Creative Office Solutions

Folding Laundry...Writing Blogs:
By: Justin Draughn

Before my wife and I decided to have children, our home office was truly a sight to behold. A techie’s dream…sleek tables, weirdly shaped ergonomic chairs, and a host of science fiction movie posters adorning the walls. Then…we had kids – while I don’t ever say that begrudgingly, my sleek-silver office turned into a pink nightmare…a baby girl’s room.

A quick search of the house left me with little options – moving my desk into the master bedroom was out of the question, the glow of the monitor would keep my wife awake during late night gaming sessions. I needed a door, and a reasonably quiet place to work and generally waste time playing video games. Then I realized a desk-sized cutaway in our laundry room…at first the idea sounded crazy, but after a few measurements…I realized it could indeed work.

My workstation was scaled down to a small glass table that supported my monitor, keyboard, and mouse. While we have overhead lighting in the form of fluorescent tubes – these tend to give me a headache, as such I opted for a sleek desk lamp from Kenroy Home called “Amherst”. The pivoting head and three-way touch controls worked perfectly in the arrangement – I have a nice warm glow when typing, or executing commands on my favorite online multi-player game. Additionally, the rich oil rubbed bronze finish compliments my black PC accessories.  

With very limited space, I soon realized that I would need to "build up" in order to accommodate necessities like disc cases, files, headsets, controllers, and general office supplies. A simple wire shelf was installed to hold most of the larger items – however, this solution was not handy for items that I’d be accessing frequently such as my headset and gaming controller. After a quick online search, I located the perfect solution – an iron holder with two supporting arms – this feature solved three storage solutions…a place for my iron, headset, and gaming controller.

I've had my “laundry data center” for five years now – and once you get used to the scaled down area, it’s really quite nice. An unexpected bonus is the warmth from our dryer during the cold winter months. Leave a comment below if you've ever had an unusual home office arrangement…and what were your solutions?

The "Amherst" desk lamp can be purchased at your local lighting showroom- or online at these fine retailers.