Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 14 Apr 2016.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve written previously about the lack of efficient office space in our home office.\u00a0 Last fall, hubby and I decided that the current arrangement wasn\u2019t working.\u00a0 After the kids moved out we had converted the larger bedroom to a guest room and the other to a home office.\u00a0 It made sense at the time because the larger bedroom has a nice view, is bright and cheery and gives a guest a more relaxed environment.\u00a0 Since it would mainly have been used by the kids when they came home for short visits, it was ideal.\u00a0 Hubby liked the smaller room for his den as it was cozy and left him little space to clutter up.\u00a0 It also had a built in bookcase crafted by the builder that took up most of a wall that could be used as document storage, if I ever could get around to parting with the books we have on the shelves.<\/p>\n
The arrangement worked for a number of years because I preferred to use a laptop or tablet and hubby loved his desktop system.\u00a0 When I began taking paying clients, however, I found I needed to use the desktop system as it has more than one screen.\u00a0 I could keep the client\u2019s tree open on one screen and show the document on the other.\u00a0 Using the laptop at the dining room table made me feel like the staged genealogists on TV who turn the laptop and say to the client something like, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you look it up on Ancestry.com!\u201d<\/p>\n
When I sent in my preliminary application to become a certified genealogist we knew we had to make the office more effective.\u00a0 Hubby came up with the idea of flipping the rooms as the kids live close now and rarely spend the night.\u00a0 That got us thinking of what we both needed to do our work.<\/p>\n
I wanted a flexible work space; one where I could spread out documents and notes.\u00a0 I definitely wanted that to be close to the printer\/copier\/fax\/scanner and the two screen desktop.\u00a0 I needed office supplies readily available.\u00a0 Storage space was also important.<\/p>\n
Hubby, too, needed space to spread out.\u00a0 The desk that had once seemed perfect wasn\u2019t in practice.\u00a0 Loved the styling and color BUT the laminate was worn in places and there was only one drawer and one file space so storage was limited.\u00a0 Hubby then bought another piece of furniture that sort of looked like a business night stand.\u00a0 It housed the printer with a drawer underneath to keep the paper.\u00a0 It was difficult to access so hubby\u2019s top request was that he have space for supplies and that everything could be easily accessible.<\/p>\n
We decided we needed two computer desks and a table.\u00a0 Definitely didn\u2019t think it would be hard to find something to meet our needs but we were wrong!\u00a0 I didn\u2019t like the prices of the laminate desks which would look worn in a short time.\u00a0 None had tables that matched anyway.\u00a0 The few that had a solid surface top had no storage and I wasn\u2019t sure I even liked the look; looked to me like someone had plopped a countertop on a desk.\u00a0 IMHO, the solid wood desks weren\u2019t well made for the price.\u00a0 I saw a few glass desks that could work but I didn\u2019t like the price and hubby thought it was too modern for us.\u00a0 No surprise, we\u2019re antique people.<\/p>\n
So, we waited.\u00a0 And waited.\u00a0 And kept waiting.\u00a0 The holidays came and went, business travel, sickness and accidents, and other repairs took precedence.\u00a0 Two weeks ago I saw the glass desk with a matching table was on sale.\u00a0 Texted hubby and we decided we\u2019d check it out the following day.\u00a0 Drove through torrential rain and decided it would work.\u00a0 Of course, there was a glitch.\u00a0 Actually, there were several glitches.\u00a0 The store only had one desk and the table.\u00a0 They also didn\u2019t have in stock the filing cabinet unit that matched or a 9 drawer unit that could house all our office supplies.\u00a0 Employees had no idea when or if the store would ever get the items.\u00a0 Called another store and they had one desk and the filing cabinet and would hold it for us.\u00a0 For our trouble, we got an additional 20% off the sales price and the first store sold us the 9 drawer unit on display at half price.\u00a0 We were happy!<\/p>\n
Got home and emptied the room and decided we definitely needed to paint.\u00a0 Hubby spent the rest of the day painting away.\u00a0 I continued to work on the KDP in the cramped office with paint fumes wafting.\u00a0 The following day we began to assemble the furniture and found that it didn\u2019t match.\u00a0 The desk has a tempered glass top that is light grey on the edges.\u00a0 The table and corner unit has dark grey edges.\u00a0 The second desk was missing the keyboard tray and a leg.<\/p>\n
We decided to move the desktop computer into the new office anyway and contact the company the following day, which was last Monday.\u00a0 Even with the setbacks we loved the new arrangement.\u00a0 The weather had been dreary and the new room, especially with the glass tops, was bright.\u00a0 We could see!\u00a0 The view was relaxing, too.<\/p>\n
The company said that there were no more dark grey desktops so they shipped the missing pieces and new light grey tops so all the units will match.\u00a0 The missing leg arrived first so we assembled the second desk on Monday.\u00a0 The other pieces arrived yesterday.<\/p>\n
I never realized how important one\u2019s surroundings to complete tasks efficiently until I took on the BCG portfolio.\u00a0 I\u2019m used to juggling a Kindle in a research facility\u2019s stacks, taking a picture with my phone, and holing up on the sofa with the laptop to research.\u00a0 \u00a0I found I\u2019m better “in the zone” when I\u2019m at a desk, though.\u00a0 So I started checking around to see if any research had been conducted in this area and found a Harvard study that shows employees perform better when they control their space.\u00a0 You can read it here:\u00a0Harvard Study<\/a><\/p>\n I am pleased to announce I have finished the KDP!\u00a0 I completed it in the new office on Sunday, April 10th<\/sup> at 4:45 P.M.\u00a0 There\u2019s editing, checking some citations, a deed and a will I\u2019m still hoping will turn up (but not likely as both were misfiled!) before I wrap it up totally but it is 99.9% complete.\u00a0 I especially like the thought that the KDP was the first project completed in the new space. \u00a0\u00a0Here\u2019s a toast to my productive new office and that there\u2019ll be many more KDP\u2019s in my future!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 14 Apr 2016. I\u2019ve written previously about the lack of efficient office space in our home office.\u00a0 Last fall, hubby and I decided that the current arrangement wasn\u2019t working.\u00a0 After the kids moved out we had converted the larger bedroom to a guest room and the other to a home … Continue reading “A Genealogist’s Work Space – How Surroundings Effect Efficiency”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[277,276,278],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-professional-genealogists","tag-efficiency","tag-office","tag-work-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=294"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/294\/revisions\/295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}