A home office suncatcher is a small thing to add to a room where you spend most of the day looking at a screen. It hangs in the window, catches the sun, and gives you a patch of color to glance at when your eyes need a rest. Here is how to hang one so it helps your focus instead of competing with it.
A small thing that makes a desk feel less like work
Most home offices are practical on purpose. There is a desk, a chair, a laptop and maybe a lamp. Every item has a job, which is useful, but it can also make the room feel like it never switches off.
A suncatcher has no job. It does not beep, charge or ask for a password. It sits in the window and changes as the light changes. In the morning it may glow softly, and by afternoon the color can look deeper as the sun moves across the sky. That slow shift gives you something to notice between calls, a gentle way to take a short break without picking up your phone.
Our suncatchers are printed on 3mm clear acrylic. The design goes on the frosted back, then the piece is cut to the outline of the design, so the window light shines through the color. Acrylic is lighter than glass and does not shatter, which is a comfortable thing to know when the window sits next to a desk where you reach, stretch and move things around all day.
Keeping color off your screen
A fair worry is that colored light will wash out your monitor. It can, if the suncatcher is hung in the wrong spot. The glow from acrylic is soft, but a bright patch of color landing on a screen is distracting and makes text harder to read. A few small choices avoid that.
- Hang it high. A piece near the top of the window sends its glow toward the floor or the far wall instead of across your desk.
- Watch the light first. Notice where the sun lands in your room at the hours you actually work. Morning and late afternoon often look very different.
- Keep your screen side-on to the window, or facing away from it. This is good advice for glare anyway, and it keeps colored light off the display.
- Think about the crystal drop. The acrylic gives the glow of color. The optional cut crystal drop that hangs below it is what throws rainbows, and only in direct sun. If those small rainbows might land on your screen or your papers, skip the drop or hang the piece somewhere else.
Which side of the desk to hang it
The basics are simple. Hang it from its chain, from one point, high in a window that gets direct sun for part of the day. Because acrylic is light, a small suction hook is enough. Our guide to hanging and caring for a suncatcher covers the steps in more detail.
The side of the desk depends on where your window is:
- Window beside you: hang it toward the part of the window just ahead of you, so it sits at the edge of your view. You will see it when you look up, but it will not sit in a straight line with your screen.
- Window behind you: the light will land in front of you, so hang the piece toward one side of the window and check where the glow falls on your desk.
- Window in front of you: glare is already a challenge here, so choose a top corner and keep the piece high.
Designs for a quiet room: choosing a home office suncatcher
A workspace usually does well with calm designs. Busy patterns with many tiny details can feel noisy when you are trying to concentrate, while simple shapes and soft color tend to fade into the background until you want them.
- Celestial designs, such as moons and stars, suit late-afternoon work and feel restful.
- Nature and animal designs, like leaves or birds, bring a bit of the outdoors to a room with no garden view.
- Cooler colors, such as blues and greens, tend to feel calm. Warmer ambers and golds feel cozy on gray days.
You can browse all of the designs and picture each one in your own window. Pick the one you would be happy to see on a long Tuesday.
Each piece is made to order. It takes 2 to 3 business days to make, then 5 to 10 business days for delivery. We ship within the US only, and shipping is free within the US. To clean it, wipe with a soft cloth and plain water only. Glass cleaner, alcohol and abrasives cloud acrylic and wear the print.