Communities like LooseCubes.com that let you find temporary space to rent by the day or the month (like Hoboken, NJ’s MissionFifty, above) are a smart place to start. Look for workspaces that inspire, teach you something, or that simply give you a fresh perspective. Here are a few spots available across the country that recently caught our eye.

Designed by Strasser Architects, the soon-to-open Intero in Houston offers collaborative and private areas.

Brainstorm with clients (or alone) while sitting in an Eames Molded Plastic Side Chair in the brightly lit Allen + Killcoyne Architects studio in New York City.

Need breathing room? The airy 16,000-square-foot CoCo is housed in the historic Minneapolis Grain Exchange.

Surprising nooks and crannies in Brooklyn’s newly renovated Love Brigade might inspire a little creativity.

Learn lessons in organization from spaces like this architect’s office in Berkeley, CA (take a look at their rainbow-colored filing system).

Spacious, streamlined, and equipped with Yves Béhar’s innovative SAYL Chair: office space from Packouz in New York City’s Soho neighborhood.

Even the Loosecubes office in DUMBO, Brooklyn, has space to rent—plus a tent, lawn chairs, and an Eames Molded Plastic Armchair to boot.

Photos: Loosecubes.com

How long have you worked from home? I’ve been working from home in some form or another for the past 14 years. I’ve stolen hours where I can find them in between sleep and my various day jobs, so home has always been a continuous place of work.

Tell us a bit about your work? I wear a lot of hats around here including graphic designer, painter, boss lady, blogger and interiors consultant. By day I’m a Senior Lead Product Designer at Yahoo! and in all my in-between hours I’m running the studio here producing work for personal clients. Most of my fine art clients reside in New York, San Francisco, London and Sydney with work in both private and corporate collections. Graphic design clients include Taschen, GOOD Magazine and design shops like Rare Device and Renegade Handmade. I produce a wide range of products like interactive user interfaces, paintings, illustrations, logos, and infographics.

How big is your work space? The loft is 2200 square feet on the ground floor where most of the work occurs. Larger art pieces are transported in through the heavy double wooden doors. The living area upstairs has been deemed a no work zone.

Is there any form of technology that really inspires you? I’m a bit old school. Blank paper and canvas still get the best response out of me because that’s where all my ideas start. Technical drawing pencils also get me excited. But if I had to pick a newer item, I’d definitely say high-end audio headphones. I’m a bit of a collector and audiophile when it comes to them and the bigger the better. I love headphones where the modern components are hidden inside retro looking shells.

What desk accessory can’t you do without? My orange flip clock. I can hear the gears grinding and it keeps me on task. It’s a stunning bit of machinery and always gorgeous to look at. When the days and nights blur together as I obsess over another project, it reminds me where and when I am.

Do you have any tips for organizing a home work space? I live and work in basically a large rectangular box. If something is out of place or disorganized you notice it pretty quickly. To stay organized means knowing my limits when it comes to how much I can store. The loft has no built in storage so supplies are kept to the level of what’s necessary to complete the job. Paintings are often hung to maximize the immense wall space and serve as a gallery display when clients come over for viewings. I also tend to group and organize items by colour so that they give the appearance of being part of a related group. My biggest secret is that my vintage lunch box collection serves double duty as a filing system for important papers and business receipts. Finding creative ways to keep organized allows me to keep the space from getting too cluttered.

How long have you worked from home? I’ve been working from home full time as freelance graphic designer for 3 years, I’m working mostly in the fields of institutional and culture communication in France. I am also an illustrator, which I enjoy most and I try to post a sketch as often as possible on my tumblr blog. I would love create children books now! I’ve always had a place to draw where I lived as long as I can remember.

And where is home? Our home is in Lille, in the north of France, between Paris, Brussels, London and Amsterdam. I really enjoy living in one of Europe’s cross roads. We bought our house 2 years ago from one of my partner’s former architecture teachers. I like the idea that the place where I spend most of my days has been a home office for a long time.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? The house was built in 1930, we are furnishing it slowly with furniture found in jumble sales or vintage stores from the 30′s to the 50′s. The home office is the place where I feel free to stick any pictures I love anywhere on the walls just because I want to be able to see them all the time (and take it away when I’ve had enough of it). It is full of tins, old books and toys I find everywhere.

How do you keep your office organized? I’m thinking here of the physical space but also your computer. I organize myself with a pen and a paper – everything starts in my big blue notepad (they are always the same, I only change the colors of cover when I buy a new one). All my lifework is in there. I once threw one away by mistake, and had to have a look in the street paper recycling bin to find it… my neighbors thought I’d gone mad that day. When my notepad’s closed my workday is finished. Also shelves! Plenty of them –  so that books, magazines etc. can stand vertically, instead of horizontally in piles. Filling the shelves with the books I love when moving in, it is always a great pleasure.

Are there any particular programs you find really useful? I use Skype everyday, it changed my way of working in team with other freelance graphic designers, they became kind of colleagues in a way!

When you were setting up your home office what did you keep in mind? When we moved into this house the ground floor walls, where I work now, were already covered with bookshelves which was ideal, and the former landlord had given us a beautiful old “double desk”. We just had to refresh the white paint, sit down, and work. We added a big old workshop table where I like to draw because it is far from the computer and a big “cat-approved” sofa to make the place warm and comfortable, friends are always welcome to sit down and have a drink and a biscuit.

Is there any piece of home office furniture you covet? Honestly not really…  I might need to find a place on the walls for a proper inspiration board to avoid flyers, articles and post cards everywhere, that’s all I am thinking of for the moment.

