Having your own home office, or a small rented place to do you work is fantastic. It sets you up for the day, helping you create a distraction-free space and a professional venue to meet your clients.
As your business grows, however, unless you are lucky enough to be able to afford new premises then space may get tight, and, if you like gadgets and gizmos then it won’t be long before you’ve got wires all over the place, dangling from your desk and tying themselves in knots.
There are two simple solutions… go wireless… or, when you need power, hide the wires.
The recently launched DeskLitter.com is a new online store for home-based businesses who want to make their home offices a comfortable, fun and efficient place to work.
The premium product is The Sanctuary an elegant and stylish solution to a problem we all face when trying to charge the various portable devices we have on our desks, or in our homes.
Take a look at your desk. Chances are you have a number of gadgets that all need recharging from time-to-time, but I bet you can’t easily put your hands on the chargers you need. It’s a problem that all freelancers in particular suffer from. If you have a phone, iPod, satnav and any other device that charges via USB, trying to keep your workspace tidy can be a nightmare.
The Sanctuary is their solution. Innocuous looking in the extreme, the Sanctuary at first glance doesn’t seem to offer much to the gadget-obsessed user, but underneath its sleekly designed hood is a bit of design genius.
The Sanctuary is basically a charging hub. Just about any device can be plugged in to the distribution board that boasts nearly a dozen different power sockets. From the specialist iPhone power plugs to mini USB sockets that now find their way onto a plethora of devices, all these can be attached to the Sanctuary that then plugs into a mains power socket.
In use the Sanctuary is simple to set up. Plug the AC adapter into a mains socket. Take off the tray that covers the unit and choose the charging cables you need for your devices. The Sanctuary is compatible with over 1,500 products so you should be able to charge all the devices you own. If in the unlikely event you can’t locate a cable for your device, the Sanctuary has a full-sized USB socket built in that you should be able to use with the appropriate adapter.
Next, plug your stuff in and then replace the tray. There are notches in the left-hand edge of the tray so the cables can move freely. Once the tray is in place you can arrange your hardware to create a neat and effective power hub.
The Sanctuary offers a one-stop-shop for not only all of your recharging needs, but also a repository for anything else that you regularly carry. I keep my wallet, keys, watch, iPhone and satnav on my Sanctuary so I always know where this stuff is. After years of tangled recharging wires and what must be hours hunting for lost keys, the Sanctuary immediately fitted into my freelance life.
Overall, the Sanctuary is certainly not the only multi-charger on the market. There are devices that are much cheaper than this one. However, from a practical design perspective, when you’re adding something like this to your home or office, you want to be sure that it will deliver on its promise. So far the Sanctuary has been reliable, practical and just a little bit cool!
