, I’ve tried. I’m a night owl by nature so staying up late (seemingly by choice) then having to get up early (seemingly not by choice) and suffering years of sleep deprivation… After about 28 years I decided that it’s just not worth fighting. But I still felt guilty, like I was missing out on life by not being awake as much as possible. Recently, I’ve been working on reducing this guilt. One big step has been realizing I’m not alone in acknowledging that more sleep is a key to life. I first saw this life rule on one of my oft-mentioned favorite blogs (and now book), The Happiness Project. In fact, getting enough sleep is one thing Ms. Rubin calls it a fundamental secret to happiness.

Going to bed early is another part of this rule because going to bed late for me, ipso facto, means not getting enough sleep. Or feeling guilty about catching a few extra winks in the morning. As much as I like sleeping in, it throws off my day, and I think that is almost worse than being sleepy.

On top of all this, I’m personally convinced that I need more sleep than other people do. No, really. Just ask anyone who has ever lived with me. Now my ears always perk up when I hear about any research related to sleep or how sleep deprived we are as a country, and I’ve devoured articles about sleep research since I was a teenager. I’ve always had a tough time waking up, and I still do any time (even after a nap), but it’s especially tough on less than 6 hours for me. I’m not talking “I’m cranky if I get less than 6 hours,” more like “I stand a serious chance of not even hearing my alarm go off.” Regardless of the time of day, how much sleep I had the night before, etc. I’ve tried all the tricks, and plenty of people giving me a hard time about it, and feeling guilty and “lazy” when I’m exhausted. The only thing that really works is getting more sleep.

Things that help me:

Setting a regular bedtime (or a goal. it’s good to have goals.)
Get ready for bed early (avoid falling asleep on the couch with laptop)
Make sure I have all papers and things ready to go if I’m leaving the house in the morning.
Decide what I’m wearing tomorrow.
Put away discarded clothes or laundry from today.
Make a list of things to do tomorrow if need to fight the urge to stay up and take care of stuff. Better yet, make a schedule with tasks to accomplish before lunch. Everyone has different sleep demons, and for me, staying up late at night has always been the “extra” time I need in a day to finish a task or to relax. If I convince myself that going to bed early means a more productive morning, I can usually coax myself into bed earlier.
Get in bed early to read a magazine; It feels productive and I’m more likely to actually fall asleep when my body says it’s time if I’m already in bed.
Stop whatever I’m doing an hour before I want to go to bed and have “me” time. This can be productive time in a sense (catching up on emails with friends, or doing #3-7), but it shouldn’t be work or cleaning. If I don’t do this, I will inevitably stay up later. The cycle needs to stop sometime.

Why is this important for WorkingSmall? Successful people are prone to putting things like sleep at the bottom of the importance list. The more self-regulated we are, especially for those of us who are self-employed, I think it helps to acknowledge our baselines and figure out how being healthy keeps us happy and moving forward with our lives and careers.

Want more?

The Happiness Project: Fourteen Tips for Getting More Sleep
Apartment Therapy: 5 Things to Do Before You Go to Bed
NY Times: Ben Schott, On the Timing & Duration of Sleep (proverbs and advice on sleep)

WorkingSmall: link roundup

andrea — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 20:29:52 +0000

I finally got my office repainted! While I work in getting photos to post, here are some offices and links to inspire you:

My favorites from 15 Fantastic Organized Spaces (re-nest):

Source: Luxury iHouse Design

Source: Paper Tiger Consultants

Source: Hardin Street

Source: Pottery Barn via Lipstick Lifestyle

And other links…

Your Decorating Hotline’s Create a Home Office, part 1 & part 2

Before & after: shaunna’s writing room + heather’s office (Design*Sponge)

Working From Home, A Survivor’s Guide (Mint) — and I totally agree, especially on making yourself presentable, and “going to your happy (work) place.”

Designing your own workspace improves health, happiness and productivity (Science Daily) –

“When people feel uncomfortable in their surroundings they are less engaged — not only with the space but also with what they do in it. If they can have some control, that all changes and people report being happier at work, identifying more with their employer, and are more efficient when doing their jobs.”

What can your business learn from Zappos? Lawyers: What can we learn from Zappos? (Zen & The Art of Legal Networking)

In Black & White: Developing a Personal Brand Mindset (Ms. JD) — good illustrations of what most people do versus what you should do.

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” Video: Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action (TED.com)

In Graphics: What is a 401(k) Plan? (Mint)

Against Throwawayism (re-nest)

Want More Energy? Don’t Spend It All In One Place (Whole Living) — Reconsider your definition of a “balanced life”:

“[W]hile I like the idea, and I’m sure you do too, I think it remains somewhat elusive to us because we’re not sure what it looks like. Does it mean we end up working less and relaxing more? Is it that simple? Or can it mean being more productive and just less stressed?”

You Say Waste Bin, I Say Wastbasket (or Tash Can) (Jeri’s Organizing & Decluttering News)

home office mural

andrea — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:49:43 +0000

I did a double take when I saw this office…

It’s a hand-drawn illustration by Charlotte Mann (via Freshome), a British artist who became famous from her wall drawings like these.