What is a desk accessory you can’t do without? My “gigantic” screen, I miss it when working away from home on my portable computer.

What would you change about your own workspace? My workspace is a bit dark in winter, I need better lighting.

What do you most love about your space?  When the sliding glass windows are wide opened in spring and summer I feel like working outside and I love it.

What inspires you? I receive the Grain Edit newsletter every day. I love art and graphic design from the 50′s, I love the clear, simple and efficient style. I admire the way artistes use subtle and bright colors. Charley Harper is one of my favorite illustrator. I also admire japanese illustrators such as Yoshitomo Nara, for the same reasons I guess. Apart from this, I think that if you pay attention around you,  everyday life is always very inspiring.

Martin says: “I think we’ve got a great space. We’re a hodgepodge of Blu Dot tables, Aerons, a Mitchell Gold sofa, and late 1950′s Danish modern furniture.”

A self-confessed neat freak and organizing fanatic Benita Larsson lives in “a little gray 1930′s house” with her husband, young son and two cats. They’ve lived their for 11 years and “while haven’t made any major structural changes we have made our mark on every nook and cranny.” And when she’s not blogging about her house at Chez Larsson or selling her punch art from her online store, Benita works in the marketing department of a Swedish chain of stores where she is the visual merchandiser in charge of marketing campaign themes and window displays.

How long have you worked from home…and where is ‘home’? Home is in a Stockholm suburb in Sweden. I started working from home one day a week a year ago. Fridays are good days in many ways!

What does an average work day involve? I blog and the work I do is mostly unpaid and blog related; I help readers out with projects, I take photos and edit them for blog posts, I answer interview questions, prepare photo requests and occasionally invoice ads.

Is there any form of technology that really inspires you and helps you in your work? About a week ago I got a Wacom Bamboo tablet and I’m dying to learn how to use it properly. If it works the way I hope, it will help me out enormously when sketching. Now all I need are a few more hours in the day to sit down and learn…

How do you organize your space? I try to keep everything as organized and clutter free as possible. My desk space is really small so anything lying about will disturb my arm movement. Everything has a designated spot and if I want to add anything something else must go. As for virtual space I just try to keep bookmarks organized and to a minimum and photos and documents in named folders. I keep my files backed up online but also got an external hard drive recently and transferred a lot of photo folders that I don’t use daily to it. That freed up a lot of space and made the lap top less cluttered.

What item from your desktop can you not do without? I can’t live without my laptop. It’s sick but I’m constantly at it. I think I need to take a lap top free weekend but I fear I’d die in the process. Ok, that determines it. I HAVE to take a laptop-free weekend. On a low tech note I love the four slots we have built in our home office unit. There’s one for my husband Martin, one for our son Wille, one for me and one for bills to be paid. It’s what keeps the desk top clutter free. Any piece of paper lying about goes into the owners slot and that person knows where to look for it when it’s missing from plain view.

What inspires you? Other creative people; bloggers, crafters, photographers, Martin and Wille.

Photo: Chris Warnes

Deborah Bibby has worn a lot of hats in her worklife. She began editing fashion magazines and moved into interior styling. She had a book publishing business and is now the editor of Australian interiors magazine Real Living. I was lucky enough to work for the same company as Deb in Australia and can vouch for her inimitable style. When she’s not busy editing or dreaming up new book ideas you can find Deb blogging at Real Living.

As editor you have an office in the heart of Sydney. You live about 45 minutes away by the ocean. How much time do you spend in your home office? What kind of work do you find yourself doing there? My home office is like my sanctuary – it’s my creative place and I often lose myself in there for hours on a Sunday afternoon. It feels indulgent to sit and dream up ideas for work or for myself personally. Work really is my hobby (ssshhh)!

One thing I never do in my home office is tax, bill-paying or any other day-to-day chore. Instead, the space is for me to get creative. Prior to Real Living I used to have a small independent book publishing company, so ideas for books are constantly popping into my head. I have one running around in there at the moment, about old-fashioned beach houses across Australia. I am determined to capture their essence before they have all disappeared.

A few days ago, the cottage in front of my house was demolished to make way for an uninspiring modern glass box. I am not against strong contemporary architecture – done well it can lift the soul – but I do find it a little depressing when it’s all about the money and there is no respect for the emotions of a place. The buildings are often cheaply built, purely functional, emotionless structures. Soon the original beach house will be more valuable than the bunkers popping up everywhere and developers will struggle to comprehend it. Apparently the “McMansion” loses value the minute contracts are exchanged. A positive that did come out of the GFC was that the pressure was taken off families to keep up with the Joneses. Suddenly it’s okay to be a little humble.

How would you describe your home office? What is the design aesthetic? Less about style and more about the heart. I’d say my office has evolved over the years and acquired layers. I love the scale of my old architect’s desk – it’s weighty and substantial and makes me feel secure. The drawers are deep and smell of sawdust and paper. The retro curved plywood bench saves the space and stops it looking dated. I don’t think my office has a particular design aesthetic, but if I had to label it, I guess I’d call it “classic with an Australian edge”.

Does anyone else use your home office? No, the space is deliciously all mine (although I’d be happy to share).

How do you organize the space? I don’t. I tidied it up for your shoot but usually there are books, magazines, notepads, pencils and piles of paper across every surface including the floor. I don’t have a computer on my desk – I spend so much time in front of one at work, I don’t feel the need. I love a more tactile work space and am surrounded by images, rolls of wallpaper, bolts of fabric and precarious stacks of magazines. Although I do tidy up before I start any work so my head is clear.

