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• 1 GWW // Jan 29, 2008 at 3:33 am

  My wife and I both are on our computers pretty heavily. So when it came time to buy desks, and she wanted to place us up against the wall backs to one another, I protested.

  We now sit across from one another, my monitor offset about 3 feet from hers so we can talk while gaming, surfing, working, etc.

  I like it a lot. As much time as we’re on the boxes… backs to one another would have been detrimental to the marriage I think.

  Better than I can look up and look her in the eye while we’re talking.

• 2 kit // Jan 29, 2008 at 3:52 am

  Agreed, eye contact is so important to communication and shared closeness. Until tonight, Steve had to turn one of his monitors sideways to in order to see us while we were working/surfing/lounging on the couch.

• 3 Jason // Jan 29, 2008 at 6:32 am

  We isolate–by necessity. We each have an office, mostly so my chaos doesn’t descend on my wife’s order.

  My walls are lined with shelves of books, and every spare horizontal surface (including about half of my floor) is covered in papers–waiting to be filed, waiting to be graded, waiting to be returned to students, waiting to decompose.

  I have enough clear space on my desk to put my coffee cup there.

  It would be great to be able to make eye contact with my wife, but sharing a space wouldn’t be the answer. After she strangled me I’d be terrible conversation anyway.

• 4 Arioch1970 // Jan 29, 2008 at 6:33 am

  A reclining couch, laptop, and an table right by the recliner which is just the right height for frosty beverages. I keep a backpack on the middle cushion filled with the old standbys: a book to read, a notepad to write in, writing instruments and a sketchpad.

• 5 Mris // Jan 29, 2008 at 6:52 am

  The last step in customizing my workspace should take place this week or next week. I used to share this office with Timprov, and then he decided he wanted to work in his own room. (This is the warmest room in the house: a feature for me, a bug for him.) The office is otherwise perfect for me: the walls are painted “cobalt stone,” a deep blue that makes me feel more focused. There’s a large map of medieval Iceland, a Japanese paper-and-fabric art piece of trees, an Ursula Vernon print called “Madonna and Egg,” and a Chris Van Allsburg print called “The Seventh Chair.” There’s a mini-fridge for beverages when I’m dizzy and don’t want to go up and down the stairs an extra time. The short stories and the history section are shelved in here in cherry-stained bookcases, as well as my old paper journals. I’m currently using my grandfather’s old cherrywood desk. And that’s where the problem comes in: while Grandpa’s desk is awesome and personally meaningful, it is very clearly designed to be a writing desk, not a typing desk. At the moment we have enough space that I can keep it for storage and longhand writing and get another desk that’ll be ergonomic for typing. It’ll go where T’s desk was. I *love* my office. I am incredibly spoiled with my office.

• 6 Corrvin // Jan 29, 2008 at 8:15 am

  I used to work in my closet. I have a 5.5′ by 6′ walk-in closet that worked fairly well with a table and two computers, with the advantage that in the winter it was lovely and toasty.

  In an effort to actually be present among my family, my desk is now in the dining room, with computer, baskets of fabric and yarn, lights strung up, and dishes all over the place (cause I’m a slob). This resulted in struggling to find a visually clean place to photo a tiny knitted item this morning, so I think some more cleaning might be in order.

  Ideally? Ideally I’d have an actual DESK, with drawers. But then, where would I put the cat-basket?

• 7 Chris // Jan 29, 2008 at 10:07 am

  hahaha, I read this entry, and though it sounds fantastic, I secretly expected it to end with:

  Bones?

  Congrats all around, sounds like a blast!

• 8 aut0poietic // Jan 29, 2008 at 10:43 am

  Glad the workspace situation is coming together for the three of you.

  I’ve spent most of my at-work life as one of the pod people - it’s functional, semi-private and boring.

  So when working at home I like to be in the middle of the chaos. I have a large laptop, situated on a forward-tilted lapdesk, on top of a larger, cushy lap pad. This usually sits on the ottoman, until I decide to knuckle down and then moves to my lap and feet go on the ottoman.

  I use a trackball or a wacom, which can store in the back of the lapdesk or sit on the couch on my right when working.

  Is a fun way to work. I can’t tell you how many times my wife or daughter have walked by and made a comment that gave me the “ah-HA!” moment on a project when I needed it.

