Sunday, February 19, 2017

At Work At Home by Neal Zimmerman

At Work At Home by Neal Zimmerman   300 pages                              

Excellent, beautiful ideas for creating a work space in your home.    I love the simplicity of Neal Zimmerman’s explanations and his careful detail.   It’s like the man knows me.   He is imbuing me with his incredible architectural and interior design knowledge, yet, he gets me in that he breaks all that wonderful stuff down to newbie terms so that I, who knows what a hammer is, but, not necessarily how to use it in a professional manner,  can understand what he is talking about.     While most of his ideas are elegant, I’m sure catering to his upper eschalon clientele’s taste, he also has loads of beautiful, creative ideas for making workspaces out of nooks, crannies, closets, hallways, kitchen counter space pretty much anywhere you have enough space to spread out on a flat surface he can help with ideas you can use to create not just a work space but a fabulous workspace.   He even designed this cool cacoon of bookshelves that has books double housed on the shelves on both sides, it looks kind of like a tall igloo or a bee hive with that swirly thing going on but the user would be totally enveloped in this bunch of books hidden from view, yet, in this incredibly cush work spot.    I would love that one!   Like you are master of your own domain in your own lair.   You’d be saying, “I’m Bookman,”   and want a red phone on your desk just like that Gotham City guy.     Man!   I would so love that!  J   He takes in to account the who of you when discussing make a space workable.    It’s not just, “oh that looks great – I want that look,”  but, he goes in to the who of you – Who are you?  What are your likes?   Dislikes?   What are you passionate about?   What are your needs for the space ie. what is it you need to do in the space and what supplies and storage do you need to accomplish your goals?    Do you need to perform office functions, are you running a business so you require more space, do you basically need a flat surface to work on or are you working with employees and/or clients and need to configure space that is workable for not just what you are doing but that is also  convenient  and serving the needs of what you are trying to accomplish as well as not disrupting the other people in your home and or making things accessible for all involved (ie. Do you need to install a second bathroom to accommodate your staff and your clients without holding family members up with everyone waiting to use 1 bathroom?    Do you have access to entries/exits without having to parade through the whole house while your kids are trying to do homework?    Do you have access to kitchen/breakroom facilities without disrupting your spouse’s cooking, etc. )   Great ideas that I would not have necessarily thought of, he takes lots of things into account.      He even considers the electrical equipment you may require in your workspace.    Do you need a computer or laptop?     Lighting?    Will you be using tools or require projectors, monitors, microphones, etc. set up?     Are your workspace needs personal or will you need to accommodate several people in your work area?   Ie. Classroom situation, exercise/dance floor situation,  printing, weaving equipment, etc.?   All require differing spatial needs.     He even goes into how the user should take into account his/her height standing and sitting and adjust lighting, computer screens, monitors, furniture to where it is set best for your comfort.  (Think ergonomically speaking.)    He even has a suggestion for using a wooden door in a horizontal position to serve as a flat surface workspace which I am anxious to try since I just so happen to have a spare door available sitting in my garage.    Not only are his ideas sound and good ones they will inspire you to put your own spin on work spaces you want to create in your own home, basement, attic, garage, alcove, etc.   I’m still loving that book hive.   Gotta try it!     Excellent book and tool.

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