In your job you must see a lot of great home offices. What inspiration have you taken from them? Have you seen the shots by Mikkel Vang of architect Rob Brown’s simple shed in Mudgee? [Two shots below - for more go to Vang's site] It’s not a home office, but it is inspiring – I think it’s important to try and bring nature into the workspace to keep the balance.

What impact do you think colour has on a workspace? A lot. That’s why I prefer a neutral palette – so I don’t get distracted.

What desk accessory can’t you do without? Sharp pencils and my iPod.

Is there a piece of furniture you’d love to replace? No.

What inspires you? All things visual. I love French Vogue and the editor Carine Roitfeld is inspiring with her irreverence. Elle Decoration is also a magazine I look forward to landing on my desk each month. Photographers Arthur Elgort, Ellen Von Unwerth and Australia’s Richard Bailey. More recently I have been seduced by the images of lifestyle photographer Mikkel Vang. Artists Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Adam Cullen and Martine Emdur – I have their postcards (that’s all I can afford) taped into notebooks. Peter Beard – I only have to flick through his book Fifty Years of Portraits to get carried away; is that weird? Music – Damien Rice’s 2002 album O. I am sure it would inspire anyone. I am also inspired by the sound of the tide coming in, and gathered flotsam and jetsam from the beach, like the shark-egg cases on my desk – they make me want to sketch.

Where is you home office? Home is Williamsburg, Brooklyn.   I grew up in Manhattan and have lived in Brooklyn since graduating from RISD in 1999. I have been in my current space for a little over 2 years and I am fortunate to have a separate office room in my apartment.

What does your typical day involve? I don’t really have an average work day, and that is just the way I like it, to keep things fresh. Lately I have been scanning in a lot of older negatives and I often try to get some of that done in the mornings.  I have been working frequently with Sundance Channel/Full Frontal Fashion and we were all over New York, photographing different designers studios, which was a lot of fun. Then I go home and upload all the raw files, make selects and work on them.

Have there been any advances in technology that help you in your work? As a photographer, there are very obvious technological updates that change the way in which I work.  For my artwork, I used exclusively film and darkroom methods until the past year or so, and I have been using digital cameras and computer programs a bit more.  I like to look as digital photography as another great tool to use in my work, and use it to my advantage, not let the medium guide the images.

What accessory to you rely on the most? I have to admit that I am a bit addicted to the iPhone, and use all the ical, mail apps, etc.  As a freelancer, it is indispensable to have access to my schedule and contacts when not near my computer.  I have a separate client area on my computer and try to keep everything backed up for at least a year. And recently I bought a new powerful Epson film scanner and it makes working so much easier, so I would say I cannot do without it.

What is your favorite piece of furniture? Besides my boyfriend, my favorite piece of furniture is probably my desk, it is glass and very simple.

What inspires you? Inspiration can come in many forms, but I definitely feel that I want to be inspired by whatever it is that I find.  For instance, I have not always been that interested in high fashion or followed it too closely, but the recent work with Full Frontal Fashion was super interesting and seeing how the collections come together and the processes involved made me see the industry in a completely different light.  At its best, it is just another form of creative expression.  Also it is one that can directly affect the culture at large very quickly.
My own work is inspired by a search for something intangible but present, a stillness in the world around me.  That can be in the sky, the sea, people, buildings, animals, work, play, travel, everything.

How long have you been working from home? I’ve been working from home on and off over the past ten years.

What are some of the challenges you’ve faced working from home? I would say the biggest challenge is staying focused on your work when there are so many distractions all around you. Ah, nap time. No! No! Another downside is you spend a lot of time by yourself so it’s important to stay productive during work hours, even when you have some down time use that time to catch up on bills and all the other tedious chores. Talking to yourself is something that goes unnoticed by the person starring in the one man play!



Where do you do most of your work? I have a cozy little office/studio on the ground floor of our brownstone in Brooklyn. The office/studio is in the front of the house so when I look out the window I still feel connected to life outside.



What’s a normal work day like for you? I’m up early with the kids so I have my breakfast and cup of tea consumed early on. When the nanny arrives I immediately take a shower and get dressed as if I’m going to an actual office. Once I’m in the office I check emails and plan the day accordingly. I try to break for lunch between 12:30 – 1:30. Lunch only last long enough to eat. No lingering! I work through to 6:30 to spend time with the kids and off to bed them back to work if need be.

Can you offer any tips to someone considering working from home? The golden rule, treat your home office as if it’s an actual office that you have to commute too and one that has other employee’s. You keep your professional edge and it’s good for you mentally.

Your office has a distinctly residential feel, was that intentional? Where is the office?I believe that I spend more time in the office than at home, so the residential feel is comforting, and probably an outgrowth of the amount of time I spend here. The office is in SoHo, New York City.

What does an average work day involve? On a typical day, I take the subway to work, grab a coffee and start addressing any emails that need my attention. Then I move to the calendar and make sure everything I have to do today is accounted for and the deadlines will be met. The rest of the day could be design, research, coding, light internetting, or proposal writing. Lunch is typically a sandwich, soup or salad, more coffee and probably a cookie. Work winds down between 7 & 9, when I’m either off for socializing, eating, exercising, relaxing at home or a combination of those activities. Then I start over the next morning.

Is there any form of technology that really helps you with your work? The tool that differentiates my machine is the Wacom Tablet I’ve used for the last 5 years. After developing some bad habits using a mouse with a scroll wheel and some frightening numbness in my wrist, I switched to the tablet, and for better or worse, I can now work endlessly without any worries of repetitive stress injuries. Also, the pen makes a good fiddling or percussive instrument while chatting or thinking or getting distracted by music.

