How to make it work from home
Good Housekeeping teamed up with Chatbooks, a photobook company, to scour the U.S. and Canada for the smartest and most beautiful home-office setups. What we found just may inspire you to take your own work-from-home space to the next level.
• Add a cozy sofa. Kari Bancroft of South Jordan, Utah, decided to think beyond uncomfortable chairs in her home office. Instead, she outfitted the space with a plush, emerald-green sofa that pairs well with her beloved animal prints and global-inspired pottery. Bancroft is mom to eight kids and uses her office space to read and to organize her many family photos.
“My home-office decorating approach is to showcase an eclectic mix of the things I love and make sure it functions as a versatile space,” she said.
• Hang a desk on the wall. Rachel Mae Smith, whose blog is The Crafted Life, created her lowprofile New York City office with a wall-mounted desk supported by a track shelving system. Pops of color, including brackets spray-painted in bright hues and dyed fabric swatches, pull the fun look together.
• Consider high shelves. Graphic designer Ashley Smith transformed a cedar-lined closet with white paint and high shelving for books and decorative storage. Ashley elevated the look with display boards made from wood scraps.
“I added some stain, wire and clips, and they became the perfect spot to hang anything important, like bills, invites and children’s artwork,” she said. Plus, she made a simple built-in desk for her large desktop. “We used inexpensive 1-by-2-inch common boards as supports underneath, then added a nice maple 3/4-inch plywood top and a 1-by-3-inch trim board to the front,” she said of the desk design in her Pittsburg, Kansas, home.
• Take advantage of a chic nook. Kaitlyn Fast of Birmingham, Alabama, let a large mirror set the foundation for her minimalist office nook.
“It reflects all the natural light we have in this room and makes it easy to switch out the decor and flowers as each new season arrives,” she said.
• Paint a brick wall. Megan Leonard of the lifestyle brand Our City Nest lives in Baltimore, a city known for row homes with exposed brick walls. So it only made sense to showcase this detail in her office.
“It provides an instant texture throughout my home that I love to pair with wood accents,” she said.
THE BEST STANDING DESKS FOR A HOME OR OFFICE
If you’re feeling less productive while working at home and think your current work setup has something to do with it, a standing desk may help you. Standing desks can be key to improving poor desk posture and mitigating chronic body pain associated with sitting during the day. We’ve tested and reviewed standing desks that are customizable, including options with multiple prices and sizes, as well as convenience for any space you have in mind.
• Best Overall Standing Desk: Seville Classics Airlift Tempered Glass Electric Standing Desk. This electronic desk is just as gorgeous to look at as it is useful and versatile. There’s plenty of tabletop space for monitors and keyboards, and there’s even a hidden drawer to store items out of sight — a good place for cellphones and laptops, since there’s also a USB charger port built directly into this model. Seville Classic’s adjustable model transforms from a spacious sitting desk to standing height with a touchscreen controller equipped with three programmable settings.
• Best Adjustable Standing Desk: Uplift V2 Bamboo Standing Desk. Uplift’s standing desk is very stable when adjusted via electronic keypads and can accommodate a wide range of heights. Uplift offers 19 finishes on its website and four different frames, plus a few add-ons. The desk itself won’t move, even if you’re a heavy typer or are constantly switching modes during the day.
• Best Mobile Standing Desk: Seville Classics. If you’re needing to move about freely, a mobile standing desktop might be the solution for you. There’s no storage, and it requires manual adjustment, but Seville Classic’s rolling workstation can be brought up to 33 inches high without losing stability. A wooden desktop can fit any laptop or tablet with a keyboard for easy use.