Home meets office: Four furnishing concepts to make you feel good

A question of work-life balance

In the search for a healthy balance between home and office, the design of home workplaces is becoming a test for contemporary working models. Thanks to digital communication and cloud applications for online collaboration it is now theoretically possible to work anywhere. The home office enables hybrid working models that promise flexibility and more quality time: but how can this requirement be met spatially when the office is in the living room and the job suddenly takes up too much space? Many home officers consequently ask themselves the following questions:

• How can concentrated work succeed at home - and how do I switch off again?
• How do I recreate the office in your living room or bedroom at home without the office electronics and office swivel chair getting in the way?  
• How many square meters do I have to plan for the home office and what furniture fits in?

Fortunately, practical multi-purpose furniture, space-saving designs and clever furnishing concepts offer numerous ways to draw the line between work and private life, even in a small space. We present 4 home office types with specific setup examples and work situations: for parents, for creative people, for managers and for IT staff.

Home-Office Guide: What type of work are you ?

For many people today, work means non-physical work. Modern job descriptions not only define our way of working, but also our working environment. Large computers and mountains of files are relics of the pre-digital world.

Thanks to the new technology work can also now largely take place outside of the primary workplace. What's more, laptops and other mobile devices are just as much a part of our private lives as they are of everyday working life. The spatial boundaries are blurred. In this way, mobility within the home is also becoming the leitmotif of modern work.

If the home office becomes the (or one) centre of work it is worth dealing in depth with the spatial dimensions of everyday work. Put the way you work to the test: How are you most productive and what opportunities does a home office offer you?

Home office does not necessarily mean a study. Some people just need an optically shielded area, for others working at the dining table is ideal. Laptop, smartphone and wireless networks make it possible. In addition, everyday life provides the framework for working in the home office. What type of work are you?

Technology, storage space, flexibility: Four space-saving furniture tips for working at home

Space is often scarce in the home office, consequently smart room planning is the aim if living and working areas are to coexist in a good balance. First, reflect on how many devices and what storage space you need for your job, and how important flexible use of space is to you.

There are essentially two ways of structuring the home workplace: as a permanent place or multifunctional with flexible multiple use:

1. Static solutions such as the compact work corner or the full-fledged complete desk form the centre around which various activities revolve. 
2. Flexible solutions such as the mobile or integrated work station, on the other hand, are characterised by the fact that they can be assembled and dismantled quickly - for example the bureau that disappears completely into a shelf or the work station at the dining table. Such dynamic, situation-related solutions are ideal, especially in small city apartments, because they are space-saving home office furnishings.