Describe where you work outside of the office
I work out of my home office (a sunny spare bedroom in my house in NY) every day of the week, either telecommuting as an IT professional and graphic designer or freelance writing and designing. I spend a lot of time in here! (Note: these photos were also posted in the About.com Guides' Home Offices Gallery)
Equipment and furniture
My *current* setup (liable to change at any moment): a Toshiba Portege M700 tablet PC hooked up to a 22" Dell monitor (absolutely essential), external speakers, and multifunction printer via a USB dock. I also have a second desk for purely writing and sketching, on which I use an IdeaPad s10-3t netbook for simple Web work. I also have an old G4 Mac that hopes to one day be reincarnated as a MacBook Pro.
My furniture leaves much to be desired. Except for my main desk, which was my father's, I need better-built bookcases (too many books on mine) and a sturdier file cabinet (way too many papers in there). I've got chair pads on my office chair and a footrest for more ergonomic computing, but still need to get up often to protect my body and avoid cabin fever.
Tips and Tricks
- I love my second monitor. No single accessory has changed my life as much as that external monitor. Get one, I don't think you'll regret it.
- The full-spectrum light keeps me from sadness on cloudy days. It also makes everything look better.
