07 Mar Feng Shui Multi-Tasking: Maximizing Your Space

Last week I was interviewed on the Healing Loft radio show. During the broadcast, a caller asked about setting up her office in the same room as her young daughter’s bedroom. This is a common scenario—-bedroom in an office, craft room in an office, work-out area in a bedroom, etc. —that I thought I’d address the issue since it seems so many people are dealing with it.

Optimally, each of life’s activities should have its own space—-an office for work, a craft room for crafts, a music room for music, a bedroom for sleeping. However, sometimes due to lack of space one room just has to serve double functions. In some cases this isn’t a problem, but there are certain times when this should be avoided at all costs and this is when a bedroom is involved.

Due to the significance of the bedroom, its influence upon the overall health of the individuals who sleep there, and its impact upon quality of sleep and dreams, a bedroom should not share its space with any other activity. Placing an office in a place where someone needs to sleep can set up a conflict.

Here are some actions you can take if you must combine your bedroom and an office:

1. Keep the office on one side of the room and the bedroom on the other so there is no possibility of the two blending or merging.
2. Cover your desk and files at night with beautiful fabric or a scarf, or have your desk situated in an armoire that can be closed up at night to emphasize the separation between day-time activities and night-time ones.
3. Convert the closet into a mini-office where you can close the doors when you’re trying to sleep.
4. If covering the work area isn’t possible or seems awkward, position a movable screen or fabric between the two areas so there is a definite delineation between work and sleep.

It isn’t just your quality of sleep that is at risk—-sometimes your work can suffer as well. Trying to work in a room with a bed can be distracting since there is a subtle message about going to bed, turning off your focus, day-dreaming. If this is the case, use a fold-up sofa or Murphy bed so that all “bed” messages are minimized and you can stay focused on what is important.