Where should I put a desk? Remote working

[incognitopurple]

I work from home an average of 2 out of 5 days a week. Sometimes only the once. We have a 2 bed home. I can’t keep working from the sofa, it is no good for my back and I am not as productive.

I am toying with the idea of a home office. I see my options as follows:

1. Make the whole spare room an office.
   *I am unsure about this as we’d like it primarily as a guest bedroom (and if we are lucky enough a nursery in the next couple of years). Although, the room could have dual use, it is certainly large enough. I’d get immediate and fairly frequent use out of it as an office, now, rather than friends visiting every few months for one night or planning for future family growth that hasn’t happened yet!

2. Sell the bulky armchair that nobody really uses and set up desk corner in the sitting room. *NB the sitting room is a small size. WiFi speed is excellent as near the router.

3. Upgrade dining table to something more substantial and work from there, considering I only work from home less than half the week and it is extremely light and bright in our kitchen. And close to the kettle for unlimited coffee!

What do your homeworking set ups look like and what would you suggest given the above options?

I've got a small desk in the corner of my bedroom. Before that I was literally working from a folding desk in my living room and I did that for two years!
I'd like to get a garden office but can't justify the cost (yet).

Spare room and sofa bed would be my vote.

2.5 years in to the new world of wfh, and I just got office space set up last weekend. Prior to that, I varied location a lot, including couch - I can hear my back saying "about bloody time" multiple times a day now. Sorry, spine. I'll never take you for granted again.

Spare room - desk and sofa bed for dual use.

Definitely spare room, with a sofa bed or day bed if there's room. Being able to separate work from home environment is really helpful - you can shut the door when you're finished.

You can work out what to do with a nursery later down the line - even if you got pregnant tomorrow there's 9 months of pregnancy plus at least 6 months of the baby sleeping in your room (or longer!).

Spare room is used here. I have an ikea desk and a sofa bed for guests.

Spare room, and if the Wi-Fi isn’t great, get those home plugs that allow you to use the plugs for Ethernet cables.

I was going to comment on putting your work space somewhere where you can close a door on it outside working hours. I used our dining table for the first month or so of the first lockdown. I hated seeing my laptop and being reminded of work every time I went to the kitchen. My home office is in the corner of our guest bedroom now. I log off and shut the door on my working day. As PP says, separation of work and home is important. If you use your dining or living room, I’d suggest you have somewhere to stow your kit when you are off duty.

I wfh 2 days a week and set up on the dining room table. DH runs a business from a desk setup in the corner of the lounge. We've just moved DD2 into DD1 bedroom so we can turn her small box room into an office for both of us. He needs it more then I do as he rarely stops working as its so easy for him to just sit at his desk in the lounge and work rather then sit on the sofa and switch off

Me and DH both work from home at least a couple of days a week. He uses the kitchen table as he needs two monitors etc. I work in our bedroom and have a folding desk and chair (we have three kids in a three bed house so no spare rooms here!).

That works fine and I actually prefer that the desk and chair fold away so I don't feel like I'm living at the office. I only use a laptop though, it wouldn't be big enough for my DH who needs more tech equipment, so it depends what you need.

I’ve set up a dedicated space in the spare room which got used by guests 2/3 times a year and only once since covid hit! I need my laptop and also use an additional monitor, keyboard, mouse so can’t pack away. I run a power line adaptor so I’m linked into the hub which is downstairs, without it I have pretty poor Wi-Fi but this is great. The bed has been replaced with a sofa bed. I was WFH full time but am now 3/2. I like the fact the room is now used/multi use.

We redecorated the spare room after using kitchen table for 2 years and it’s so much better having an official working space. Our spare room is tiny but we had room for a Hemnes Day Bed from IKEA (doubles as a sofa) and a Habitat Ladder Desk from Argos with a nice chair. Painted the walls all white and got a nice grey carpet - it’s got a nice airy vibe in there that I really appreciate on wfh days.

Close to the kettle isn't necessarily a good thing - it's better for you if coffee breaks get you moving for a few minutes, it can be too easy to sit for hours at your desk if you WFH with with no interruptions.

This is the desk we went for - if you just use a laptop it’s great and so compact. If you need a big desk then it wouldn’t suit though.

I would go with spare room with wall mounted folding desk, and a sofa bed so whichever purpose its used for the other part can be put away. I WFH 3/4 days a week and can't overstate the value if being able to close the door on the office.

I am going to check that out, thank you!

I had my desk in the main open plan living area for a long time and have just moved to the garage we converted a few years ago (as a den/DCs room.) It's much better IMO to be able to shut the door and walk away from work at the end of the day.
Also with both me and DH WFH most of the week, it's keeping heating bills down as we only need to heat one room.
DCs are older now so don't need the space to play in, as such, tho they do still use it in the evenings.

I had a desk built-in in the kitchen, who I was nice for me but my OH could not understand that unloading the dishwasher 'quietly ' or putting the kettle on wasn't possible if I was on a call or in a meeting. He is retired so it's not like there weren't any other times that he could do that, but he got really offended! So we converted what had been his dressing room (the tiny room over the stairs in a 1990s house) into my office. It has a BIG desk from IKEA and 2 sets of drawers and we painted it a lovely soft warm pink. There is still just enough room to put in a trundle bed for one of the grandchildren if needed (and we take the chair out), and I love having my own space that I can shut away, with my own things in my own drawers that don't get filled up with random junk, empty used envelopes and takeaway menus. It was time for both of us to rationalise our clothes anyway so it was a good opportunity to do that.

A separate room is always best if you have the space.

Spare room definitely.

I have a weird, almost triangle shaped hallway upstairs and the widest part is where a window is, so I made a standing desk there for my PC.

I sometimes use DDs desk with my laptop as the signal is better and the view is nicer from her room.

I was working from my bedroom in my previous house and it drove me bonkers.

She does have room , she has a couple of options

id go for spare room if I was you OP.

we both WFH here, one of us in the spare room and one of us in the dining room (desk tucked in the corner so screens can always stay up) as we both deal with confidential stuff that isn’t really appropriate for other people to be sat listening to even if is it my partner!

I would recommend the spare room.

Have been WFH (mostly) full time since Mar20 and set up my work space in the spare room. Started with an Ikea desk that holds monitor, laptop stand, keyboard and a lamp. Queen size bed still fits, if a little tight - but it's all perfectly functional. Have since upgraded to an electric sit/stand desk as my ribs/lower back have been protesting.

My partner has mostly the same set up, in the corner of the living room. We both have a window to look out of, which is nice! And I can also close the door during my calls/his calls.

'Spare' room would be a no brained for me. Why leave it lying empty then use eg dining room, where your stuff has to be cleared away for meals.

Much nicer to have your work things together and undisturbed between sessions

No idea why anyone would consider anywhere else.

Excellent desk. Use something like this in the spare room with a good sofa bed, you can leave it out most the time and fold it away if you have guests using the sofa bed.

Got cut off. Fold it away when you have guests using the sofa bed