Should you pop into the Always Sunday HQ, you'd be hopefully pleasantly surprised with how anti-corporate the office design is. Our HR files may be predictable but our HQ is certainly not. The walls are decorated with paintings from founder Lexi Wareham-Dart's own art collection, the white goods are certainly not white and the office dog sleeps on a luxurious velvet quilt (lucky her!). We don't wear suits and there's not a briefcase in sight so we decided there was no use in creating company guidelines for the office aesthetic.
If you're looking for home office ideas that inspire productivity and don't crush your dreams, we've got the creative juices flowing for our best advice.
Work out what inspires you and put it right in front of your face
Sure you can make a collaged moodboard that your teenage self would be proud of (pass the glitter glue baby) but there’s only so much inspiration a magazine tearout can provide. Inspiration should engage the senses because we as humans are driven by them; the sounds, the scents, the way something feels and makes us feel by interacting with it. Pictures engage our eyes but what about the other body parts? Make your inspiration visually and texturally rich so that you can really feel it. It’s time to go big or go home (office)!
Found a vintage fabric swatch that you can’t stop feeling up? Make it into cushions and put them on your desk chair. Prefer to be lost in the woods than in your work emails? Fit the walls with wood tambour paneling and a forest of houseplants and unearth a new level of productivity.
Design an ergonomic home office for your body
One thing those corporate busy bodies understand is the importance of home office furniture designed around the human body for a safe and comfortable working space. We know that a bad office chair can cause back pain, spinal tension and arthritis but did you know that most ergonomic studies made in the 1960’s and 1970’s catered for a primarily white male audience? Unsurprising sure, but that seriously limited data (that doesn’t cater for anatomical variation in gender or heritage) is still being used today by some of the biggest furniture designers out there. The office chair you’re probably sat on right now was meant to have a skinny white man's arse sat in it.
Head to visual artist Anna Aagaard Jensen’s website and you’ll watch 1:39 awkward minutes of celebrity women on talk shows (opening with the powerhouse Anna Wintour) sitting uncomfortably in a boxy little armchair that somehow makes every single woman look small. Watch as they readjust their hem length to cover their thighs, carefully close their legs, unsure where to place their hands as they sit forward and then back repeatedly, trying to mold their bodies into a shape clearly not designed for them.
In 2018, Jensen created a series of controversial female-only furniture called ‘Lady Chairs’; ten chairs designed to physically sculpt the female body so that when a woman takes a seat they’re almost forced to lean back, spread their legs and claim space in a way that men have been allowed to do for centuries.
And so it's important to understand that a home office doesn’t necessarily mean fitting out the best ergonomically designed furniture - prioritise comfort and health of course but a well designed home office allows you to sit back, spread out and to claim the space like you were born to it.
Make it homely
Part of making a space that you fit into (not the other way around) is adding those personality pieces. Dress your home office like you would any other room in your house. That means no microsoft-grey walls, red plastic in-trays or the sad yucca plant (unless you really love yucca plants) because it’s time to add the flourishes that make it homely. Cushions, candles, fresh flowers daily, whatever makes you feel relaxed and prepare for your mind to be opened and challenged.
But make it clear you’re here to work
We don’t mean to go all Kondo on you but those stray papers and pen lids you've been swimming in are probably the reason you’re not feeling creative in your home office. It’s time to thank them kindly the way Marie taught us and then get them the f* out of your desk drawers and responsibly disposed of.
Clear surfaces regularly, tidy at the end of each working day and employ clever storage solutions so that everything has its place. Looks like it’s time to get the label maker out..
Choose the most stylish Home Office Accessories
Forget the sad plastic stapler with the peeling ‘office’ message in masking tape, if you’re ordering in the office supplies for the team (yes we know it's just you) then choose stationery that won’t end up in the sad leavers cardboard box. A gold-plated stapler made in Italy, terrazzo printed scissors hand-assembled by craftsmen and cult classics like the Penco bullet pen designed and made in Japan. They’re aesthetically beautiful and make you and your home office feel so elevated no matter what position in the company you hold.
Feeling prepared to stick it to the Man and design an anti-corporate home office you can't wait to work in? Shop our Home Office collection online now.
