The Structured space series #4 By Carmen Nave, PHD

My sister Carmen was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and came to me for collaboration and help.  Over the course of several months, we worked closely together to address the difficulties she was having in her home and work.  We came up with a lot of solutions that I wanted to share about design solutions, work patterns and setups.  First posted in 2020 (before a major website overhaul) these 5 posts form a series called “The Structured Space” and are written by Carmen because as she is the person WITH ADHD, as well as having a background in studying ADHD behaviours, she is better able to speak about both the process and the outcomes.  Her fourth post is below.

The next phase of my ADHD-friendly office redesign is to create a “nomadic office.” Once it’s fully functional, I think it’s going to rival my standing desk as a work-flow game changer!

Lenore developed the concept of a Nomadic Office in order to assist with my ADHD and at the same time meet our whole family’s needs in relation to my work space. So she’s going to take over the next few sections to explain it!

After Lenore’s section, I’ll explain how to get started on creating a Nomadic Office for yourself.
This week, we’re going to stick to the concept: how we came up with it and the general principles that anyone can use. 

The design challenges

A major challenge in Carmen’s office is that she and her husband John share the desk. While they each have laptops, they also use a desktop computer for editing photos. John also uses the desk and computer for his music hobby.

Another challenge is that the office area is part of a larger family room. It’s next to the tv, near the couch, and in the same room as their daughter’s art supplies.

Additionally, the room has multiple windows and doors as well as a pull-down staircase to an attic. This limits the possible furniture arrangements and organizations of the zones

Design Analysis

Our analysis combined self-observation and discussion. Carmen’s ADHD is a prominent issue for her. She’s never had a workspace that fully worked for her, and her needs can seem quite random.    [It’s totally true!!!!-CN] 

For example, she realized during her self-observation that creating a tight feeling on her scalp helps her concentrate when writing. Because of this she needs a place at her desk for hair elastics and headbands. Neither of us had ever thought of these as office supplies before!

By observing her and talking with her, I came to the conclusion that what she needed was an office that could be easily transported to wherever she was most comfortable working that day.

We often find Carmen in the dining room

The concept: easy to move, easy to tidy

For the ADHD component the main thing was to have everything she needed visible and within reach when she needed it.

Just as vitally important, she needed to be able to put things away super easily.  This is something that while certainly not unique to ADHD, tends to be a larger stumbling block for those who have it.

‘Easy to tidy up’ was also important because the desk is visible while relaxing and watching TV, so any mess or unfinished work is prominent and can add stress to family members using the space for relaxing.

It’s also important that the desk itself can be a workspace for the different members of the household without their work or hobbies interfering with each other.

This tin contains Carmen’s essential office supplies

We worked through the activities that happen in the space for each household member, and then developed easy-to-move, easy-to-tidy solutions. The main activities are:

There were also some permanent storage needs. These were:

Some of these things, such as the Midi board, only have to move from a storage area to the desk and back. The laptop charging station was moved to an area near, but not on, the desk. 

This solved most of the room-sharing problems. But additionally, we wanted to meet Carmen’s tendency to work all around the house and occasionally outside of it.

For this, we have a number of nesting components. A small hanging file box holds her planning file and has room for growth. We bought a large tin box that holds a few pens, business cards, the hard drive where she stores photos, a USB key, and post-its. This and her bullet journal fit into the hanging file and can be easily moved around the house.

What could be easier than chucking your stuff in this container?

Carmen here again!

When Lenore brought up the idea of a Nomadic Office, it made immediate sense to me.
Self-assessment was a major part of this office redesign, and when I started thinking of my needs in terms of embracing my “nomadic” tendencies, I realized that I needed some non-design additions in order to support my work habits.

For example, I bought a solid-state hard drive to store my photos on. I wanted to be able to access them without internet (so no cloud) and in a variety of locations on different computers. 
It took about 4 months of self-assessment, but that included a lot of thinking through my actual work flow. Since my work needs have changed a lot, this was more than a design project on my end. If you already have pretty clear work habits, your self-assessment might be much shorter!

