The Home Unit at ZUCKER.Berlin knows interior trends inside out. For our customers ROOM IN A BOX, Nanoleaf, Mitte and the green plant and colorful flower world, the teams are always up to date with living and lifestyle news. In addition to stylish designs and chic accessories, the products of our customers can also be functional and suitable for everyday use. Especially when it comes to working from home, the ZUCKER. Home Unit provides us with tips and tricks that each of us and you can easily copy at home.
Stay hydrated with Mitte Home
Those who drink too little when working from home risk headaches, fatigue, bad moods and concentration problems. Minerals also play an important role. Calcium, for example, is important for the stability of the bones, whereas magnesium is responsible for the function of muscles and heart as well as the regulation of blood pressure. The need also increases with stress, so to perform under pressure, a sufficient supply is particularly important. The Berlin start-up Mitte reveals how the water purifier Mitte Home becomes a real everyday essential and promotes healthy drinking habits.
Through the Mitte Home Balance Cartridge, tap water is enriched with the aforementioned minerals by flowing through naturally extracted magnesite and calcite rock. In addition, Mitte Home pre-filters the tap water and also carbonates it if desired. Three tips for a hydrated home office:
Instead of starting the day with a caffeinated drink like coffee, a glass of water right after getting up is a better choice. This rehydrates the body after sleep, gets the metabolism going and supplies the brain directly with energy.
Especially after the lunch break, many people fall into a midday slump. Small, mindful drinking breaks can provide a remedy: if concentration wanes or tricky tasks simply cannot be solved, a large glass of water can work wonders.
As with almost everything in life, organisation is the be-all and end-all when it comes to hydration. Mitte’s water purification system eliminates the traditional plastic or glass waste caused by bottled water. The home office stays tidy and the energy and time spent lugging water boxes from the supermarket is saved.
Enlightenment in the home office
Night owl or late riser? For all those who struggle with the alarm clock in the morning, the Nanoleaf lights are suitable for waking up. They have an integrated light alarm clock that gently gets every morning grouch out of bed. Light scenes such as “Beautiful Morning” or “Mellow Sunrise” can be selected via a time schedule in the Nanoleaf app and help to start the day in a relaxed way.
Good lighting is also indispensable for an inspiring and productive working atmosphere. With over 16 million colors, the Nanoleaf Shapes product range ensures ideal lighting conditions at the home workplace. While blue light increases the ability to concentrate and green helps to work efficiently, orange promotes creativity.
Calming light scenes such as “Relaxing Flames” or “Recharge” bathe the room in a soft light during the five-minute break and give our eyes a rest from the screen. The Nanoleaf products can also be easily controlled by voice command from the desk chair. Phrases such as “Set the light to green” or “Make the light brighter” make everyday life in the home office easier and change the working atmosphere as desired.
After lunch comes the midday slump? Not with Nanoleaf. A short workout in combination with the Nanoleaf music visualization declares war on concentration difficulties and fatigue. Spotify playlists such as “Energy Booster” or “Workout Beats” are ideal for a short workout. 15 to 30 minutes of exercise get the digestion going properly and ensure that the entire body has maximum blood circulation again after all that sitting. Let’s go!
Thinking out of the box
Working from home can lead to back complaints. The MonKey Desk by ROOM IN BOX and the 40-15-5 rule provide more movement and variety in the home office routine: after a 40-minute work session in a seated position, the desk attachment made of corrugated cardboard is used for 15 minutes of standing work. The routine is then finished with five minutes of physical exercise, such as a walk around the flat or a mini-workout. The recurring movement rituals and the changing posture promote creativity and productivity and at the same time prevent tension as well as back and neck pain.
A pleasant and tidy environment is also crucial for productive work in the home office. But the desk or kitchen table at home usually does not offer as much space as the usual office table. Notepads, writing utensils, documents, drinks and snacks crowd onto a small surface – it’s easy to lose track of everything or the contents of the coffee cup suddenly end up where they don’t belong. The stool from ROOM IN A BOX provides a remedy: as a side table, it offers additional space and keeps all the things that don’t fit on the desk within easy reach.
If you have a balcony or terrace, you can consider yourself lucky and move your work outside when the weather is good. With the basic module of the shelving system by ROOM IN A BOX, the move to the open-air office is child’s play: thanks to the lightweight corrugated cardboard, the cube-shaped module can be easily transported back and forth, so that documents and work utensils are always ready whenever you change places.
The green home office bro
When designing the home office, plants as natural mood enhancers must not be missing. Colours for the win! The Guzmania bromeliad, for example, stands out with its colourful bracts in red, yellow or orange. The colour red creates a lively, energetic atmosphere in which it is easier to stay awake and fresh. Orange accents additionally stimulate creativity and offer inspiration. Yellow, on the other hand, brings warmth and optimism into play – after all, a cheerful mood can never hurt when working. The rich green of the leaves transforms the workspace into a positively charged environment and has a calming and stabilising effect in the stressful home office routine.
Although home offices are now an integral part of many people’s working lives, many homes lack their own office. Yet it is precisely the separation of the working and living areas that is important in order to be productive at work and to avoid potential distractions. A tall plant like the bromeliad is perfect for dividing space: Its bracts provide ideal privacy. As a natural partition, they create a pleasant, unobtrusive atmosphere in which it is possible to both concentrate and relax.
In hanging baskets, several bromeliads can act as a dividing curtain. The bromeliad Tillandsia usneoides, also known as Louisiana moss, looks particularly elegant here, with its curly, tangled tendrils becoming a natural, silvery-green curtain.
Bromeliads can also help with relaxation during short time-outs. How about a short plant meditation, for example? A mindful contemplation and mental description of the exotic plant helps to focus the thoughts and let them flow again. Their special shapes and colors have an inspiring effect. Through attentive contemplation, creative blockages can be quickly released. After the bromeliad meditation, you can continue to work productively.