• 9 Kyla // Jan 29, 2008 at 11:10 am

  I use my macbook primarily so that allows me to wander freely around the house. For my creative stuff I dream of having workspace. I’d like to get the garage cleaned out and arranged so that I have easy access to all my power tools and can do my upholstery work in that space. I’d like to convert one of the spare bedrooms into a space where I can sew and possibly work on my glass bead making. My brother always tells me that I’m too diversified and need to concentrate on one creative outlet but what would the fun be in that? I’d also like a space organized for all my cake stuff which seems to just grow and grow and grow. Ideally, I’d love to have a bit workshop.

• 10 polijn // Jan 29, 2008 at 11:31 am

  Mris @ 5 - You have an Ursula Vernon print?! How cool… *envy*

  My current “work” station does not work. I haven’t written more thank 10k words in the year and a half I’ve been in this hole. I’m crammed into a corner of a small bedroom I share with my old man, three-year-old son, two pythons (one currently AWOL), and a small dog.
  My dad made the desk, and I love it. It’s just the right size and has spaces for everything, including an altar to Papa Legba if I feel like dragging out the St. Peter candle, lucky hand root, and the five finger grass… The books I’ve accumulated since I’ve been here are in six or seven boxes under and beside the desk. . . And on top fo the desk in several leaning stacks. Space is an issue.
  Noise and general distractions are another. I can hear three tvs going, all tuned to different channels, my sister-in-law (who has her own 2BR house, but will not stay there because she buys beer and whatever speed or pills to do there instead of paying for things like gas and electricity) banging around in the kitchen again, my mother-in-law running the vacuum (over a hard wood floor), and my son terrorizing a kitten (which I’m allergic to).
  BUT! We just paid the first month’s rent and deposit on a house across town. So I get to gleefully pack all this stuff up (I hate moving, but I’m soooo freakin’ happy) and move. I think I’ll set up in the dining room there.

• 11 jeff // Jan 29, 2008 at 12:24 pm

  Hmm, I have a few spaces.

  I built a corner desk in the bedroom that fits next to the head of the bed facing the window, so that I can see the wife while she is reading in bed or watching TV, and converse with the dogs outside as necessary. I have a dual monitor setup, and most of my books are in that room so it works pretty well.

  The second work area is in the garage, I built a long tall bench in there so I don’t have to crouch, and it’s also equipped with a spare surround sound setup and refrigerator for late night work sessions. Once I reorganize again, I’ll be setting up a forge outside, which will probably necessitate building an access door on the side of the garage as well.

• 12 zizban // Jan 29, 2008 at 12:52 pm

  My workspace is a mess. I have a desk piled with books, papers, computer parts, gee gaws, toys and piles of CDrs. I have two computers, my main machine, and whatever I am geeking on the moment.

  Next to me on the floor are more books and papers. Its chaotic but I have a pretty good idea of where everything is.

  Next to me is the TV, which is usually on the Gameshow Network.

• 13 El // Jan 29, 2008 at 5:14 pm

  On another topic entirely….

  I was looking for some stuff about the effect of mixing certain drugs and various stimulants and found this article. Might be worth a look for possibilities on fibromyalgia. (You may, of course, already know about this.)

  http://addfibro.com/perspective.htm

• 14 kit // Jan 29, 2008 at 6:42 pm

  Jason @ 3: I can empathize, as I am working to train myself out of my messy nature. I’m makng a lot of progress, but what I describe above is our shared workspace. I still have a private workspace in my bedroom and the less said about its current state the better.

  I’ll be working to improve that in the near future, however, as it’s important for me to spend more time in there for a few reasons, including my cat who lives there due to not socializing well with the rest of the menagerie.

  Mris @ 5: Your descriptions of your own workspace have inspired much thought and conversation about what ours should be, at least here in the Slutbarn. I’m pleased to hear that you’ve come up with a solution for the desk issue.

• 15 amysue // Jan 29, 2008 at 9:04 pm

  One day I realized our dining room was never used for dining. It’s too small and in any event, we don’t have the sort of affairs one carts out the “good china” for and all. So with a little rearranging and a lot of elfa shelving I have my craft room. I mostly knit, spin and quilt but also do some altered books and other paper arts. The room has a somewhat chaotic order. Currently the former chair rail is lined with Suzette Haden Elgin and Phillip Dick paperbacks in French. The covers have been intriguing me and I enjoy looking at them.

  However, day-to-day it’s my laptop and me in the bed. The bed is also covered with current reading, magazines, kids schoolwork in progress, knitting, and assorted ephemera. a long time ago, when I was too sick to leave my bed very often or for very long I developed this way of sort of cocooning in it and now I enjoy working this way. I hate desktops now. (as an aside, I also am a lot healthier now and leave the bed to hike, bike, work, play etc.-I just like doing my at home computer and writing there.)