Self assessment

To begin your self assessment, you basically need to create a baseline and then spend some time thinking about what is working and what isn’t.

1.Write down everything in your space, at least in broad terms.
2.Tidy up your space to the point that it is comfortable or at least workable.
3.Note anything that doesn’t have a good storage place but should remain in the space. Things that don’t need to be in that space can be taken elsewhere (even if they don’t have a good spot in the place they need to be).
4.Over the next week or so, note what things find their way back to your space.
5.Note anything that you want to have but isn’t there.
6.After the first week or so, start a master list of “must haves” in your space.
7.On a separate sheet, start a master list of activities that happen in your space.
8.You can start problem-solving now, or repeat the first steps, and reassess periodically until you feel your master lists are complete.

Once your lists are complete, you’ll start to see the patterns in your work and your space. Think about grouping things according to activity, and planning storage places based on frequency of use and ease of access.

I work on my office floor a lot too!

The Structured space series #3 By Carmen Nave, PHD

My sister Carmen was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult and came to me for collaboration and help.  Over the course of several months, we worked closely together to address the difficulties she was having in her home and work.  We came up with a lot of solutions that I wanted to share about design solutions, work patterns and setups.  First posted in 2020 (before a major website overhaul) these 5 posts form a series called “The Structured Space” and are written by Carmen because as she is the person WITH ADHD, as well as having a background in studying ADHD behaviours, she is better able to speak about both the process and the outcomes.  Her third post is below.

Creating a supportive environment is not a quick fix, so as much as I want to do a big reveal of the new office, it’s still a work in progress. Today I’ll share what we’ve changed and how we’re going forward, because working in stages is important when designing for ADHD or any highly specific needs.
(You can read the start of the journey here)

Colour

We completed the painting for the whole room, which is actually a large multi-use space that includes a working area, a tv-games area, and a playroom area.

When researching the little information about ADHD and design that is out there, I frequently came across advice saying to paint “calming” colours. I don’t know about you, but I found this unhelpful to say the least. It’s mildly insulting: just like for anyone, it isn’t necessarily the case that a person with ADHD need to be “calmed” in order to function. When I’m working, I want to be engaged and energetic, not “calm.”

That said, we chose to repaint in the same neutral colour, mainly because we know that it is bright and cheerful in this north-facing room, and a neutral wall is best when working with photographs, which I do.

We did create a vibrant bright accent wall on the opposite side of the room, where my daughter’s desk and play/craft area is. We removed a dark green rug from the tv area and added a vibrant, stripped woven rug that has all of the colours from the room and more in it.
Overall, with the fresh higher quality paint, new rug, and accent wall, the room feels much brighter and lighter, and I’m super happy with it.

Everyone needs a mascot! Mine is Chewy Hams.
And how awesome is that rug?

Desk

My partner and I have been looking for a standing desk for a long time. He prefers them at work, and I have some back issues that flare up and make sitting difficult, so we wanted one that would look good and function well.

We finally found one (in Owen Sound of all places!) that wasn’t overbuilt, making it reasonable for a home office. Getting it was what prompted the whole office redo.

It’s all set up, and deserving of a post of it’s own! I’ve discovered that it not only is good for my back, but useful for my ADHD as well. I talk about it in more detail HERE.

TV area

This is not super important to the work space, but we moved the modular storage system of dark black cubes I inherited from my grandparents to the living room, where it looks infinitely better. We swapped it with a console table which has never had a perfect home since we moved from the place we lived when we bought it, but with the colour changes of the desk and rug, it now fits really nicely in the office!

You’ll see in the picture that two of the black cubes are left. This is an interim solution to the amount of actual storage space that has not been replace. Which brings me to what is still in progress.

Tracking my work

Before we move forward with wall storage or any other storage, I want to know what it is that I really need in my space. There are some things that belong to my partner which will stay as well, because we really only want one desktop computer in the house, and he has a number of digital hobbies he’ll be keeping up with.

