Dreamy Home Office Space

The topic of working from home comes up pretty regularly in the groups of people I hang around these days. Before moving to the west coast, I didn’t know anyone who had a typical office job and didn’t have to go to an office. It sounded so sexy, so mod, so Carrie Bradshaw, and yet in the past year I laughed as my two roommates and I bumped into each other up in the kitchen, on a Tuesday, in our pjs as we grabbed something out of the fridge and ran back to our respective rooms to hit deadlines on more days than not. No Jimmy Choos gracing these toesies in my home office, but I do work from home two days a week and I often quiz my amigos on their work-from-home style. 

I know all the bloggers will tell you they shower, do their hair and sit at a desk just like they would at any office, but that’s just not my thing. I’m more of a don’t-shower-til-I-have-to and never-wear-pants-at-home kinda gal. As such, for the longest time my “home office” consisted of pillows propped against the wall (where most people’s headboard would be) and my laptop appropriately on my lap, right next to the sausage dog. Eventually I realized that the more I worked from my bed, the lazier I felt throughout the entire day, so I wrangled a desk and chair from friends who were moving and made my own little work corner in my bedroom. It’s getting pretty cozy. I even bought a printer finally! But it’s still not very photogenic. Those Pinterest geniuses know how to arrange desk things just so. I can’t even. So instead of trying to make my desk look gorgeous for you all (let’s be real, I still end up working from my bed half the time — aka I’m blogging from it as we speak), I made a fantasy home office.

That’s right, friends. I’ve resorted to dreaming about the perfect home office space. With pricy rugs and quirky giraffe heads to keep me company as I create brilliance from my fingertips (insert eye roll). Turns out porcupine pencil holders and gold accented everything get me going. Who knew? I’m pretty obsessed with that chair, too. Too bad I’d have to work a whole lot more home-office-hours just to afford it. 

But really, for creative peeps, and others too I imagine, feeling inspired is important. How often do you feel like exerting yourself in a new, scary, boundary-pushing way while staring at a blank wall in florescent lighting while the sound of phones ringing surrounds you? I, for one, don’t feel like I can get any work done if there’s not music playing. And not a normal Pandora station doling out whatever the barista chose for the day or the same looping playlist some office manager decided would suffice for months at a time, but my music on my headphones. Everyone has her own working style; sometimes my headphones are a great way to deter office people from chitchatting at me about the latest sports win/loss/tie/idontcare and other days I really want to discuss that earthquake that only slightly rattled my picture frames, but is totally worth discussing anyway. 

Collaboration can be fun and helpful sometimes, and it’s then that working from home is tough.

For those of you who work from home and haven’t quite perfected the home office yet or simply crave the team atmosphere of a traditional office, WeWork offers coworking office spaces throughout the country (what up, Berkeley and SF?) that allow us weirdos to GSD. Andddd have incentive to get out of our pjs. Not that there’s anything wrong with working in your pjs.. you do you, girl.