• 16 kit // Jan 30, 2008 at 12:33 am

  Corrvin@6: My ideal is closer to what I have now, a place secluded to work in and somewhere I can be social. I have often looked at those big walk in closets and considered such a thing.

  As for the cat basket, our cats love sitting in drawers…

  Chris@7: Very good. That’s probably my favorite of Steve’s books actually…

  aut0poietic@8 : We all have some brainstorming time here. Reesa in particular likes to bounce her ideas around verbally but I am sure everyone here and in our writer group could come up with just such an ‘aha’ moment.

• 17 kit // Jan 30, 2008 at 12:42 am

  Kyla@9: I think diversity in creative endeavors is the future, because we should be combining more art forms and mediums. Or maybe the future was ‘plastics’, I keep getting that mixed up.

  poljin@10: Good luck with the move. I hope you find an environment more conducive to your writing in the new place.

  jeff@11: A forge, neat!

  zizban@12: sounds very organic :)

  amysue@15: Bed can be a great place to work. I think it’s all about what makes you comfortable.

• 18 kit // Jan 30, 2008 at 12:56 am

  El@13: A thought provoking article which think drives home the message that fibromyalgia is a poorly understood condition.

• 19 aut0poietic // Jan 30, 2008 at 8:40 am

  Kit@16 — In my home it’s not usually about brainstorming as much as it’s random comments “What’s with the colors? Are you trying to depress everyone who comes to the site?” or “Who ya drawing, Daddy?” “It’s Mommy.” [pause] “It sorta looks like Michael Jackson.” I guess they’re not so much “Aha” moments as “Aw, damn” moments. ; )

  I’m guessing what I do works better with visual arts — seems kinda difficult to walk by a monitor and catch a glimpse of the third chapter and say “Would he *really* do that?”

• 20 Kiki // Feb 1, 2008 at 1:52 pm

  “how have you customized your workspace to suit your needs?”

  I’ve worn a nice groove in the middle of my futon couch with my butt. I’ve placed the coffee table just far enough away for my feet to reach it, so I can put my laptop on my lap. Oh, and the back groove in the couch is a great crumb-holder, so I never have to worry about low blood sugar while I write.

• 21 Siun // Feb 3, 2008 at 3:00 am

  I’m so glad amysue said “bed” since I was feeling downright slovenly as that is my favorite workspace. Last summer I finally bought myself a truly proper wondrous bed (after realizing that when I stayed in hotels with good beds, I did not wake all creaky achy so perhaps I was not just “getting old”) and I have 6 pillows, two favored quilts, one permanent cat purrer and one pitbull who should be in my daughter’s room but thinks my laptop was ergonomically designed to be his pillow.

  For the past year I’ve mostly worked from home instead of in an office and while I have a good table and files in the living room - and sit there when monitoring the blog - for actual writing and serious work, bed has become the place I can focus.

  And since our little work team is scheduled to move into a real office in a month or so … and I know I will get nothing done once I am there!

• 22 Carolyn // Feb 3, 2008 at 1:12 pm

  While I have a tiny little studio set up, I still prefer to wander freely around my home with my laptop. Especially when the weather is nice, I prefer to work on my patio. :)

  There is a wonderful blog about artist’s workspaces you might enjoy reading / gawking. It’s given me a lot neat ideas: http://on-my-desk.blogspot.com/

• 23 Chris // Feb 7, 2008 at 3:22 pm

  I just spent a year working from home a graphic designer with some web design on the side and some writing as a purely ‘me’ project. I just got an office job, so the old space isn’t being used quite as much as it was. When I was 24/7 in my apt-box I took a corner of the living room by the sliding doors, sat a desk against the wall, then got an old coffee table and ran 3 CPU’s across it at a 90-degree angle from the desk (directly across from the door). I then ran dual monitors on a regular desk and a third monitor sitting on top of the CPU’s. Duals were used for graphic design and the third was whatever I was reading while things rendered. It also doubled as a jukebox. As I settled in to the routine I could stare forlornly out the window, adjust my jukebox, or focus on my work all with a swivel. When I needed to pace, there was a good 8 feet behind me to do so. It worked pretty well, though I still found myself taking the laptop to coffee shops a couple of times a month just to get out. Now that I have an office job the CPU’s live in the entertainment center and I’m considering setting up one of the wii-infrared drawing tables as a weekend project (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s5EvhHy7eQ). Anyone actually used one of these setups professionally?

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