So for now we’re letting the desk accumulate some things, and tracking what is piling up, and what is missing.

I jot down things while I work, as they come up

What’s missing

So far, I’ve realized that I need a place for hair bands and elastics, because I use too-tight ponytails as a way to help focus (this is sort of like a fidget, but keeps both hands free when I’m typing). I waste a fair amount of time wandering around the house trying to find hair elastics.
I’ve also realized I need a spot for my sweater. Now that we have the standing desk, the back of the chair is no longer a way to keep it close at hand.

These aren’t earthshaking realizations, but taking the time to think about them, as well as figure out what is always around the desk and thus needs a place (head phones, charging laptops, bullet journal) is going to make the final storage solution much more efficient, and also make sure that everything I need to work – even the weird things – has a place to live permanently in my work area.

Eventually, we’re going to do something with the Ekat series from Ikea, and probably some cork board and hooks and stuff as well. Not to mention cord control, because while this room is so much more functional than before, those chords are unsightly!

It's not any mystery to me why decluttering seems to be on everyone's minds around this time of year.  Entering a new year tends to feel like a new beginning full of potential and promise.  Every year I think I'll do that tradition they do in Japan where they clean out their homes before the new year - get everything sorted and clean, a fresh start.  I have yet to manage it between the rush and sloth of the holidays, but I *think* about it at least.  I find I always reevaluate my home come new year, which can feel either too blank or too full after packing away the holiday trappings.

Regardless of what time of year it is - holidays over, or spring cleaning, or just whenever frustration boils over, downsizing or moving, whatever, whenever, decluttering can feel daunting and frustrating and I don't want to do this.  This post is an introduction to how I approach decluttering.  It is not an overnight fix, you probably can't get the results in a week, but I believe it is a sustainable approach that will help you with little as well as big wins along the way.  So lets dive right in.

In every life, some cruft will form. Unless you have perfected your routines for dealing with paper, old clothes, the stuff in the medicine cabinet and so on, and are militant about the daily upkeep, you’re probably going to need to comb through your stuff periodically and see what has outlived its function, or just its place in your life. This sort of decluttering makes for an excellent pair with seasonal cleaning.

If you need to get started on decluttering, but you aren’t ready (or in need of) one of those major programs that rearranges your whole life, this will also work for you as it breaks down into smaller more manageable pieces.  Let's start with the two most often overlooked things that stop you from successfully decluttering.

If you are a regular reader of my blog this first thing is not going to be a surprise - first you need to analyze what you are, in fact, dealing with.  Without understanding how things accumulate you can not stop them from re-accumulating, and you can't understand that without analyzing how you interact with your space.  Not how you *want* to, not necessarily how its even set up to be used, but how you REALLY use it.

In the YouTube video about decluttering my sister and I did with "How to ADHD" we talked about the different kinds of clutter and how most people lump two distinct categories into one. These are "Clutter in Stasis" and "Clutter in Motion".  Clutter in Motion are the things that accumulate as you use the space - the coffee mug you're drinking out of, the book or files your looking at, your phone charger etc.  Clutter in stasis are the things that have built up and are not being used.  Things that you don't need to access in that space, or that need to be "put away" or a home found for them.  This is where you are most likely to find the items that you could stand to declutter, or where you will discover that you need something to change for them to stop from re accumulating.   But if your efforts are focused on your clutter in motion, it will seem like nothing is being accomplished or working.

The second thing that is a real sticking point for most people, myself included, is the "Sunk Cost Fallacy".   It's that "but I spent a lot of money on it!  I can't just give it away or throw it out!"  The feeling that if you get rid of something expensive it becomes a waste, or you are out good money, or you spent so much on it you should/are obligated to keep it and enjoy it, dammit!  Everyone needs to find their own way of this not blocking their efforts.  These are mine: The money has already been wasted, so learn from this that whatever you're dealing with is not adding value to your life and you don't need to spend money on this or something like it in the future.  Find a donation option that makes you feel good - I give a lot to a local church group that deals directly with refugee families who have literally the clothes on their backs, paperwork, and nothing else,  and I have to tell you it's a LOT easier getting rid of good quality stuff when you know its going to be both used and genuinely appreciated.  I also sell things that don't make sense to donate and are worth a lot of money, like that exercise bike... that I used once... (in my defense the seat was hella uncomfortable!)

