Hot Home Products
Home work made easy
September 2, 2010
Vicky Sanderson
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
Those who work from home avoid petty politics, mind-numbing meetings and time-sucking commutes. In exchange, they accept responsibility for — along with the costs of — office decor, supplies and technology. But even that has an upside, suggests Benjamin Moore colour expert Sharon Grech.
“In most workplaces, you have to accept the colour that’s there and it’s sometimes just not very inspiring. In a home office, you can choose what makes you happy and gets you going in the morning,” she says.
Grech points to a home office she created for a couple with no qualms about bold hues — painting out a wall in broad bands of pink, green, blue and orange. She cautions, however, that each hue came from a colour family used in an adjacent room, which created “flow” between the office and the rest of the home.
While a good desk is the anchor of any office, it need not require a huge capital expenditure. Rona has a sleek computer table with a tempered clear glass top that sits on a white powder-coated metal frame. It’s a new addition to the Rona by Design line, a collection of affordable home furnishings separated into three styles —Oasis, Global Village and Spirit — to make it easier for the consumer to pull together a coordinated look. The desk, which is part of the Oasis collection, sells for about $97.
If you need something more substantial, there’s no shortage of options available from retailers of every stripe. But if you’re watching your profit/loss column carefully, you can save by picking up a second-hand desk at Goodwill or at sites like Kijiji or Craigslist . If the desk you like is a bit tired, paint it in a fun colour with a high-gloss finish.
I just discovered some lovely and affordable office pieces made by the family-run German company Reisenthel.
If a trip to Europe isn’t on your immediate schedule, you can buy the products online at www.touchofeurope.net (all prices in U.S. dollars).
They have a ton of cool stuff, but for the office, there’s a terrific-looking foldable aluminum and canvas news rack for newspapers, magazine and reports ($40). There’s also a stylish ribbon board that’s criss-crossed with elastic bands to hold papers, pens and other light objects and has a key hook at the bottom Available in black and sand, it sells for $25.
To add a little whimsy to your desk, pick up an accessory from a new line from 3M, which includes a purse-shaped Post-it dispenser that sells for $10 at major retailers, such as Walmart, Staples and Loblaws.
Home office workers forgo the luxury of a tech team to deal with computer issues, and desk space is often at a premium. In response, manufacturers are trying mightily to make home office products user-friendly, “intuitive” and compact.
Samsung has two new monochrome laser printers that meet those needs. Both ML-1660 and ML-1665 are shiny, sleek and very small. A “one-touch” feature simplifies printing, and its makers promise a low noise level. When used with Samsung’s AnyWeb Print software, users can select, drag and drop material from web pages onto their computer screen, which they can then save or print only the necessary content. (There’s a good product demo video at www.samsung.com.) Print speed is up to 17 pages per minute, and the black toner cartridge prints up to 1,500 pages. Starting at about $140, this printer would be well-suited to a student.
Kodak’s new 6150 All-in-One printer is aimed at those who require a printer with a fax, copier and scanner. This machine does all this — wirelessly, which makes it easier for the home office worker to maintain a tidy space. Users can print, copy, scan, and fax from the office or from a WiFi enabled Smartphone. Kodak’s big selling point is that it uses affordable ink cartridges and will cost an average of $137 per year compared to other consumer inkjet printers. Available for $230 at Staples and store.kodak.ca.
Cisco, which championed simplicity in design in its pint-sized Flip video camera, has just launched a wireless product line that lets consumers manage not only office devices without cords and cables, but the wireless system throughout the home. Setup is super-simple — just insert the set-up key provided into a USB port in a Mac or PC and connect in as few as three steps. Then you can add additional devices to the network, set parental controls, and clients (or houseguests) can access the Internet on a guest network. Prices for the Valet start at $100. For more info and a list of retailers, go to home.cisco.com.
Despite the contribution of new-fangled technology, there’s still a role for old-fashioned paper products in the office. For new office products from Avery and others, along with organizational tips, visit my blog at www.thestar.blogs.com/onthehouse
You can read Vicky’s blog at www.yourhome.ca/onthehouse. Contact Vicky Sanderson at vswriter@sympatico.ca and follow her on Twitter @vickysanderson.