Monday, November 24, 2008

The Perfect Arrangement


Finding the perfect office arrangement is as easy as A-B-C or in the case of home offices, U,L,P and V. The beauty of having a home office is that you can set it up any way you like. Your only constraints are budget and available square footage. Choose one of these four arrangements to make your home office more functional, productive and inviting. (After all, if you don't like your home office, you won't use it.)

• The U-shaped work area, the ideal of all four, allows you to keep everything within reach on three surfaces. If you tend to save too much however, limit the amount of open surfaces in your office. I know, you’ll just put things on the floor, but get in the habit of putting things away or at least storing them somewhere other than the floor
• The L-shaped work area offers the important advantage of getting equipment off your desk and onto a secondary surface, without taking up as much room as the U.


• With the parallel work area (the P shape), you place one surface in front of the other and still have two places to work. Your desk could be in front of a credenza or a sideboard.
• The fourth and least used is the V or corner arrangement. If home office space is tight, make use of often unused corners. You'll have a surface in front of you (ideal for your monitor) and surfaces angled to the left and right.


Whichever arrangement you choose depends primarily on the size of your office, the type of furniture you have and how much work surface you need. Keep in mind that if someone else is sharing your office, you may be limited to the type of arrangement you can use. Also, consider facing your desk to the door. I like knowing if someone has walked into the room. With two boys, that’s usually not a problem, but you never know.