Is working from home the business?

Fed up with dealing with colleagues? You’re not alone. One in eight of us have ditched the office to work at home in significantly more stylish surroundings.

Last summer, I joined the masses who were abandoning communal offices. Since 1997, there has been an increase of 600,000 to 3.5 million home workers. Like Ruth Kelly, there would be no more nattering around the water cooler for me. The average commuter travels twice around the world during their working life. With communication as it is, why sweat it out on the tube each day? I handed in my resignation and, with elation, set up base in my spare room.

It’s not always voluntary - thank you credit crunch - but most home buds relish their newfound autonomy. Editor of The Good Web Guide, Emily Jenkinson now writes from her Notting Hill flat: "I can't imagine going back to the office full-time now - having the freedom to manage my own time would be hard to give up."

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Ten years ago, the home office was inconsequential in terms of design. Today’s norm is that when re-decorating a house, "dressing the office" is a fundamental concern - fancy faux Ex Libris book wallpaper from Wallpaper Direct and vintage inkwells on your designer desk? In a communal workspace, precious desk belongings run risk of the rogue office thief but at home, we can envelop ourselves with indulgent knick-knacks.

Designers are rising to the challenge of sprucing up office furniture so it’ll soon be farewell to the ubiquitous melamine desks, flickering lights (Chinese torture itself) and stained swivel chairs. A particular favourite of mine is the Douglas DC Dakota wing tip desk - it is vintage (once part of a 1940s aeroplane) yet shrieks cutting edge. It hints of Marc Newson's iconic 1986 lockheed lounge (of which there’s a miniature version for your desk). It was love at first sight but the polished riveted aluminium desk costs £15,500. "A fifty-something lawyer from New York, who was fed up of sitting behind a mahogany desk for his entire career, bought it," muses Julian Hardwick, manager of Bentleys. "Some people are unaffected by the credit crunch."

Design conscious individuals underwhelmed by traditional desks covet the emblematic candy coloured Baobab desk by Philippe Starck for Vitra. Constructed out of one piece of polyurethane, it shouts space-age cool. Multi-taskers can dance around Nest’s Bellato Navigator Workstation - instead of incorporating space for a chair, you remain standing. Talk about hard work. Rock n’roll types are discovering their inner geek and setting to work behind Bryonie Porter’s ridiculously funky desk covered in skull and flower wallpaper.

"Garden office rooms are all the rage," says Emilia D’Erlanger, interior designer. "The smartest of addresses now all want a media room and a garden office as a sanctuary away from distractions." At this year’s Chelsea Flower Show, garden office designers credited Le Corbusier as their inspiration. The garden office is no new-fangled phenomenon; Roald Dahl, Rudyard Kipling, Dylan Thomas and George Bernard Shaw created masterpieces between four wooden walls. But nowadays, you’re just as liable to find accountants as creative-types at the bottom of the garden - and the "shed" will be decked out in elegant wallpaper.

My days as a home worker were cut short when I was offered a job at mydeco, the internet start-up for home design. It was too good to turn down. Instead of writing at home in my pyjamas, I’m back queuing for the water cooler in a high street office. When deadlines snarl, I can work remote which makes me feel trusted and valued. Ultimately, I’m more productive and inspired at home. "The old-fashioned attitude is that the time you spend in the office is more important than the work you do," says Dr Pete Bradon, head of research at Best Companies Ltd. "The modern attitude is, 'Let's give people the freedom they want and they’ll get the job done.'"

As more jobs are axed and home businesses flourish, new designer desks will flood the market. Meanwhile, I’m making do with my lacklustre office desk by adorning it with designer knick-knacks like the Dead Fred pen holder and Norman Foster’s paperclip box. Bringing a little style to the office is a full time job. There goes getting any work done.

Annie Deakin is acting editor of mydeco

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