Now that I have waxed philosophical about the thinking things, let's move on to the actually doing things.  The following is an outline of my decluttering process that is delved into more deeply in my e-book.  There are a lot more in depth thinking things in the book, and a lot more about how to achieve them, but I believe blog posts should actually be helpful as well, so the physical process it is!

Schedule time when you will declutter, limiting your sessions to what you know you can do. The WORST part of decluttering is getting to that “it gets worse before it gets better” moment at the point where you are just physically and/or emotionally done for the day.  You can declutter in small increments if you want, from as little as 15 minutes if you schedule those increments regularly and stick to them.

Below I’ve revised my master checklist so that you can break down your decluttering into small, doable chunks: one counter, one drawer, one closet and so on, if that’s what will help you get it done.  You can use this list in a couple of ways. You can identify the areas that need the most decluttering and use the list in those areas. Or, you can go room by room and tackle every relevant area in that room before moving on.

Depending on how much you need to do and how stressful you find decluttering, it can be useful to start with the most problematic areas so that the worst is over fastest. But in the end, there’s no right or wrong way to approach it, there is only making progress or not making progress!

All decluttering programs basically boil down to sorting your things into a few basic categories.  My process involves creating a large pile of whatever needs to be decluttered (junk drawer, closet etc), and then sorting through it. This has the benefit of making the cluttered area immediately feel uncluttered, and also distinguishing what needs to be sorted into a clear “to do” pile that is hard to ignore. The categories are as follows:

• trash/recycle/compost:  do a quick pass and get rid of anything that is obviously garbage. (If you’re in Waterloo Region, check out my post on where to get rid of stuff that doesn’t necessarily belong on the curb.)
  
• In good repair and has a place to go:  put it away
• In good repair, you want to keep it, and no place to go:  put it aside
• In good repair, but you no longer need it or want it: donate it or sell it
• In bad repair, but you need it or something like it:  put it away, make a note to replace it when possible
• In bad repair, and you no longer want or need it:  trash or recycle
  
• Unsure if you still want or need it:  put it aside (use a basket or box to house all of this category, you'll come back to it

Papers are similar, but have a slightly different set of categories:

• Recycle or shred:  anything that has no action required and is not necessary to file should go here
• Take action:  create a zone where the action happens, and put actionable items (say unpaid bills) here
• File / store:  Things you need to keep for records should be filed. Things with sentimental value should be stored in a designated place (scrapbook, picture box, etc.)

The two categories that result in putting things aside need to be dealt with in a final pass, but how you deal with them is very dependent on your context. I’ve expanded on that below in the “What to do with the overflow” section.

For each focus area, you can either pull out everything in or on the area and follow the sorting process, or only pull out what doesn’t belong in that area for sorting.
Which you choose depends on how cluttered the area is and how deeply you want to purge. So, for example, you could pull everything off your bookshelves to sort if you wanted to reduce your books, or you could just pull out the random bits that had accumulated and sort those.

•    Pull out what has accumulated into a central pile, or remove to a working area.
•    Sort items and papers
•    Some things may return to counters and surfaces because you need them to hand. If they are getting messy or overwhelming, consider boxes or baskets to keep them contained.

•    If the area is too much to do in one go, break it up into hanging things, things on the floor, things on shelves
•    Take everything you are decluttering out of the closet into a working area and sort it.
•    Ideally, you should be able to access and see everything in your closet. If you have a very large wardrobe or a very small closet, you can reduce the stuff in your closets by removing off-season clothing and linens.
•    Storing things on shelves in boxes or baskets can contribute to an uncluttered look, but if you’re doing a deeper purging, go through and make sure that you don’t have anything in those boxes or baskets that needs to be discarded or donated!