How do you organize your space? I would say that the core organizing principle of my spaces is “cloistered disarray”. On the computer, I try to keep my files pretty impeccably organized, but I’m happy to let my desktop stack up with files and virtual brik-a-brak. Every few weeks, I’ll purge and clean the desktop, or just sweep everything into a “desktop junk” folder.
In the physical space, I really like my immediate desk to be tidy, but will allow the papers and books that need to be reviewed and filed to stack up and become cluttered as long as it’s confined to a chair or another table that’s marginally out of the way.

What item from your desktop can you not do without? That would be the pen/key/flash memory drive dish that confines the loose items. I am also partial to the meteorite I keep on my desk.

What is your favorite piece of office furniture? It’s probably more of a fixture than furniture, but the restaurant order grippers that line the wall are particularly fantastic. They create this great visual axis on which any imagery or inspiration I find can slip into without leaving tack marks or holes.

What inspires you? I think the questions WHY or HOW keep me inspired. Whenever I hear a story that answers those questions, I perk up and pay attention and the wheels in my mind start spinning. I think these questions help spawn more inquiries and theories that foster curiosity and help to re-imagine the way things have been approached previously.

[Photos by Ellen Warfield - look out for more from Ellen very soon]

Timothy Dahl has been blogging every day since 2005 “which in relative terms isn’t very long but sometimes seems like forever.”  His home improvement blog Charles & Hudson offers great practical advice on everything from insulation to updating a kitchen with wall tattoos.

How long have you worked from home…and where is ‘home’? I’ve always had a home office but I’ve only been working full-time from home this past year. Laura (my wife) and I moved from NYC last year and our home office there consisted of a 5-ft tall loft area in our 1-bedroom apartment. We called it our “John Malkovich Loft”. You couldn’t stand up (unless you were short) but we managed to wrestle a desk and chair up there and when seated it was a workable space although a bit claustrophobic.

We now rent a small bungalow in West Los Angeles that’s about 900 sqft and since we both work from home it was imperative we had a bit more space. Fortunately this property has a separate building in the back which serves as Laura’s fashion design studio and I use the second bedroom as my main office. I’ve also carved out a couple spots in our back yard that work great and given the incredible weather in Southern California we can use almost year-round.

Utilizing our indoor outdoor space breaks up the workday and nothing beats fetch with the dog or 5 minute breaks on a speed bag to get you revved up again.

What does an average work day involve? I’ve been running the home improvement blog Charles & Hudson for about 5 years now and early on my work consisted of simply writing and publishing posts every day of the week (tougher than it sounds). As C&H has grown into a larger network that now totals 6 websites, my work day encompasses not only writing/publishing but everything else that comes with building a business. I typically start the day with reading and answering email. I write and publish content for the next day in the afternoon/evening and set a good portion of the posts to publish at 8am EST the following day time which alleviates me from waking up at 5am or earlier to catch the East coast readers. Posts are still published throughout the day by myself or team of contributors.

Lately I’ve made more of an effort to network with fellow bloggers and industry folks by attending home related events such as the International Builders’ Show and Kitchen and Bath show. Working from home is great but it’s just as important to shake some hands and connect with people in-person.

Is there any form of technology that really helps you with your work? Although it’s been around for awhile, wireless internet access really changed everything. Working remotely from a library or cafe was always possible but you couldn’t publish or read real-time content.

What I can’t do without is GPS and the flow of innovative applications that have taken advantage of this technology that now fits in the palm of your hand. Google’s streetview and Yelp’s monocle (on their iPhone app) still blow my mind.

How do you organize your space? I’m thinking here of your physical space but also your virtual space (any particular software or program that helps keep things under control?) I keep a strong division between personal and business finances and use separate filing cabinets for each so there is absolutely no cross over. I also value proper lighting and keeping my office on dimmers but my desk illuminated by a lamp keeps me focused.

I straddle the PC/Mac world and find benefits for using both. It has come to my attention that I use about 10 different Google products which at times is comforting and convenient but also extremely scary.

The following programs are almost always open on my computer desktop: Thunderbird, Tweetdeck, Photoshop, Firefox, Notepad or Textedit and Trillian.

What item from your desktop/office can you not do without? A good chair. I could work from a slab of plywood as a desk but an uncomfortable chair impacts all of my work. A neighbor in New York was selling a set of Knoll Pollock chairs and we couldn’t resist. I’ve struggled with one too many crappy desk chairs from Staples that fall apart after 6-months.

What inspires you? People and places. Observing people working towards a goal whether it be an entrepreneur bringing a product to market or one of the kids I coach in lacrosse working on throwing with their off-hand. People focused on their goals and their journeys inspire me.

I recently spent some time volunteering with Habitat for Humanity and our job site manager and my fellow volunteers were a great source of inspiration. It felt great knowing we were all working together for a common goal that wasn’t about succeeding in our careers or making money but leaving a lasting impression on a family for years to come.

Travel is also huge source of inspiration and I’ve been fortunate to spend time in areas around the world. I also realize there is still so much to discover, not only abroad but across our own country. If travel can be wrapped into outdoor pursuits such as hiking or snowboarding, even better.

