How do you accommodate WFH in your house?

[Houseplantmad]

Another thread referring to a couple who both work from home prompted this. I walk to work locally and pass many houses where I see people working from home, often in what look like makeshift conditions. Now that WFH has become permanent for so many people I'm wondering how it works as I'm not sure I'd be happy to have to give a room over to a home office. Do employers provide equipment so people can work comfortably - what if you don't have room?

I WFH full time, my DH WFH 4 days a week, pre-pandemic we were both 100% office based.

We’ve got a spare bedroom that’s big enough to have a desk in it, and have a drop down desk (a bit like a bureau but bigger) built into an alcove in the living room. We both have proper office chairs.

Neither of our employers provided £££ for these, but both were happy for us to collect chairs etc from the office.

We’re fortunate enough to have had enough money to build / buy comfortable and appropriate workstations.

I often wonder this as so many people I know are now still working from home. In our last house we had no separate space to use as an office. Three bedrooms, all of which were used, and not very big so no way to accommodate extra furniture like a desk etc. Small galley kitchen. Open plan living room/dining room but again not all that big and which was our only reception space.

DH did end up working from home for a few months at the start of the pandemic and it was awful. I worked part time and the days I was at home with our 2 young kids I literally had nowhere to go as he was working at the dining room table in the only space we had which wasn't a bedroom/bathroom/small kitchen which had no seating space.

Thankfully he's no longer working from home. We have since moved, and we still don't have a room we could dedicate to being an office, but we do have a bit more space so could put a desk in the second reception space if needed, although not ideal.

We’ve lost a chest of drawers in our bedroom to allow DH to put in a desk. I absolutely hate it. Can’t wait til we can reclaim the space as a bedroom. It feels such an intrusion into our space. Stubborn old sod won’t blur the background on video calls either, apparently noone cares that you can see our bed behind him. Icare

DH and I are both hybrid with one day in the office each and the rest at home. We've always had a study/spare room. It's definitely become more of a study now! DH has installed a proper desk and desk chair in there (partially funded by his employer) and has multiple screens etc. I prefer a far more relaxed working environment so have a desk in the corner of our bedroom which I sit at sometimes but I also work in bed or in the sitting room depending on what I'm doing. Some of my job is research based so if I'm reading journal articles, I'd much rather be snuggled up somewhere comfy!

Been WFH since pandemic, have taken over the spare room as an office, it wasn’t like we could have visitors, but we had to take the bed down to accommodate a desk. I will be going back on a hybrid so will still need workspace 2/3 days a week, this will be permanent so need to juggle furniture, buy a smaller desk or fold out bed so we can still use as a guest room occasionally.

I WFH approx 80% of the time, and I use the box room as my office. It's fully kitted out with proper desk, chair, laptop, keyboard, two monitors etc. However...it's north-facing and chilly so I have started to bring the laptop downstairs and now work quite a lot from the kitchen table as it's sunny and warm at this time of the year!

DH previously WFH fulltime but has a non-WFH job starting next month. He had an office set up in our converted garage but never used it and preferred to sit on the sofa with the tv on . I am quite looking forward to my sitting room being a place of quiet relaxation during the day again!

Both of our jobs provided the equipment we needed.

We have large bedrooms with room for proper desk and chair in the two largest so we have own workspace. I WFH 2 days (work 4), DH has always WFH full time even pre Covid.
We are getting a home office for DH in garden when we move. We’ve not bothered yet as house move was planned. He says he will prefer being separate to the house. My bedroom will be smaller so might be less ideal than now but it’s only 2 days and if DH not working I can use his office (he works shifts which includes weekends).
DH had all equipment provided, I only got IT so my desk and chair were bought by me.
I can return full time to office if I want, but I don’t! I’d rather WFH more than I do.

I wfh half the time. I have a laptop and mobile phone that's it . Its not great, as I have no desk and no spare room to use, and a small house with young DC so can't leave anything out.

We converted the back 2/3rds of our garage into a dedicated office for DH & I, when we both had to start wfh in 2020 we worked from our dining table but it felt like we were living at work rather than working from home! It was a substantial cost but has been worth every penny, having work separate from the house has made such a difference. We were allowed to claim the cost of equipment like an additional screen or an office chair.

I mean he sat on the sofa with his laptop and the tv on, not just that he watched tv all day (although...)

I WFH three days a week, I use the smallest bedroom with a desk, proper chair, book case, printer, filing cabinet, two screens - the whole thing really. The IT is from work, rest is mine.

Fortunate enough to have a spare bedroom for guests in addition.

I love the flexibility of WFH three days a week, lone parent, allows me to get things done, for instance, electrician and another tradesman coming next week on my days at home. Before WFH I'd have to juggle it/waste my leave. They don't affect me working at all. I'll just tether to my phone and use my charged laptop when the electrician is here.

Interesting thread. I've been hybrid for about 10 years but just used to work from dining table. Pandemic changed that as I realised I needed a proper set up and decent chair etc. DH also started to do some work from home too.