•    These can be tackled anywhere from one shelf at a time to one unit at a time depending on how you’ve scheduled your cleaning.
•    Remove the items you are decluttering to a central work space, leaving the shelf as you would like it to look for a light declutter, or removing everything from the shelf for sorting if you are doing a deeper purge.
•    All items should fit comfortably on shelves. If you have overflow, assess what is on the shelves before buying more shelving. Purge books you never get around to reading, old text or reference books that you no longer need, and apply the general sorting method to non-book items.

So, what happens if you go through the decluttering process and you have a bunch of stuff that you want to keep and no where to put it?  This is a common struggle for adults with ADHD, and one I’ll be periodically returning to in more ADHD-specific ways in my guest post series "The Structured Space" which is still being worked on and will be posted in the future. The first post on that topic discusses evaluating your clutter to determine what activities and routines create it, and which spaces in your house are not functioning well.

But this is an issue that affects a very broad group of people for various reasons, and so lets cover some other starting points for “too much stuff” here.

A very common place to start is by looking for more storage – and that can totally be the right option sometimes. But it can also create a bit of a treadmill of accumulation and there is an eventual limit to how much one home can hold, so before you buy more storage solutions, there are a few things to consider.  One option is to make sure the things that are on your shelves or in your closets are actually things you want to keep. This is where we start to get into deeper purging, as well as taking a deeper look at why we’re hanging on to things.

For example, my sister's thoughts in the midst of purging the accumulations of her academic career.  She has generously shared her experience:  "As you can imagine, there are a lot of books. These were not in the way: they were all neatly shelved and rarely pulled out. But those shelves at this point in my life would be better used for the books that do go in and out of circulation, as well as my daughter’s toys and games, which do not all have a space.  I had kept these things for a long time, but I had a set point of when to let them go: when I got a new career. So here I am, and there they go."

But for things that don’t have such a clear break with our lives, deciding whether you should keep them can be difficult.  Some of the most famous decluttering programs are actually dealing with this deeper process of personal evaluation rather than the basic techniques involved in dealing with what is out of place. I call these programs “decluttering lifestyles.”

Decluttering lifestyle programs generally have a two pronged approach: first, reduce the things you have. Second, reduce your rate of accumulation.

Two particularly popular trends right now are the Kon Mari method and minimalism. Now, Kon Mari is a single method while minimalism is a broad term that a lot of people have adopted, so keep that in mind if you’re considering either.

Undertaking a decluttering lifestyle program is going to take longer than, say, spring cleaning. For people who are well established in their adulthood (and so have accumulated much more stuff!), expect a six month to year commitment when you are making your decluttering schedule.  

Minimalism

It’s a bit hard to typify minimalism, but if you are looking for a good guide, I would check out  Ronald Banks.   His YouTube channel has a lot of videos and focuses on helping people find their values and then have their environments and lives reflect those. 

Also a favorite is The Minimalist Mom, her how to get ready for a baby list to is some of the best advice out there for anyone! She has a down-to-earth and family-friendly approach to minimalism that doesn’t fetishize reducing your stuff for the sake of reduction.

Kon Mari

The Kon Mari method is often mistaken for a minimalist approach. But although Marie Kondo herself identifies as a minimalist, her method does not require minimalism.

In the design world, we would call it a “curated” approach, and of the curated approaches, I would call it “meticulously curated” – meaning that each item in the home is there because it has meaning and has been chosen on purpose for reasons that go beyond a momentary and passing impulse or need.

Her process is different than the one I have listed here because instead of breaking things down into places you want to declutter, you go through all of your belongings, and you do it by type (all your clothes from everywhere in the house; all your books). You keep things according to whether they “spark joy.”

The question of joy is one that is a sticking point for many people. I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about this, and I could easily double this post writing about emotions, mindfulness, and environment. But I will leave it at this: if you decide to use the method, don’t limit your understanding of “joy” as a simple substitute word for “happy.” It is a more complex feeling that is related to happiness, satisfaction, hope, contentment and maybe more. How it brings up those feelings can be quite different based on the context.

