Forget pajamas and the couch, style and appeal are at the top of the list for Canadian home workers

Designer Samantha Pynn shares tips on creating stylish, functional home offices that will be the envy of all your colleagues

DOLLARD-DES-ORMEAUX, QC, April 30, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ - Brother Canada and designer Samantha Pynn are on a mission to help Canadians fall in love with their home offices again and create spaces that are both stylish and functional.  Home offices are often neglected spaces - filled with clutter, mismatched furniture and bad lighting - but it doesn't have to be that way!  Using some simple design techniques and Brother's office equipment solutions, like the small and sleek Business Smart inkjet all-in-ones, the home office can be transformed into a welcoming space that is also a productive place to work.

"People who work from home get the luxury of being able to design, style and create their workspace based on their own personal style," said Samantha Pynn, expert interior decorator, stylist, and host on HGTV Canada. "As we all look to maximize every hour of every day, it's time to reinvigorate our home offices to create not only stylish spaces but more productive, functional and efficient ones."

Canadians want to spruce up their home offices.  According to a new Vision Critical national survey* commissioned by Brother Canada, 82 per cent of men and women surveyed who work from home say they do invest time, effort and resources into making their home office look stylish and appealing - but 20 per cent are still struggling to create a space that reflects their own style and personality and eight per cent work out of any place at home that is available and convenient at the time.

According to Pynn, there are a few simple techniques we can use to freshen up our home offices, which is important as 40 per cent of people surveyed say they plan on meeting with clients and colleagues at their home office:

• Incorporate furniture pieces that seamlessly fit with your existing décor - don't be limited by traditional office furniture
• Use brightly coloured area rugs to create a defined space that's all your own
• Brighten up your workspace with table lamps and non-fluorescent over-head lighting
• Use decorative trays to store office essentials and equipment like staplers, tape dispensers, pens and paper to create elegant and functional groupings

With one third (34 per cent) of employed Canadians working from home at least once a month, the survey also discovered these workers' unique technology needs:

• 82 per cent of respondents ranked printers as a very important piece of home office equipment - following only laptops (86 per cent) and well ahead of items like smartphones (40 per cent) and tablets (12 per cent)
• 93 per cent of those polled agree that having the right office equipment and technology is required to be productive

"The survey tells us that people who work from home have really different needs in terms of technology," adds Pynn.  "One of the greatest ways to create both stylish and productive home offices is with the new Business Smart inkjet all-in-one printers by Brother Canada.  With these all-in-ones you won't have to give up precious workspace or style as they feature a sleek design that is perfect for smaller, modern workspaces and the home office."

The Business Smart Series is now available at Staples ($199.99 for the MFC-J4510DW and $249.99 for the MFC-J4710DW), Future Shop ($189.99 for the MFC-J4410DW) and Best Buy ($189.99 for the MFC-J4410DW). The MFC-J4610DW model will also be available at other online retailers.  Consumers can also purchase the MFC-J4510DW and MFC-J4410DW models from the Business Smart Series by logging onto Brother's Facebook page and downloading a $60.00 instant rebate, available from May 1-10, 2013.

The Business Smart Series inkjets, like all other Brother products, include machine lifetime support. For more information about Brother or the new Business Smart™ Series, please visit www.Brother.ca/business-smart.

About the Survey:
Angus Reid Forum Methodology:
From April 2 to April 4, 2013, an online survey was conducted among a sample of 1,000 randomly selected Canadian adults who work from an office at home and who are Angus Reid Forum panel members. The margin of error — which measures sampling variability — is +/-3.1%, 19 times out of 20. The sample was balanced by gender and region to the profile of Canadian adults who work from a home office. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

About Brother Canada:
Brother Canada was established in Montreal in 1960 and is part of a worldwide network of companies belonging to Brother Industries Ltd, of which the corporate headquarters is situated in Nagoya, Japan. Active in over 100 countries, Brother markets a wide range of business machines and home appliances known for their reliability, ease of use and versatility at affordable prices. Numerous Brother products have been awarded significant honours.

Recent awards for the company include: the PC Mag Reader's Choice Award 2012 for best-in-category overall satisfaction, satisfaction with reliability, and likelihood to recommend ratings. It also won the PC Mag Reader's Choice Award 2011 for the quality and reliability of Brother B&W and colour laser printers and all-in-ones, and the internationally recognized iF Product Design Award 2011, commending seven Brother products for their innovation and quality of design. Brother Industries Ltd. is a 6 billion-dollar (USD) company employing more than 29,000 people operating in 44 countries and regions around the globe.

Image with caption: "Samantha Pynn (CNW Group/BROTHER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (CANADA) LTD.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130430_C9772_PHOTO_EN_26133.jpg

SOURCE: BROTHER INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION (CANADA) LTD.

Cayley Kochel
Veritas Communications
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Email: [email protected]