Currently I have a desk in the dining room (I purchased this, work will provide a desk but it's not very attractive for having in your dining room and it's huge) and a chair and monitor provided by work. DH works from an alcove in the hall.

We have a four bed house but we use the fourth bedroom for guests so don't want to lose that.

We are early 40's so have another 20 years of hybrid working ahead of us. We are planning an extension that will sort this out for the long term. Luckily we've both had promotions so can finance this. It'll be a kitchen extension too so isn't all about wfh.

Saw these in a magazine recently. They look quite innovative:

https://www.diy.com/ranges/building-ranges/alara?dsrl=1272379&dssrl=1272409&dsrl=1272379&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIiNHRkPGb9wIVibHtCh34cA00EAAYASACEgKn1vD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I’ve been working from home for nearly 7 years - when we moved here we converted the garage to an office space.

DH started working from home during the pandemic and this has become permanent now. The room is big enough for both of us to have desks and not be too near each other. I do sometimes miss having the space to myself though….

I use the dining table or the balcony if the weather’s nice. I love sitting outside on a sunny day.

We've always had a study (box room upstairs) with desk, PC, printer, filing cabinets etc. It now has extra monitor and DH WFH in there. I WFH (except 1dpw in office) at the kitchen table with my laptop on a cardboard box, so box, laptop and keyboard spend the week moving from kitchen table to the spare chair in the corner and back. Occasionally I take the study (eg school hols and I have important meeting) but otherwise it works for us as DH spends most of his day in meetings and I usually only have 1-2 a day. We did think of putting a desk in our guestroom so I could work in there, but I prefer being downstairs as upstairs is too hot (particularly in summer). Am also near the biscuit tin which is both good and bad!

We both WFH 3-4 days a week. Really fortunate to have several spare rooms so have repurposed two as dedicated offices.

For him, his employer just provided basic IT equipment and he supplemented with things we already had- an additional monitor etc.

My employer provided all IT equipment including second monitors, Bluetooth headsets, really good office chairs, wireless keyboards and mice etc, and they paid an amount towards a desk.
I’ve added lots of nice touches to make my office really pleasant- nice rug, plenty of plants, good lighting etc.

It works well for us. We moved house last year and our previous one was a lot smaller so we were sharing a room as an office. Not ideal, but we muddled along pretty well.

I WFH FT. I have a desk, proper office chair, laptop & big monitor set up in my spare room. It works very well. I really don’t think spending 8 hours a day sitting on a dining chair or whatever else is a good idea. It’s asking for back problems.

I have a desk in our living room. Works well for me. I only need a laptop, my phone and an in tray

DH uses spare room and I have a separate study. We both have office chairs and multiple screens and it’s much more comfortable than working in a normal office. In the school holidays it’s hard with teenagers to concentrate we both find. I wake early in the hols and get as much work done before midday as I can. If we could afford it we would build DH an office in the garden as he finds it so hard to concentrate at times. He tends to work just at his desk. I work in different parts of the house so the kitchen, outside, front he sofa although never the bed.

I have the box room. DH has the space next to my pillow where my bedside table used to be. I hated being on calls in my bedroom while DH is ok with it. But I hate having work in my bedroom.

We've got a reasonably big house.

My DH has wfh for years so he has the study as has been in it for years.

I use the dining room.

Both our employers would supply any kit we need or want. Am happy with our own furniture but we took all the tech kit.

I know we are lucky as we have the space. We are both happy this way and will both wfh permanently.

Im 3 days at home and DH is 5, we had a home gym set up, DH has taken half of it for his office, ive taken the 'box room' bedroom, we have different employers but both have provided full equipment.... it works well for us, we have lunch together but have space to concentrate on work, dont bother each other when on calls etc. I love it!

My previous employers have given me lap tops to work from. My current employer also gave me a lap top stand and separate keyboard, mouse and mobile. I normally work from my dining room table. When my children get home from school, I sometimes move up to the bedroom and work on my bed (I tend to save tasks that require minimal typing eg reading emails, online research, training etc) for this time (my last hour of the day). My equipment doesn't take up much space and I have sorted out a cupboard so I can put it away at the end of the day.

We are getting a extension and as a consequence, will have a spare room, which will become my home office. I intend to get a proper desk and chair in there, but will probably still work all around the house as I currently do.

I've WFH all the time we have lived in this house (14 years) so we bought a house with an office then. However DH also needs office space, so a spare room is also now an office and I work mostly up there as the light is better for video calls.
Work pay for screens/chairs etc and I get a small allowance extra to the HMRC home worker allowance as well

2 bed apartment. I need to be wired to the router so can't use the spare bedroom plus it has a rubbish view!
Wedged a desk in here, chair from work and laptop. Slightly annoying as at work I use two screens and I'm on the computer 9hrs a day, all day
My living room and kitchen is open plan and this is the bit in between which goes to the garden