As for how Kon Mari works in people’s actual lives, there are a lot of people out there blogging and YouTubing about it. A fun place to start (if you don’t mind a little swearing) is the How To Get Your Sh*t Together series. If that’s not your cup of tea but you’d still like a starting point, Project Lifecoach has a (shorter) series documenting his process.

Whatever approach you take to decluttering, I think it’s important to avoid getting caught up in perfection.  For myself and my husband we found we needed many rounds of decluttering and it was about 5 years before we felt like we had "finished".  Spoiler alert, "finished" doesn't happen as life is not stagnant and your situation and values will change, as well as those of people around you.  Try to look at this as a process of letting new things in as well as out, instead of viewing it as failure to finish.

Always keep in mind that picture-perfect is exactly that: all professional and most amateur photographs of spaces are staged so they look good in a two-dimensional, motionless presentation.  My experience with these kinds of photo shoots is that there is a LOT of stuff piled up behind the camera.

Some kinds of clutter are the signs of a life well-lived. Coffee cups and out of place cushions can be part of a visit with friends. Other clutter can come from a beloved hobby or the last lingering moments of a holiday. Clutter only becomes a problem when it becomes discouraging or stressful. So, I wish you luck in clearing the cruft, but I also wish you joyful (temporary) clutter that reminds you of your happy moments.

As the winter Holiday season ramps up it is easy to get bowled under mountains of to do lists, social obligations, presents to buy or make and of course, decorating your home.  Decorating can be a hugely stressful endeavor for many people, as it is a front and center visual and therefor easy for other people to judge.  Or for us to feel like they are.  Every year the media, (both professional publications and social media) seem to scream at us about what we ABSOLUTELY MUST DO THIS YEAR!  Did you see that A-list actors Christmas tree???  These seasonal boughs will change your life!  Wreathes in this new style will show everyone you're in "the know"!!!  Must be cutting edge!!  No one will come to your party or have a good time if you use last years colour scheme!  OK, that last one might be a stretch, but its what it feels like to me.  I'm here to tell you all of that, and I mean ALL OF IT, is a load of BS.

Sure, change up your decor, follow a trend - but do it because you like it, not because you feel like your stuff is not good enough.  Trust me, it is.  The holidays are an industry like everything else.  If you don't need to buy new stuff every year then they don't make as much money.  It piles unnecessary stress on an already stressful time.  

I'll be perfectly honest, I haven't bought a new ornament (other then one as a present for my son every year) a or holiday decor item in at least 7 years.  Probably more.  I HAVE bought new lights because those things die at an alarming rate, and I like a tonne of them.  Its not that I don't ever see anything new that I like, but that I have nothing I want to replace and a limited amount of storage space. 

So how do I achieve an apparent stress free atmosphere?  It is definitely more then a mindset, and I'm sharing my personal strategies below.  There is no one right answer, and what I do may not resonate with you and that's OK!  But maybe it will spark an idea, or maybe it will make you appreciate what it is that you DO do more. 

Burnout and overwhelm are real issues that can take what is supposed to be an enjoyable celebration and turn it into a nightmare.  Creating systems that work for you can turn into traditions that are both enjoyable and take the stress and guesswork out of the season.  

So if you are bored with your decor, or see something that inspires you that you want to integrate, that's wonderful!  There are always new ideas out there and our tastes and environments change throughout our lives.  Changing up decor and including the tastes of those around you, are things I greatly encourage.  Give yourself room, however, to do what makes YOU happy, makes YOUR heart sing, regardless of the industry side of the holidays shouting at you from grocery store check out aisles and social media.  Choose peace on earth and a silent night.

What a daunting challenge to create the perfect home office.  Does my office above look perfect?   It is for me, but it probably isn't for you.  That's the real issue with these types of planning posts - what works for one person is totally out of sync with another.  What if your office is in your car?  Or your dining room table?  What if you hate white, or need a whole room dedicated to your work?  Don't worry, I have you covered.