One of the joys of this job – and this blog – is getting to look at other people’s homes. It satisfies the inner voyeur in all of us and gives us a bit of visual sustenance. I’m reading Alain de Botton’s Architecture of Happiness and I really like the idea of beautiful spaces and good design being sustaining. As Botton writes ‘An ugly room can coagulate any loose suspicions as to the incompleteness of life, while a sun-lit one set with honey-coloured limestone tiles can lend support to whatever is most hopeful within us.’

With that in mind I came across Jennifer Ramos’ Made by Girl’s home office – which looked perfectly great to me (I’ve also got the Obama ‘Hope’ poster that got artist Shepard Fairey into so much trouble. Although it’s not framed yet…but that’s another story).  Jennifer is making the space over. I’ve emailed her to see if we can include the new office in our ‘Inspiration’ series but I couldn’t resist posting the ‘old’ office. (The walls are done in ‘Mercer’ by Ralph Lauren Paints)

Amy Feezor is the copy director at Real Simple magazine, she is also a freelance writer and blogs at M-Dashing about home design and decor and her obsessions with photography, artisan foods, travel, art, local restaurants, etsy.com, and organizing. This freelance life happens from her Brooklyn headquarters – a corner of her studio apartment. I thought this was a particularly appropriate ‘Inspriation’ after the last post about small spaces.

How long I’ve worked from home…and where is “home”? I have two offices: one at work-work, and one nestled in a nook within my small studio apartment. This is where I blog and work on freelance projects. I’ve been writing professionally for about ten years now, and my home office expands well beyond my desk and my Mac. It’s by my bedside within notebooks I keep handy in case I think of something while I am falling asleep (a common occurrence). It’s on my couch and my coffee table [an Eames molded plywood coffee table that was a recent purchase]. It’s in my kitchen. It’s even on the subway—I find that I do a lot of writing there (it feels strangely private…I even wrote much of this stuff on the F-train). I grew up all over the South, and don’t have an official hometown, per se. So that means that home is wherever I am at the time. Home as has been Birmingham, Nashville, London, Charlotte, Austin, and now home is Brooklyn. But it’s probably not my last home; we’ll see where the next few years take me.

What an average workday involves: Thinking quickly, writing quickly, eating quickly. Quick check-ins on email, Twitter, and my daily blog. Eating quickly again. Taking three to four meetings, in person or on conference call. Trying to find quiet moments to actually think a concept through. And reminders to myself to get up and stretch every once in a while.

Technology that inspires me? My new SLR digital camera. I can’t stop taking pictures right now, and I am really interested in how photography tells a story. As a writer, it’s a new way to adjust my eyes—to challenge myself to look beyond words and learn to rely more on the visual. It’s definitely starting to influence my work. I learned film photography back in college and have a cool metal-bodied Minolta that used to be my dad’s, but this is a whole new ballgame. I am learning more about how to control it and how it controls me. And for the record, I love my little machine so much that I’d probably make out with it if I could.

How I organize my space: My physical space is pretty organized and painfully neat. There’s not much clutter (what a disappointment; aren’t creative types supposed to be messy?). But I just can’t deal. Everything has its place with me, mostly because I’m very forgetful. Being organized helps me be less so. Also, there are folders. Many, many folders. And sometimes, they’re color-coded. My digital space largely mirrors my physical space (read: lots of colorful folders). I have a big to-do list I’ve created in Excel. I deal with bills in Quicken. And I also tend to have a bit of post-it note/Internet bookmarking problem, so I’ve been trying out Evernote.

Item on my desktop that I cannot do without: My red pen. It’s my magic editing wand. My notebook (can’t go anywhere without it). And the calendar…I’m always juggling deadlines and timelines, and need to constantly reference it. I’m still a bit old-fashioned about it, though—I like to have a paper one within reach by the desk.

What inspires me: Great storytelling, whether it’s from a book, a film, a TV series, a song, or a spot-on comedy routine. How my words look in different fonts. The designers I work with. Graffiti. Independent artists and people who post their art anonymously on the street just so it will be seen. Powerful small businesses. My camera in my hands. A big blank wall. Beautiful everyday objects. The Pacific Ocean. Other writers. Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Hampstead Heath in London. People who do things instead of just talk about them. Olive oil. Anything with butter in or on it.

Most important piece of furniture in my workspace? And what I would change about my office if I could? My desk in my workspace and my coffee table in my living space—they’ve become interchangeable, in a way. Since my studio is small, I move back and forth between the two areas to brainstorm, write, and think. They work together as my writing table, my computer holder, my place-to-find-a-pen, my library, and my dinner table. If I could change something it would be more space! A place to have a printer (mine currently lives under the bed). And a cute assistant who smells nice and has large bicep muscles (does that count?).

Morgan Satterfield is many things – a teacher, artist, gallery manager, blogger, thrifty shopper and the owner of a house – she is also very funny. Her blog The Brick House chronicles the renovation of the Hemet, CA home she and her husband share with their dog Iggy. (Hemet is near Palm Springs…as Morgan says, Google it).

What sort of work do you do and how does that impact the space you work in?  My day job is teaching fine art and managing a gallery at a private high school for the arts. I’ve been working in contemporary art galleries for the last five years and those big white walls have rubbed their magic into my design sensibilities, especially when it comes to my work space. I’ve got to have my obligatory iMac, white walls, sculptural objects, art (of course) and clean open white space. When I’m not at school or painting I also run a blog called The Brick House that’s all about buying our first home and it’s slow and budget friendly renovation in a sleepy retirement community in Southern California. Most of my blogging for The Brick House is done at home in our office. I don’t need much equipment to run the blog, just a home, a camera and a computer. Also, the balls to put it all on the internet.

