Tell me, what are you wearing right now? No, seriously. Describe it to me – every last detail 
Don’t worry, Fruit Bytes hasn’t gone all XXX and Adult Rated on you if that’s what you were hoping thinking. I just wonder what, as you sit infront of your computer reading this, you are more comfortable wearing.
I am definitely a PJ bottoms and t-shirt girl when I’m working (at home, obviously) and at play on the internet. That way I can just roll out of bed, stumble the 20 feet or so to the home office (with coffee!) and get started on my day without a silly thing called clothing getting in the way. In the summer it’s a vest top and shorts – and not forgetting my purple Crocs that I wear aaallll the time at home. And I don’t care what you say about them being ugly – they’re the comfiest things on earth
So, apart from making sure I’m wearing the comfiest attire I can for working, I also love to have a clean and calm working environment. As I mentioned last year, I was considering switching rooms in the house and moving the home office to one of the larger bedrooms. However, since I like the view here I decided to stay put. At the start of the week I got an idea in my head about painting the room and giving it a makeover…and once I get an idea then I tend to roll with it pretty quickly. The light purple was feeling old and tired…plus it never really was the exact shade I’d hoped for. Damn that B&Q man for telling me it would dry darker!
So, my first port of call for room colour inspiration was the Unclutterer Workspaces group on Flickr. I didn’t want white, but I wanted something light and airy for a small room. As I browsed through the ‘Workspaces’ section on the IKEA website for furniture, a picture of a home office flashed up which was THE perfect colour. The closest match I could find was Northern Lights by FIRED EARTH, created in association with Kevin McCloud, a British Designer who presents the Channel 4 show Grand Designs. It was almost £23 for a 2.5L tin, but so worth the price as I couldn’t find any cheaper alternatives that had the right mix of blue-green – and I am quite well known for my perfectionism. If it’s not right then it would bother me. I wasn’t settling for less.
The paint was bought on Tuesday and soon after came a mass evacuation of the furniture from the home office. Late-morning on Wednesday is when the decorating began. I was supposed to have an extra pair of hands or two helping me out, but they couldn’t make it so I did the whole room myself. I felt very accomplished. That was all finished by early evening. Then on Thursday there was a trip to IKEA for furniture, lighting and office accessories which cost around £85. Man, what was life like before this huge blue Swedish store?
In total the whole room makeover with paint/furniture/accessories cost around £110. Not bad. I am so delighted with the colour and if I spent a lot of time in here before the paint-job then I’m going to be spending every waking moment in here from now on. Everything is so much more organised and airy. I have my main desk with the iMac on near the window as usual, then an EXPEDIT bookcase as a seperator, then the PowerBook at the back of the room on it’s own laptop table called DAVE. There is a notable absence – the iMac G3. It doesn’t get used at all thesedays so is currently sitting on the bedroom floor until I get around to thinking about making it wireless. I’m not sure if that’s worth the effort, but I’m not thinking about it too much at the moment.
So, a couple of questions for you…
What do you prefer to wear when at the computer (@ home)?
Is your surroundings important to you (@ home or work) if you have in a particularly creative profession? Did you design/decorate your room layout yourself?
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06 Feb 09
9:33 pm
I’m wearing snowboarding trousers and a lumberjack shirt. Working from home, means you can wear what’s warm, economize on the heating, and not worry about what you look like. My office furniture is a mishmash of gifts and throw-outs and garden furniture. You’re office looks like some kind of utopian dream compared to mine. One day I’ll get organized.
06 Feb 09
11:12 pm
Erm… I’m not going to tell you what I’m wearing as I’ve literally only just arrived here – you’ll have to give me some time to get to know you! I saw the photo of your newly redecorated office in the Unclutterer Workspaces pool and after browsing a few photos on Flickr I’ve ended up here.
Great Mac setup you’ve got there – I’m afraid I’m still in the Apple dark ages with my iMac G5. I’d love the new one, but can’t afford it at the moment.
I guess I’ll now have to spend ages trawling all your blog archives in order to catch up – all looks like good stuff! Good to read your opinions on iLife 09 too.
Anyway… I’ll… erm… get my coat?
06 Feb 09
11:46 pm
I am wearing my usual. A pair of comfy blue jeans, a tech related t-shirt, and ankle socks (I hate socks that go up the calf. I only wear those in the form of dress socks, and only when I have to).
I would love to have more thought put into the home office, especially the drab white walls. I would love to have color. Alas, we rent an apartment (or flat, if you will) and can’t do much. In a couple years I can do whatever I want, as we plan to buy a house then.
Organization is key, however. I have a small filing chest for archives, a wall-mounted filer for items that needs attention, and a three drawer cabinet for various cables and chargers and stuff.
My wife & I also have three bookcases, and could probably stand to have yet one more, though there isn’t any room left.
But yeah, I’m pretty much a jeans & t-shirt guy. When it gets drafty I enjoy my stylish Eddie Bauer half-zip pullover, or for extreme comfort, my favorite hoodie.
07 Feb 09
12:33 am
Really nice new look to the office Sam, I like it a lot. I’ve been getting the itch to try and rearrange my room but I think it’s too small for my furniture to fit in it any other way. Maybe in 6 months I’ll have more flexibility in a new place, until then I’m stuck with my iMac on a desk that my chair doesn’t fit under.
07 Feb 09
12:14 pm
We bought a EXPEDIT one week before the price drop – lol typical eh!?
I tend to sit around in Jeans and a T-Shirt more than anything else, I love wearing Jeans. Not sure why! When it’s warmer on a night I sit in shorts and old football tops :p
Wish I was organised as you, we got a loft conversion done for a home office and it became my dumping ground. In fact that’s my job for this coming week. Clear out the clutter!!!
08 Feb 09
8:08 pm
Thanks for all the comments – and welcome to the first time commenters. Great to see you
My, you’re a well dressed bunch
Hey G4shallow! Oh no @ buying the EXPEDIT just before the £20 price drop! That’s absolutely typical
Hi Phil (Bowell). I used to have my main desk facing the window until last May when I tried it sideways and I was surprised, for such a small room, that it worked well as the desk is quite deep. It wasn’t until I emptied the room on Tuesday night that I started measuring up for the bookcase and realised that would work as a bit of a room separator.
09 Feb 09
1:14 pm
sam
OMG look at this type of comfort
http://throwboy.com/icons.php
I want all of theeeem!
09 Feb 09
10:13 pm
Wow, they’re fab, Oscar. Nice find. Do want
11 Feb 09
10:40 pm
I like being nekkid!
12 Feb 09
3:00 pm
Tom, now why doesn’t that surprise me?
14 Feb 09
4:56 pm
I have a Finder icon on order. Will let you know what it’s like when it turns up
On a side note, I have started the de-clutter of my loft, bagged and put gadget boxes in the eaves and going to get rid of all the stuff I have hoarded for no real reason :p
Just need to get something to hide all the wires underneath the desk though.
14 Feb 09
5:56 pm
Ooh nice, G4
I want the Finder icon aswell. I e-mailed Throwboy a few days ago to ask if they accept PayPal and ship to the UK. They got back to me very quick saying yes to both, so I’ll be ordering mine shortly.
Glad to hear the de-clutter is going well. And I’m glad nobody can see the wires under my desk
24 Feb 09
5:12 pm
[...] found out about Throwboy a few weeks back, thanks to a comment made here by Oscar. I e-mailed Throwboy to ask if they accepted PayPal but more importantly to enquire whether they [...]