While I like to look out of real window while working, it’s not always an option. And I absolutely prefer this kind of mural to most others that I’ve seen in offices… in most other adult spaces, for that matter. The best murals I’ve seen are in kid rooms, plus a few really nice hand-painted traditional or whimsical ones in old homes — my absolute favorite is a farm painted in the entryway of a family friend’s old farmhouse. Aside from these, murals often walk a fine line between looking juvenile, dated, and theme-y.

How awesome would this look in the entrance or hallway at a business? Heck, even at home? Especially if you have a pretty generic space with few windows? Or if the only place you can put your home office is in a basement?

I think something like this is especially well suited to a hallway (see several examples in Catherine Mann’s gallery here), and I like the one where you can see it through a room with color:

That looks like a little girl’s room, but I could see this concept applied well to any creative space, or even a store.

Have you seen any great murals in adult spaces (especially in offices!)? Please share with me!!

my home office: waffling

andrea — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 21:40:53 +0000

It’s come down to this:

vs.

Yep, I’m waffling on my office paint color. I always know I’m close to deciding on a color when I almost completely change course. Sometimes I don’t, sometimes I do, but it usually works out either way.

I sampled three more greens last weekend after the previous week’s two samles. I found exactly the color I was shooting for (Hirshfield’s Perennial Garden), just think it might be a tad dark in the room at certain times of day.

At least I got the color I envisioned, now it’s just time to decide whether it really fits my space. (Will post pictures with my next update .) This leaves me with two options:

One shade lighter green (close to what’s pictured above)
Revisit my original color choices, which brings me back to grey/lavender.

I’m inclined to go with the lavender. The particular shade above is just one step over from grey, see:

(Looking at Spring Violet or Winter Gray in the middle column)

Plus it was my original original plan, so it’s not really a drastic a game changer.

I’m definitely planning to use my lovely yellow and white patterned curtains (here, or two posts below if you’re scrolling). And I really like yellow and grey, so this makes sense. But I really hate purple and yellow together — not a cut on my hometown football team, just have never been much a complimentary colors person — so, it will have to be seriously toned down if I go that path.

Any thoughts? I can’t find any good photos for grey lavender with yellow curtains, just lots of awful purple and yellow rooms. In the meantime, here’s a nice example of lavender-gray:

Source: Martha Stewart

It’s serious enough for an office, right? It’s one of Martha’s “sophisticated neutrals” which is good enough for me. Now, can you picture it with yellow & white patterned curtains?

Better Homes and Gardens did it successfully on this month’s cover, maybe I can too.

my new favorite office

andrea — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 14:23:13 +0000

I just stumbled across this office by Timothy Whealon Interiors (via Delight by Design).

Honestly, I don’t think it can get much better than this.

Sophisticated yet calm and refreshing. My favorite kind of design.

I’m even enamored with the font and clean design of his website:

That’s the font I was shooting for on my new business announcements, but I don’t think it turned out quite right.

What makes all this 10x better? No, 100x better? He went to my college AND we even share a major. :) (Yay Kenyon College!) It’s the little things in life… Yeah, I really couldn’t resist adding that and the picture.

Happy New Year!

my home office: progress

andrea — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 04:54:01 +0000

After much debate, I settled on a nice yellow print for my curtains:

It’s Amsterdam by Premier Prints in yellow and white. The fabric is cotton but it’s a medium weight with a slub texture so it looks and feels more like linen. I got mine at fabric.com (on sale after Thanksgiving!) but there is a huge selection of similar prints at the Premier Prints website.

I usually do a lot of google image searches before buying anything online, and admit that I was sort of influenced by how well they worked in this dining room by Restored Style. (I’m not sure what the difference is between this Netherlands print and my Amsterdam print, but it looks like the yellow is a little less intense and it’s on a linen color instead of white.)

Source: Restored Style (more pictures here)

It arrived the first week of December and completely lives up to my expectations.

Onto the next step!! Paint color.

I definitely wanted to do a color since it is my office and I want to feel energized. For me, this choice came down to:

green
turquoise
lavender, leaning toward gray (I have a thing for yellow and gray recently)

And I considered pink for a brief — VERY BRIEF — moment.

I do really love turquoise and yellow, but I ruled it out for a variety of reasons (namely, that I already have blue all around my house). If you were hoping for a great turquoise and yellow office inspiration, here’s the best I can give you:

Source: Maria Killam, Colour Me Happy (more photos here)

I felt like the green and yellow combo would be the best for getting me through the Minnesota winter months, plus I really have a thing for green and so far have only ended up with one other green room in the house.

Inspiration photos:

Source: I don’t know! Please tell me if you know where this photo came from so I can credit it. The watermark is for Carolina Panache but I’m not sure if the photo actually belongs to them or not.

