One of the things I enjoy about working is having a place to work – that is, an office.  Although it is MegaCorp’s space in one of MegaCorp’s many buildings, I think of it as my space and have it personalized as my own.

My current MegaCorp office is awful.  It’s the worst office I have had in 15 of my 26 years of going to the office.  It’s on an interior wall of what I guess is a late 1970s building. If you’ve seen the concrete-bunker CIA headquarters shown in the movie Argo, you will have a sense of how the office building I work in looks like.  

In retirement, “Having your own space to call your own, and your spouse having their own space, will be as important as ever” writes Ernie Zelinski, in his How To Retire Happy, Wild, and Free. He notes that after leaving the White House, Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter set up separate office at home in the garage and an old bedroom.  President Carter said that gave them each private space where they could respect each other’s time & work habits.

Similarly, I would like to carve out a place at home for a personal office & work station.  Whether I am doing personal work, work on behalf of an activity or board, or even working on this blog – it would be great to have a private space to plug-in and concentrate.  We have a couple of underutilized bedrooms at home, so I imagine I can claim one of those spaces.  I’m sure my DW will be happy that I relegate my “mess” to one out-of-the-way space.  We have an office in the front hall of our house, but it is not the kind of room you can leave stuff laying out in.  (Update 8/6/15: DW has accepted my proposal to move into the spare bedroom, but not if it does end up as a “mess” ♥)

Unlike my current Megacorp office, one thing the space will need is a REALLY comfortable chair for kicking back in and doing nothing.  After our summer trip to Finland, Denmark & Sweden, I’m thinking of one of those Scandinavian chairs that really envelopes you.  Like this “womb chair” by the Finnish designer Eero Sarinen (who also designed the Gateway Arch) …

Too bad they are almost $800 on Amazon.com.  I will have to look at IKEA and other places online.  Maybe even I could find one on Craig’s List.  Then I can sit back in style and have a great place not to work!

Image Credit: Pixabay & Amazon.com