WORKING FROM THE LAKE

STORY BY KYMBERLY DONOWSKI

WWorking from home became working and schooling at the lake when COVID-19 shut down city offices and schools two years ago. Lake Martin opened early and stayed open when second-home owners flocked here to escape the virus. Many still have not gone back but instead are setting up permanent residence at the water’s edge. But the work-from-home setting often differs from the work-at-the-lake-on-the-long-weekend setting, and there can be some difficulties in transitioning smoothly, as in maintaining a separation between work and home life. When sailing into the adventure of creating a home office at the lake, barriers and boundaries are essential. By embracing a more relaxed approach, intentional design placement and even breathing and meditation exercises, those transitions could be clearer and easier. Having a home office space invites simple pleasures, as well as luxurious ones. The room and desk could be chosen to fit your body’s needs, like the use of a standing desk. In a home office, you have complete control over the air temperature, the strength of the coffee and the art on the walls. Working smarter and more efficiently in a custom space could help to get you back on the water with family and friends more quickly. A home office space might be dedicated exclusively for work. By developing disciplined and intentional practices, the brain will link the space and work together, making it easier to focus and easier to draw the lines between work and home life. This creates an atmosphere where work-related thoughts and actions can flourish. Practicing this discipline could look as simple as taking all social calls outside the work space. For instance, if your cousin calls, step outside of the home office to take the call and perhaps make a cup of coffee. Similarly, if you receive a business call in the living room, take the call back to your home office. Creating this physical change could mark the difference between work time and family time. Listening to music on the drive home from a conventional office, for some people, can help to transition to off-work hours. When working from a home office at the lake, you may find more ways to replicate this cooldown period and signal to your brain that work is over. One option could be to use that usual commute time to swim in the lake, hit a few golf balls or walk the neighborhood. For some, a five-minute meditation or breathing exercise might be ideal. For others, a quick boat trip.

After conquering the mental changes of a home office, look to the physical ones. Knowing how to effectively design a productive workspace is vital. Exploring concepts from color design to feng shui are excellent jumping-off points. Thinking about the color themes in your office space will help the room feel more intentional and defined.

Color affects mood, from calming emotions to increasing productivity, said Lake Martin’s Nan Jackson of Interiors by Nan.

“After everything people have been through in the last couple of years, they don’t need a room to look like an institutional room. Calm, soothing colors, not stark colors. You don’t want the paint color to overpower what you are trying to do in the room,” Jackson said.

Soothing blues and blue-greens will draw a touch of nature into the room, she said.

“As for colors for productivity, choose not stark white but another neutral that produces a lot of energy. When you are working, you want energy in a room. Light gray or a soft white with gray in it. Light, light, light. That is refreshing. It makes you feel good.”

Paint companies do an excellent job of pairing their colors to produce particular atmospheres, she said, so looking at their charts might be a good place to start. Ultimately, your opinion and feeling on what works for you are most important.

The ancient Chinese practice of feng shui, meaning “wind-water,” purports that the correct placement of an

item in a room creates a harmonious and happy environment. This philosophy could help you with placement of office furniture – desk, tables, printers, etc. – to promote work flow. For example, placing a desk in line with the doorway would make the desk akin to a boulder, thus abruptly stopping the peaceful flow of energy into the area; however, setting a desk on the opposite wall from the entrance creates pleasing sightlines for you and allows energy flow throughout the space.

Another philosophy of feng shui speaks to the idea of meeting opportunities and challenges head-on with confidence. Symbolically, if your back is to the door, you have your back to opportunities and challenges. Instead, consider placing your desk and chair diagonally with the door to create the most positive energy. Having a window in your home office can be a blessing but also, possibly frustrating. Watching the boats pass by on the lake could help you feel relaxed, but it also could make you feel as if you are missing out. There are several ways to combat this feeling, including adorning the windows with beautiful blackout fabric. Out of sight and out of mind might be a simple solution for those occasions when a lake view could be a distraction that delays your getting out there. For the more challenging days, consider mental-health-break timers. Cornell Health’s research shows that even five minutes of not thinking about a problem could help you solve it. When facing a difficult task, give yourself permission to leave the problem in your office for five or 10 minutes while you stroll down to the dock to snap a photo of the kids as they leap into the lake.

Like the water to which so many escaped during the pandemic, you can create flow within your mind and office space with thoughtful design and actions. Working in a home office could provide you with more tools to support the home/worklife balance you dream of. The time invested in your home office design might teach you not only more about yourself but also how to make sure the changes you embrace are better for your family and the life you want to live at Lake Martin.

Structure your home office at the lake to better balance lake life and work