Cover of Veranda magazine, November-December 2010

Full disclosure: my wedding colors were green and white with a bit of purple and yellow. You can see where I’m going here…

I’m definitely looking for a “fresh green” over a sage green. I think it’s a little more “now” and I tend to prefer cleaner colors over dirty colors. (Although I learned from trying Behr’s asparagus in my dining room, which I wrote about here, that “fresh green” can look like crazy monster green in my house with all our natural light and oak trim. Lesson: Fresh green, if leaning toward yellow, requires lots of white.) .

First picks:

Benjamin Moore – Stem Green 2029-40 (a Pottery Barn color)

Sherwin Williams – Mesclun Green SW6724

And here they are in my office:

I’m not sold on either option… At night the Spring Green (left) looks fantastic and the Mesclun Green (right) looks too blue — frankly, it feels a bit dated to me. But during the day the Spring Green is pretty bright due to the underlying yellow.

Oh, and that’s not actually my furniture in there — it’s my husband’s… we’re swapping rooms (for another post!)

Admittedly I like the Mesclun Green in this guest room at Carolina Patchworks (thanks again, google image search!)

Source: Carolina Patchworks

Yet another reminder that color must be considered in context of lighting, trim color, etc.

My next steps? Trying to decide whether I want to go more toward kelly green or just cop out and use the color I know looks good in my house.

After seeing the cover of Veranda (above), a kelly green is appealing. Taking it a step or two darker from the Mesclun Green brings me to Pickle or Talipot Palm.

They look great here but then I found this photo on ohdeedoh of a SW Pickle room. Great for a kid’s room, but maybe too bright for my office:

Source: ohdeedoh (more photos at link)

I know I can’t rely on photos to decide on color (case in point below), but I’ll just have to get a few more color samples.

The green I know looks good in my house is Sherwin Williams Great Green. (pictured here, in my dining room) – it’s less saturated than the two above (for those of you who have spent a lot of time at the paint store, it’s a row above the brighter saturated greens… not just a few paint swatches to the right or left)

No, this isn’t a trick, it really looks different in all three images. Another reason you can’t pick paint color online. The closest to “real life” is the more yellow-y one on the right, taken by manually setting the white balance on my camera.

fun desk accessories from MoMA

andrea — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 04:57:16 +0000

It’s the little things that make life more fun. Here are a few desk accessories I found at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) while doing some online Christmas shopping this weekend.

Bird paperclip holder by Rodrigo Torres

Architect’s blueprint paperweight

Sheet music paperweight

(they also have stock market and legal paper paperweights)

X-Shaped rubber bands

Snap-It-Up Organizer

2011 animals desk calendar (yes, each animal has a different month on each side)

Elephant and duck paperclips

Do you have a go-to store for fun desk accessories?

routines and rules

andrea — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 18:29:08 +0000

Even if that title made your cringe, I bet you have some pretty basic routines and rules in your everyday life.

One of the hardest things for me since starting my business is getting into a normal routine. In fact, my favorite thing about working for myself is the flexibility. But this lack of routine has also been difficult for me. For about a year I never had two days in a row with the same schedule (except the weekends), which definitely made it hard for me to do short-term planning. Now I’ve settled into a more regular schedule, but I still see the benefit of having a little more consistency.

Part of this is recognizing that rigidity and structure are not the same. Likewise, flexibility does not equal chaos.

It’s sort of like my favorite rule for grammar and music: You can’t break the rules unless you know what they are. Then break them with intent.

Flexibility means being able to change your schedule when you want, it doesn’t mean not having a schedule (or a very inconsistent schedule, as it was for me). You want flexibility and structure, and they are not at odds. In fact, I would argue, you will have greater flexibility if you have some underlying rules that make sure your bare minimum gets done without having to worry about it.

Source: WorkingSmall

Now, by nature, I’m a rule follower. But I’ve never been a rule maker. I think that these are two very different things. Yes, I’m a lawyer. Yes, I’m very analytical. But I’m also flexible and easy going. Once again, I’ve decided that these things are not all inconsistent, and that a healthy balance of each is a nice thing.

As I’ve watched more and more of my friends have children, I’ve noticed how good routines can really impact good health, behavior, and happiness in children. Why should this be any different for adults?

Making mundane tasks habits frees up your mental energy to be creative, and not bogged down in trying to remember other things. Making some rules also helps you do things that you know are good for you but are easy to put off until a later time.

My favorite example of this is from Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project, which I’ve been following for the last few years. Two of her rules for exercising are to always exercise on Monday and never skip exercising for more than two days in a row. Back in my gym membership days, these rules really helped me exercise more regularly. If I put off exercising on Monday or skipped more than two days in a row, it was much harder to get back to it. I probably wouldn’t have been conscious of this were it not for Gretchen’s rules.

I’m going to set up a page for each of these and do a blog post for each rule. I’ll link those up soon.

Life Rules

Get enough sleep.
Take vitamin D.
Treat everyone with respect and kindness.
?

Work Rules. Most of these are also life rules, but with special twists.

Treat everyone with respect and kindness.
Make repeatable checklists or tasks. Then you only have to think about making them the first time.
Pay it forward.
?

A bonus for any other NCIS fans out there: See also Rule 51.