In the warm season, you can get the most out of your working day … comfort and pleasure! To do this, you just need to move your home office to the backyard. Let fresh air, natural light, and greenery help boost productivity and spur your creativity. In this article, we will provide some tips for setting up a green office.
TABLE AND CHAIR
You can’t just take ordinary furniture out of the house outside. Mother Nature will quickly deal with it with the help of rain, dew, humidity, sun, wind, heat and nighttime cold snaps. For an outdoor office, you will need things from the “Garden furniture” category, resistant to bad weather.
The material plays a key role. If it is a tree, then it should be eucalyptus, acacia, teak, cedar. If metal, then — aluminium, stainless steel with a powder coating. Plastic and rattan are great choices too.
Also, make sure the furniture is heavy enough to withstand windy conditions.
What no office can do without? That’s right, without a table. Its size depends on your needs. For some, a small table may be enough to put a laptop. Others need a lot of space to organise their workspace. Make sure the table is suitable for your height and is comfortable to sit at. If you plan to remove it from the street to the house, choose the folding option or on wheels.
Find the right chair you can sit comfortably for extended periods. Rigid elements can be softened with pillows. Pay attention to the material of their manufacture — the fabric should be water-repellent, easy to clean, resistant to fungus and fading.
An alternative option is a regular office chair. Because it’s lighter and more mobile than a desk, you can put it away every night.
FLOORING
To prevent the legs of a chair or table from sinking into the ground, your office-in-nature should be located on a flat surface. The usual coatings that are used in summer cottages for paving garden paths and adjoining territories will come in handy.
They are made of materials that are durable and resistant to bad weather conditions: polypropylene, polyethylene, stone, brick, special types of wood like acacia. The most affordable options are made of plastic. Natural stone is aesthetically pleasing and lasts forever, but is expensive. Another option is plank flooring, but it requires constant maintenance and does not differ in durability.
Use large-format elements: the fewer joints and seams, the better.
CANOPY
Have you ever tried working on a computer on a sunny day? The screen glares and dazzles, nothing is visible on it, there is an irresistible desire to give up all work and move back to the stuffy room. Therefore, our office in the yard definitely needs a shade.
Also, sunlight heats space, so shade is also needed to maintain coolness and reduce the chances of sunstroke (a bonus — protection from rain).
As a canopy, you can use different options: a simple garden umbrella, a medium-sized awning and a garden pavilion for large spaces. Another way to achieve adequate shade is by installing a gazebo.
You can also use the trees and shrubs that grow on the site, create a living tent with climbing plants such as ivy and vines, and place an outdoor office on the north side of the house, which is best shaded.
Wi-Fi
Strong and stable Wi-Fi is an absolute must-have for your workplace. There is nothing more nerve-racking than a dead zone with no internet or a weak signal. Therefore, your office in nature should be close to the router. If this is not possible, there are several ways to amplify the signal.
1. Hang the device as high as possible. Keep it away from devices that interfere with signal transmission: cordless phones, microwave ovens, TVs, radios.
2. Install additional antennas with a higher power on the router.
3. If it does not help, connect it with another router closer or a special Wi-Fi signal booster.
FAN
Whatever pictures you see when pronouncing the phrase “office in the fresh air”, sometimes you have to struggle with a lack of freshness, summer heat, and stuffiness. This is where a fan comes in handy. It will save you from overheating on hot days. It will provide a pleasant coolness and light breeze in your immediate vicinity.
In addition, the fan has an extra advantage: the uniform noise coming from it will create a slight masking sound. This will help you not to be distracted by the world around you and better concentrate on your work.
LIGHTING
Planning on working in the evening? Take care of arranging your desk lighting ahead of time so you don’t get distracted by fighting for light after sunset. Conventional table lamps or compact solutions powered by a laptop are suitable as local light sources. And for general lighting, you can use street lamps that can be attached to the wall of the house or fence.
ELECTRICITY
It’s unlikely that you want to bring your computer into the house every few hours to put it on recharge. In addition, other devices are powered by electricity too: telephone, printer, lamp, fan, heater. Thus, your open office should be close to electrical outlets. To do this, you need an external extension cord.
If you don’t want to bother with wires, buy a Power Bank to charge your laptop and smartphone, a battery-powered fan and table lamp.
PRIVACY
Place your open office away from noise, distractions, and prying eyes.
Create a privacy wall by planting bushy shrubs around your workplace. They are not only a natural barrier, but also pleasing to the eye and make the space more atmospheric.
For protection from extraneous noise, you can organise a fountain. The sound of pouring water will suppress sounds from the surrounding world and create a calm environment. In addition, the fountain has an aesthetic function.
As an alternative to the fountain, you can use background music from speakers or headphones.
ATMOSPHERE
Do you want to create a space that will please you? Strive for this positive energy to motivate and tune you to productive work? Then consider decorating your office in the bosom of nature.
The idea is simple: think of it as an ordinary room to be decorated. Get creative and think of an exterior design that reflects your style.
Let the colours of office furniture, walls and everything else be your favourites.
Decorate your workspace with lush green plants and flowers. It is especially useful and pleasant to work when the air is saturated with the scent of conifers: pathogens die, the lungs more actively drive the air through themselves, the skin gets rid of puffiness … of course, if you get enough sleep and alternate work and rest.
To enhance your outdoor workspace, consider adding beautiful flower boxes for a touch of nature and colour.
No pines and firs? Any plants saturate the air with oxygen, so furnish your workplace with flowerpots with healthy green spaces — and there will be something to rest your eyes and emotions on. And if you don’t have time for gardening you can also set natural-looking artificial grass and a pot or two with your favourite flowers. Cloves and gardenias will help provide a pleasant scent.
Install wrought iron street lights with soft light. Think again about creating a beautiful fountain that can not only muffle extraneous sounds but also give aesthetic pleasure.
Keep healthy snacks and refreshing drinks handy in beautiful dishes to brighten up your brakes and energize your brain.
Conclusion
The concept of outdoor work is becoming more and more popular. It is being actively implemented in the world’s leading corporations like Google. There is a lot of research on this topic. The Cornell University College of Human Ecology published a 2003 study showing that children who spent a lot of time in nature were more stress-resistant than children who spent less time in nature. UC Berkeley and our intuition have shown that being outdoors reduces fatigue, increases creativity, and leads to more pleasant and balanced work life. Add nature to your workday, increase productivity, and be happier by moving your home office outside.