How long have you been in your current work space and what size is it? I’ve been in this space for about two years. The desk is an original built-in constructed in the 1950′s and is almost twelve feet long when you add together the two sections of the L-shape. It has tons of storage and is a spacial beast that takes up about half of the room.

Do you have any tips on how to organize a work space? Oh no, I just stick everything in drawers and hope nobody opens them. I like everything in view to be beautiful or functional while all the other crap needs to be hidden away. Built-in storage is great for this, if you opened the doors you’d be horrified at the mess but a casual glance gives the impression that I’m super clean and very organized. It’s all an illusion.

What are some of the pitfalls of blogging from home? It sucks up a lot of time. Time I could be using to organizing my drawers.

What do you most enjoy about working from home? All my content and material are right here. All I have to do is look around and go “hey that’s ugly, lets fix it” and bam – blog content. Plus my dog [that's Iggy below] and the fridge are here, so that makes it awesome. Oh, and I can wear my pajamas. I’m doing it right now.

Do you have a desk accessory you can’t work without? My iMac. It’s amazing.

How big a role does technology play in your work? Huge. HUGE. Super huge. Without technology there would be no blog. The Brick House wouldn’t have every frivilous detail documented and posted on the internet for international perusal and judgement without my digital camera, computer and Photoshop. I use technology for my classes and in the gallery constantly. Computers, cameras, projectors and the internet are indespensible when it comes to almost everything we do. Super dependancy, even in something as analog as a painting class. Digital technology is a tool that is increasingly embedded in the structure of working and education.

I just got a new Mac mouse and it’s incredible – is there anything you’re loving right now? I want a new Mac mouse desperately, the scrolling ball on my old Mac mouse sucks. Just so awful. I recently got my first iPhone and I think we are in a romantic relationship. Now I finally know what all the fuss was about.

Rob Hopkins is a a young designer and blogger living in San Diego. What inspires him? You’ll need to read all the way to the bottom of the interview to find out.

How long have you worked from home…and where is ‘home’? I started working right out of college which was 3 years ago, so I’m still relatively new to the experience. I live in San Diego, but home will always be Buffalo, NY. I’m extremely proud of where I’m from, which is the inspiration behind The Queen City Studio, right now it’s just my blog, but someday it will be a legit design studio! My apartment now is two blocks from San Diego’s Mission Bay which sports a great view of downtown, and it’s about a mile from the Pacific Ocean. Being in a place with almost perfect weather year round definitely has its perks.

What does an average work day involve? I’ve actually been working full time at an interactive agency for the past year. But, I work from home every Friday and I do all of my freelance work at night or on the weekends, so I’m still working from home quite a bit. My typical work-at-home day is wake up mid-morning, eat some breakfast and go through all of my favorite design related blogs to get my mind going. After a couple of hours of work, I’d head out to my patio to read and/or take a nap in the sun. Wake up, do some more work, hit the gym, eat dinner, and then get the bulk of my work done in the evening/night. I’m definitely a night person. There’s something extremely calming about working at night with the windows open and some music playing. It allows me to get into my own little world and whatever I’m working on becomes a part of that world and doesn’t feel like work.

Is there any form of technology that really inspires you, helps you work more efficiently? I would have to say the iPhone is pretty inspiring. At work we’re in the final stages of development of an iPhone app for a big action sports brand, which I designed, and the experience has been really rewarding. In terms of design, it’s still a very new medium and so much can be done in what seems to be such a small space. The same thing happened with web design. In the beginning, developers (or “web designers”) were the only people designing websites – which made for some pretty visually painful websites. But once graphic designers learned the medium, websites became a lot more sophisticated. Don’t get me wrong, there are still a lot of bad sites out there, but there are also tons of beautiful ones. Anyways, the same thing is happening with the iPhone. A lot of apps are still very shiny and tacky; they use tons of gradients and big rounded corners, bulky bevels—because most are done by the developers that work on them. But that’s changing. I’d bet that most designers own iPhones by now, and we can’t help but look at these apps and want to clean them up. It’s just how we think, and we’re learning the medium to try and establish better aesthetic standards.

How do you organize your space? As far as physical space goes, I tend to like ‘organized clutter’ meaning I like having a lot of ‘stuff’ but I keep it all pretty organized. Whether it’s something large or a tiny knick-knack everything is neatly placed, so I can still easily function. I’m also the exact opposite of a pack-rat—if something isn’t needed or wanted, it’s in the trash. To some, the wall above my desk or the stickers on my MacBook might seem random, but there’s a very meticulous and planned approach when anything is added. In terms of software and programs, I tend to just use my own system. I keep things separated by project, a place for active and inactive projects, source files, copy, etc. I’m the same with files as I am with physical stuff—if I don’t need it, I trash it. We use Basecamp at work, and it’s a really great tool for organizing projects, corresponding with other team members, keeping track of deadlines, and documenting conversations.

What item from your desktop can you not do without? My MacBook Pro. I think it may be the best purchase I’ve ever made. If there’s a fire, there’s no way it’s not coming with me. Oh, this isn’t a tangible item, but my music – I’d be useless with out my music. [Below is a piece from Rob's personal portfolio]

What inspires you? It might be cliché, but honestly, everything around me can be inspiring. It seems like I notice things that most people might not, whether I like them or not I think I take something away from everything I see. More specifically, I think it’s the work of my peers that inspires me the most. There are so many talented people out there doing great work, and at the end of the day I want to be right there with them. Not because I want to “be a famous designer” or anything, but because, simply put, design is one of the most powerful tools in the world—who wouldn’t want to contribute to that? [Below is another piece from his personal portfolio]

Matt Hickman, is a freelance journalist and consultant who covers lifestyle, design and green-living. I talked to him about his Brooklyn home office.

