Do you have home office envy?

Some of the most popular pages on my website are the home office series, created from photos and text sent to me by readers about where they work at home. I’m now onto my third page of home offices and only one brave home worker has sent me a photo of his workspace in all its workaday glory, complete with cluttered desks and piles of paper.

The reply I usually get when I ask for a photo is “Not till I’ve tidied up!” When once I suggested an ‘authentic’ picture would be refreshing, the response was “You must be joking, I’ve got a professional image to maintain!”

Creating the pages has made me realize that not only are home workers avidly curious about where and how others work, we also tend to be sensitive about portraying our own as anything other than beautifully organized.

Since starting the pages I’ve also discovered other sites that showcase real home offices as well as some featuring aspirational and impossibly glamorous ones! I suppose these are the equivalent of sitting in your own rather scruffy living room while leafing through glossy magazine pictures of immaculate interiors.

It’s good to pick up ideas and see what’s possible, but I’ve stopped posting these pictures quite as frequently on my Facebook page. With their sleek desks, new Macs, minimalist accessories and lack of teetering piles of paper, they may be wonderful viewing, but the last thing I want to do is give the impression that a perfect home office is necessary for successful home working. It may not even be desirable.

Fortunately I’ve been introduced to the wonderful Pinterest, which allows me to indulge my vice by pinning my favourite pictures on to my own board and browsing other people’s.

Are you a sucker for these supermodels of the home office world, or do you take a determinedly pragmatic approach to your environment?

This post was first published on www.workshifting.com, the site for people who work out of coffee shops, hotels, airports and their homes every bit as much as the office.