Now that Spring has finally sprung wonderfully in my part of the world this week, I am looking forward to spending more time in the garden with my PowerBook to do some gentle work during the day, then moving to the home office which will be cooler in the evenings. One of the problems that comes with nice weather, for me, is my phobia - wasps. Over the past couple of years there seems to be an increase in these bothersome insects which means my garden time is severely reduced as they chase me into the house.

This week we have bought a new gazebo for the garden which has netting all around it meaning I can sit inside and stick my tongue out at the wasps and work peacefully without having to run indoors every 2 minutes. However, there is sometimes a downside as they can lurk around the entrance near the zip, waiting for me to come out (seriously, this isn’t just me being paranoid, haha). This is where my new purchase will come in. Enter the Waspinator.

One of my Twitter friends pointed me in the direction of it yesterday so I promptly bought one, costing just £9.95. As you can see from these photos, it mimics an enemy nest so they leave the area for somewhere safer. No traps, no poison, just fooling the wasp into thinking enemies are nearby, leaving me in peace to enjoy my day. Last year we bought a portable insect killer (the Wasp Sunbed I liked to call it) which means the insect would be drawn to the blue light and meet a sizzling end. However, I was always quite put off by the fact that you would see the dead insect and worse still have to clean it out. Plus, wasps give off a scent when they’re dying which means other wasps could come and investigate and I’d have a load more to contend with. We don’t want that.

I’m really looking forward to this arriving so I can sit in the garden, outside of the safety of the gazebo netting, get a tan, work on my PowerBook/browse the net without being disturbed. I’ll also be able to hang it beside the window in the bedroom, home office or kitchen so I can let fresh air into the house without worrying that I’m going to come face to face with my fear. I’ll let you know how I get on with it when it arrives and see if it really does do what it says on the box

Image courtesy of Waspinator

One of my most favourite things to do on Flickr is to be nosey and look around some of the great home offices and set-ups that people post in JustSetups. I just love the whole uniqueness of people’s workspace - their wall colour, desk position and of course all the things they surround themselves with. I like to see the really minimal set-ups aswell as the ones which draw your eyes to lots of interesting things. Every time I take a photo of my home office, which my followers will probably say is very often, I make sure I add it to JustSetups aswell as a few other ones out there.

For me my home office surroundings is very important - it needs to be as this is where I earn my living. One of the main reasons I bought an iMac rather than a portable Apple notebook as my main machine was the fact that I wouldn’t be straying very far from my office when being my most creative. I have tried working and concentrating in other rooms in the house, but getting comfortable and avoiding distractions has been difficult. The home office is my little cocoon where I can shut myself away, be noisy with music and get on with work. And it’s always nice to be able to close the door on the room when I’ve had enough. I have a PowerBook now and it’s always quite tempting to drag that off to bed with me for a final late-night web lurk, but I try not to do that too often.

I came across a site a few weeks ago that posts photos of famous company offices. I was particularly impressed with the Twitter HQ. And here’s an updated shot. Look at all those sexy Macs under one roof I always thought they’d have a pretty cool set-up as they’re a pretty cool company, but I found it really inspirational. As soon as I saw that it made me want to overhaul my workspace. We have a spare room slash guest room which is much larger than the room I use as my office. It’s about double the size, perhaps even larger. I was really in the mood to swap rooms as long as the double bed in there could fit in this room. I did some measuring up and it would *just* fit. I was working out some plans and decor such as painting the walls ‘milky coffee’, thinking about a really cool circular desk in the middle of the floor with my two iMac’s and PowerBook on. Then have some nice IKEA shelving around the place and there’d still be ample room for a little bright pink or green sofa for people to chill on.

My interior design brain was in full force until I spent a little time wandering into the guest room to do some measuring up. It just didn’t feel right. It’s located on the same side of the house as my home office, but the sun doesn’t seem to shine so bright in there (oddly, I know) meaning it’s pretty damn cold…and I would miss being closer to this view. The Japanese Cherry Blossom tree always blooms in mid-April for a few weeks and it’s lovely to see from the office window. I tried to imagine what the room would be like when it’s all decorated but I just couldn’t…which is quite unusual for me. So, I’ve decided to stay put for now. It’s nice and cosy in here - plenty of room for me to do what I want. I’m creative in here and apart from the bedroom this is probably the only other room in the house that I spend more time in, so it must be doing something right.

Are you particular about where you do your work, if working from home? Does your surroundings play a part in your productiveness?