How long have you worked from home? I’ve worked from home on and off for six years — half of which was spent as a graduate student. Home/work for the past three years has been a two bedroom, fourth floor walk-up apartment in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. Red Hook, a heavily industrial waterfront area was once marked by gangster grittiness of all stripes … first the mafia and later urban gangs. The waterfront area is now infamous as a haven for working artists, designers, and writers since it’s slightly off the grid. Geographically, Red Hook is no Siberia but the lack of a convenient subway stop keep the rents low. Everyone seems to know each other and the smattering of bars, restaurants, and boutiques are predominately run or staffed by locals. There’s an organic farm, community gardens growing in vacant lots, historic longshoreman bars, waterfront parks and piers, and, um, an IKEA [the frame below in Matt's entryway is from IKEA]. I couldn’t imagine working from any where else … although it is refreshing to shed the pajamas every so often and attend proper meetings.

What does a ‘normal’ day entail? An average work day revolves a lot of moving around from bed to desk to couch to a stool in the kitchen. Lots of “walk” breaks and trips to Fairway market for lunch. Workdays kind of flow on and on, starting early and ending late. I spend a lot of time looking out my windows and thinking since there’s great light, little noise, and few distractions. I have city views and a full-frontal view of Statue of Liberty sitting in the lower New York Harbor. During late summer afternoons, I charge my laptop, grab a a blanket, and head to my roof where I get WiFi.

Is there any form of technology that helps you? My MacBook desktop is cluttered with Sticky Notes, otherwise my virtual organization habits are pretty minimal. I keep an old fashioned paper calender. IM is my virtual water cooler. Since I do miss the daily interaction of being in a proper office full-time, saying hello to friends and colleagues while taking a work break is a godsend (most of the time).

How do you organize your space? Is there a desktop tool you can’t do without? Working from my living and bedrooms, I have to keep everything organized and in-order (organizing and cleaning and redecorating is my ultimate work-from-home procrastination tool). Public radio is usually on at all hours and there’s a steady supply of caffeine in the fridge. Magazines and books (mostly fiction and memoir) are on hand for periodic recharging. Stamps, good pens, my Blackberry, and loose pieces of paper are all required in my work area. And then there’s cable television ….

What inspires you? Living in a creative enclave in the middle of the city really keeps the inspiration levels high. If I was working from home elsewhere in the city, I’d feel flat-out stifled, much more claustrophobic. It’s liberating (but, yes, at times lonely). I’m often inspired by — and frequently write about — the people around me … sustainable furniture designers, clothing designers, gardeners, art curators, dancers, web designers, eco-entrepreneurs, musicians, craftspeople. I don’t have to venture far. And I like that.

Stephanie Congdon Barnes is the other half of 3191 Miles Apart. We ran an interview with her friend and blogging partner MAV on Wednesday. Interestingly, Stephanie recently moved out of her home office to a space down the street which she shares with her husband. We talked about the transition and how work still spills into her home.

How long have you worked from home? Can you tell us a bit about your work? I have worked from home off and on since the birth of my daughter ten years ago in different capacities. About four years ago I opened an online shop of my handmade goods and set up a studio workspace in a spare bedroom. Eventually, I gave up that space so my son could have his own room, and then, this past fall, I moved full-time to sharing a workspace out of the home with my husband, who is an architect. I still do quite a bit of work from home, but no longer have a dedicated workspace there.

I start my workday after I cook breakfast, pack lunches and get my kids to school. Sometimes, my husband Jack and I walk together up to our workspace (it’s about seven blocks from our home), sometimes we arrive separately. I spend part of my workday working with Jack on architecture projects and the rest of the time working on items for my shop and other projects like 3191 or our blog Shelter. I also use this time to make post office runs, look for supplies and source materials, take photos, volunteer at school and take care of household errands like grocery shopping.

We usually walk home for lunch together each day. I leave in the early afternoon to collect my kids from school and take them to activities or relax with them at home. After dinner and family time, my kids go to bed, and most nights I will work for anywhere from 2-5 more hours either catching up on email or doing the hand-sewing on my shop items. I bring home both my laptop and a basket of handwork each day.

How big is your work space? Our workspace is about 200 square feet and is housed in a great old historic building that used to be the telephone exchange. We each have a large work table, and we share some plywood cubicle shelves that my husband built. There’s a vintage round Herman Miller table for working together or meeting with clients.

Is there any form of technology that really inspires you? Oh, I am not very tech-savvy. I do love my ipod and having all my music available to me digitally on my computer. Listening to music is a constant in my day.

What desk accessory can’t you do without? Well, as an artist I don’t have the typical office-workers desk! I love my Clover leather thimble more than anything.

Do you have any tips for organizing a home work space? From my experience, I would recommend having a space with a door that closes, so you can leave your work behind. Keeping my home and work lives separate was very difficult for me. It is much easier for my family when I can leave (most) of my work behind.
Other than that, I rely on baskets to keep stuff somewhat organized and uncluttered. I also store away everything that I am not currently using (excess fabric, books and supplies) completely out of site. Having a clear space to work in really helps me keep calm and less frazzled.

What do you wish you could change about the space?  And what do you most love about it? We could use a little more space to stretch out in our office as well as more shelving for storage. I love the high ceilings, huge windows and natural light. I also love my neighborhood and the connections I am able to make with the people that live and work nearby.

