I'm a reporter who's going to be working from my Brooklyn apartment for at least the next 6 months. Here's exactly how I rearranged my bedroom to make it work as an office.
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The company I report for went fully remote in March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, and I'll be working from home for at least another six months.
To prepare for long-term remote work, I moved into the largest room in my unit and rearranged the space to function as my office and my bedroom using a cloth partition to divide the room into two sections.
I've been struggling to maintain a balance between my work life and my personal life for the last four months, so I found a way to literally separate the two.
My job is stressful, even from home. After speaking to a therapist about how nature benefits mental health, I brought plants into my space.
Here's exactly how I arranged the space to serve me as a reporter while maintaining a work-life balance.
I work remotely from my bedroom in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood. For $950 a month, a get 150 square feet to myself in an apartment where I share a bathroom, kitchen, and living space with two roommates.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
I'll be reporting from home for at least another six months, so I decided to move into the biggest bedroom, which used to look like this.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
Before I moved in, a queen-sized bed took up most of the space in the room.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
I replaced the queen-sized bed that came with the room with my own full-sized one. This way, I was able to fit the bed against the longer wall ...
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
... while still leaving a small walkway through the space.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
Next, I set up my work station. I used an entryway table better-suited to my previous room. It's not ideal, since there's no leg room underneath, but it's a desk I already paid for, so I'm using it.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
After four months of struggling to maintain a balance between my work life and my personal life, I realized I needed to find a way to literally separate the two.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
To separate the bed from the workspace, I used a cloth partition that I made out of a tapestry by cutting two tiny holes into its top corners and hooking them onto the ceiling.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
This makes my room feel almost like two rooms without taking up any of the floor space.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
So when I'm relaxing, I can't even see my office space without moving the tapestry.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
This is what the personal side of my room looks like. It includes my bed, desktop computer, wardrobe, hobbies, and most of my plants.
Joey Hadden/Business Insider
"Studies show that just looking at nature calms our brain," therapist Mark Loewen told me for a story I previously wrote for Business Insider. So I filled my room with plants. Six of them live on my window sill, one hangs from the ceiling ...
