Zero commute

HOME WORKING IS on the rise and the modern home needs an office space to cope with this shift in work practices. The upside is that there is no commute to your job. The downside is that you live surrounded by your work and switching off can be difficult. How do you get the work-life balance working within your home?

It's all about making room, says Caroline Clifton-Moog, author of A Space Of My Own, a book offering clever home office and study ideas. "It's about creating a space that induces a sense of work mode while still at home." Her office is a narrow space annexed from half a wardrobe and takes over about 50 per cent of her spare bedroom. The wardrobe has been condensed and the spare bed slides underneath shelving and can be pulled to accommodate guests when they stay.

She’s has been working at home for 10 years. It took a while to get into it, she admits. “It takes discipline to get into work mode. Your first instinct is to flop out of bed in your pyjamas and flop into the office – after all, you have zero commute. But it is bad for your mental wellbeing. It’s almost like putting yourself down and saying that you’re not professional.”

Creating a functional space from which to work is about thinking laterally, Clifton-Moog says. “You have to start seeing space in a different way. Even a wall in a bigger room can become your office area. It does help to have another pair of eyes look at your space – it doesn’t have to be a designer but they will see opportunities you no longer see because you’re too familiar with the space.”

Working efficiently is about having everything around you, she says. Her “filing system” is a big wicker basket. Everything gets thrown into it when it’s finished and she checks through that once a week. Irish-American decorator Liz O’Brien has come up with a clever solution in her New York office. She’s lined the wall above her desk with cork tiles and then covered it with blue billiard table felt. “Essentially, it’s a large notice board but it doesn’t look like one.”

Seating is very important but finding an ergonomically designed chair that fitted Clifton-Moog’s style proved difficult. So she sits on a Victorian balloon back chair with a cushion underneath and another against her back. She’s small and uses a small ledge to rest her feet.

In contrast, broadcaster, journalist and author Matt Cooper sits on “a proper office chair that reclines” at an enormous custom-built desk, made about eight years ago when he renovated and extended his home. His office is cleverly positioned on a dais area built into his living room. It is where he penned his current book How Ireland Really Went Bust and it looks down on to their TV area, where the children watch X Factor on a Saturday night. “But it is my own space. I don’t regard it as an office. For me an office means lots of people. I think of the space as my den.”

Correct lighting is of the utmost importance in any working space. A nice lamp is a must for Matt Cooper. “It goes back to studying for the Leaving Cert in my room. I had a desk and lamp. Now I have the grown-up version. The late Vinny Doyle, editor of the Irish Independent, gave me a lamp of a newspaper seller. I use that.”

Many period homes have office potential in their reception and bedrooms. The alcoves on either side of the chimney breast can be used to build a desk into, says Caroline Clifton-Moog. Add doors and you can close off this space when you’re not using it. In her book she features a home where a desk is hidden behind one alcove. The matching alcove is home to a small library, again hidden from view by period doors.

Interior designer Avril Allen Murphy did something similar in her home. She built a deep cupboard with a desk top and doors into the corner of her family room. Previously I found it hard to relax in the space, she says. “Work was always staring back at me.”

Now she closes the doors when she’s finished for the day and thoughts of work also shut down. Her set-up cost approximately €2,500. “I could have had it made for cheaper but I designed it so the desk slides back to form a drawing board and the cupboard doors open and close properly.”

You can create an office anywhere within the home. Some of the most inspiring interiors in A Space of My Owninclude pod-like structures that have a sleeping area above and a desk work area below, accessed by a fireman's pole. Designed by Michaelis Boyd architects, they look wonderful and fun but are really expensive to recreate, says Clifton-Moog. "A long, bench-type desk where you seat more than one is much more easily done and works as a place for kids to do homework and study. And simple pull-down hinged desktops are simple and cheap to install."

Spaces under stairs should also be considered. You can stow away an under-the-stairs workspace in the hall or in a kitchen. It stays shut while family life is going on.

A Space of my Own: Inspirational ideas for home offices, craft rooms and studies by Caroline Clifton-Moog is published by Ryland, Peters and Small. €23

* You can buy cheap office furniture at Desks and Chairs (01-8640539, desksandchairs.ie) in Jamestown Business Park in Dublin 11 and also at auction houses; Herman Wilkinson in Rathmines and also Wilsons Auctions on the Naas Road

INTERIORS

* Your desk height should be 65 to 70 cm from the floor, more if you are taller.

* Your elbows should be able to rest at a 90 degree angle on the surface.

* Your chair should be between 40cm and 50cm from the floor.

* Thighs should be horizontal and feet flat on the floor.

* Your back should touch the back of the chair, and your arms rest comfortable on the work surface.

* Look for an an adjustable chair that swivels and has lumbar support.

* Your work should be less than 64cm from the eyes.