Maria Alexandra Vettese (know as MAV) is a stylist and art director. Along with her friend Stephanie Congdon Barnes, she writes one of my favorite blogs – 3191 Miles Apart. They live in Portland – one in Oregon and the other in Maine. And they both have an excpetional eye for beauty. They also recently had two books published – collections of images from their blog – 3191: A Year of Morning and 3191: A Year of Evenings. I talked to MAV about her workspace.

How long have you worked from home? Can you tell us a bit about your work? What does a ‘normal’ day involve for you? I have shifted my workplace a few times in the last few years. I worked out of my apartment from ’04–early ’08 and then I moved to a street-level space. I was there until early ’09 when the water leaks were so bad we were forced out! Sad but true. So then it was back into a small apartment on the West End which my boyfriend and I turned into our workspace. We are still there now. A normal day for me involves getting up around 6am and taking the first two hours of the day to do my thing — shower, feed the cats, stretch, make a hot breakfast, drink coffee, straighten up around the apartment — that sort of thing. I like my days to start out as un-rushed as possible which is why I’m an early riser. Then I’m to work by 8am or 8:30 and stay at work till around 6pm. In the evening I am either home cooking and going to bed early with a book or sketchbook or I’m out with friends for dinner or drinks. I don’t work in the evenings anymore. I just refuse. It’s very easy when you work from home to see lines blurred with work/life. I’m really staunch about this and don’t even have internet at home. In ’06 and ’07 I worked non-stop and it really made a mess of me. Now I strive for balance even if it means I have to say “no” to a project I might want to do. There is only so much time in the day and I need to make sure I can spend a good bit of it giving love … to myself or to those in my life.

How big is your work space? It’s an 800 square foot apartment right now (250 of that is a bedroom and 200 a kitchen). We have two large rooms and a shipping area. It’s very indulgent to have so much space. This coming March that will change once again and we will go back to just a 250 square foot office room in the apartment.

I am loving my new Mac mouse right now. Is there any form of technology that really inspires you? I admit to not being very forward when it comes to technology. I’ve been pretty impressed with the iPhone but that is pretty old news. I guess I’m in the dark ages most of the time!

What desk accessory can’t you do without? A few … my old calculator, a can full of pens & pencils, an external hard-drive (since my laptop crash I am fervent about backing up my files) and old scissors that can cut through ribbon (love these old guys).

Do you have any tips for organizing a home work space? Get rid of clutter. Use baskets, bins, shelves, crates … whatever it takes. I keep my tables as empty as possible and as organized as possible even if it means putting stacks of things I’m working on on the floor. I think it’s a trick to your brain to have things cleaned off … makes the start of the day feel that much more together.

What do you wish you could change about the space?  And what do you most love about it? I would much rather be working on the street-level again. I miss seeing friends on any random day and meeting new people who might just stumble into the studio. That said I get a ton of work done each and every day because I am working in an apartment without interruption. I love that my space is very changeable and on one day I can have up a wall of inspirational tear-sheets for a client and the next day I can throw up a seamless and be shooting photographs in that same space for another client. I love that it’s a space I share with another very talented and inspiring artist (who is not around very often so I get it mostly to myself). I love that it’s in a part of town that is quiet and yet I can walk to the PO, to a coffee shop and to get a slice of pizza.

Artist Matte Stephens has worked with a variety of clients such as IBM, Disney, Boston Globe and American Express. His paintings have graced the spaces of Jonathan Adler, Rare Device and Velocity Art and Design.

Matte lives and works in a beautiful mid-century modern home in the southwest corner of Portland, Oregon.  His studio is warm and cozy, and filled with objects that tempt and tease the eye. I spoke to Matte about his inspiring workspace and it’s effect on his painting.

How long have you been working from home? Around 15 years. My first real space was a basement with no furniture and canvases on the floor. I’m very  happy with the way it is now.

What do you like most about your workspace? I like that it is small. I have had a large workroom and it was hard for me to keep up with everything I need. Now I have everything within arms reach.  I have really enjoyed the Eames Storage Units. I keep all of my art supplies in the one right of my desk and it really helps keep my room tidy and looks great. Organizing my workroom has always been a challenge. I work in a traditional medium, so there is a lot of stuff that goes along with it.

Looking around your studio it’s obvious you have a love for mid century design. How and when did you first become interested in the furniture of this time period? I was introduced by a librarian in my home town in Alabama when I was around 20. I had found a copy of The Herman Miller Collection published by Schiffer Books and I have loved everything mid century modern ever since. After that one of my first art dealer’s father was a Herman Miller representative during the 50′s 60′s and 70′s in northern Alabama. He had all sorts of mid century things in his home and office. He gave me my first Eames shell chair.

What are some of your favorite objects in your studio? I really love a pair of  wooden eggs that I have that are attributed to Alexander Girard, two 1960′s elves that I have had for years that bring me luck,  a few vintage Herman Miller ads signed by Irving Harper who has been very kind to me over the last few years with his time, advice and friendship. [Harper designed Herman Miller's logo]

Do you feel that your working environment has any influence over your painting? To me it’s the most important thing when working at home to have an inspiring workroom. I spend a lot of time in the room so I have tried to make it as inspiring  and comfortable as possible. As you can see I love mid century design and I feel its one of my main influences. Being able to live with and work with good design makes everything more efficient and it’s just great stuff.

Editors note: There is more about Matte on Dave Cuzner’s blog – Grain Edit. ]]> http://www.hermanmiller.com/lifework/graphic-inspiration/feed/ 15