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Sounds from a #realworldhomeoffice

Every morning, I use an app on my smartphone called Brain.fm to get into the zone. In the afternoon, I switch to Spotify playlists that I find particularly helpful.

Check out the video below to find out more!

What do you use? Why?


This post is day seven of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100daystooffload.com

A tour of my #realworldhomeoffice

In a world of picture-perfect Instagram, I thought it would be a refreshing change to just open the door of my home office, and show you around.

I haven’t tidied up. I haven’t moved anything around. This is how my home office is on a day-to-day basis.

What’s yours like? Perhaps use the #realworldhomeoffice hashtag if you’d like to share?

Happy to answer any questions about equipment or setup!


This post is day six of my #100DaysToOffload challenge. Want to get involved? Find out more at 100daystooffload.com

A #shoffice update (October 2012)

Back in August I posted about how working from home with my new job for the Mozilla Foundation means I needed a dedicated office. It’s just too distracting working in the main house when we’ve got two young children! I’m calling it a ‘shoffice’ as it’s a shed as far as planning regulations go (no-one’s sleeping in there) but an office as far as I’m concerned. 🙂

Since August local architect Mark Starford has been drawing up draft plans from the detailed measurements he took on that sunny day. I’m delighted Mark’s agreed to allow me to share the drawings here (and on Flickr) under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license. I’ve also introduced him to the delights of Pinterest via my Architecture & Design board. It’s useful to have a ‘mood board’ as it allows others to see the kinds of things you like by referencing extant things!

Below are the options Hannah, my wife, and I like so far. Mark gave us three options for the path and way down to the office. I’ve included the ‘dogleg’ version. We’re not so keen on the protruding skylight but are definitely in favour of getting as much north-facing light in as possible. Mark informed us that artists tend to favour this kind of light as it’s more constant and avoids the ‘hard light’ that distracts me when I work.

We definitely like the freestanding canopy-style protruding roof to shelter the stairs and we’re also thinking about potentially including an additional way to get down to the decking area. Hannah doesn’t want the decking to be my ‘outside office space’ and I can see her point. We’re also still thinking about the placement and shape of the windows to the west side (we don’t want any on the south side).

You can click on any of the images to enlarge them or the set is here:
Birds-eye view

West and North elevations

West and South elevations

Cutaway view of shoffice

If you’re struggling to understand how this works, it might help to know that our garden would be pretty much on a 45-degree slope if it wasn’t for a concrete ‘bunker’ under the patio. Also, the fence to the rear of our property drops down dramatically to a much lower garden level for our neighbours.

The images below may help:

Garden showing concrete bunker entry

Concrete bunker entry

Concrete bunker

And, finally, we’re absolutely going to invite our neighbours (to the side and the back) to look at the final drawings. We’re trying to make it so they hardly notice it’s there!

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