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?

One of our spare rooms is a dual office these days. It has a double bed at one end of the room for guests and the other half is the office space. Large desk, dual screens, shelving, book cases and printer etc all set up.

We didn't want to lose the bed option as sometimes have friends with children (or two sets of family/friends) visit so the spare bed is useful and we wanted it to be fairly comfortable too - my experience of fold up beds aren't always great.

But needed office space for the odd work at home day or working at weekends, or at the time the risk of another lockdown.

Seems pretty normal to me to have a dual use space.

Re evaluate if and when you need the room as a nursery and permanent bedroom.

I know a lot of people who've created areas to wfh in alcoves etc. One friend has a table that folds flat against the wall, another had an under stairs cupboard removed to make a space for a desk.

I also know lots of people who work at their kitchen or dining room table.

I think the spare room is a good option. Like others we did this and kept a good sofa bed in there. We realised the spare room was used maybe 5 nights a year whereas an office space was needed far more.

Different people like different things.

DH likes moving about the house so works in the sitting room (where we have a pretty writing desk), the kitchen (at the dining table, really annoying when I am WFH and want to use the kitchen as a kitchen) and our bedroom (at the dressing table). He uses just a tiny laptop so he can move about. He WFH all the time since the pandemic.

I hate WFH and am back at the office 4 days a week. When I WFH I work at a desk in our spare room so I can shut the door on it. I have a proper set up with 2 screens, keyboard, mouse and proper work chair. I bought DH all of that as well but he prefers the laptop 🙄. In the summer I like my set up, I'm in the attic and can have the windows in the roof open to catch the breeze. Now it's winter I'm considering setting up at the desk in the playroom which is downstairs and warmer. Means we can switch the heating off upstairs.

I put a desk in the skate room. It still
has a bed etc and I use the desk as my make up table just putting my equipment aside x

What kind of sofa bed did you get? The one we have is very uncomfortable and I am thinking about upgrading, but it's hard to know what would be better without sleeping a night or two on it 😂

Spare room, 100%
I've turned ours into a lovely cosy office and it's great being able to shut the door on it at the end of the day. I go into the office max of once a week though.
We've put a sofa bed in the playroom so any guests we have will have to stay in there.

Some offices don’t have the space now for staff to do that. Some are on a rota with desks, we will be once we recruit the extra staff we need

I work from one spare room. Just bought a new standing desk. It just fits a single bed in. Dh who works from home all the time, has the bigger room which fits double bed, his desk etc. Dog sits on the bed watching him work!

I worked out of the curbed of my sitting room and my kitchen table for 2 years. You are never fully away from work when you work in such public rooms, and work just intrudes into your evenings and weekends. I'd have sold my granny for a spare room.

We now have a garden office. It is glorious being able to shut the door on work. I vote spare room.

Spare room,
It's by far the best use of the space for 2-3 days a week. Particularly if there's still room for a bed so it can double up as a spare room. But even if there wasn't its better to use the space a couple of days a week rather than once every 3 months.
No point in making g your lounge a work area unless you have no other choice. You can shut the door of the spare room at the end of the day to shut work out, you also don't need to tidy up as much
When you have a baby you can rethink at that point.

I know this is a typo but since DS drives me mad rollerskating in the hallway I'd love to be able to banish him to the 'skate room' 😂

100% the spare room then you can close the door on it in an evening

I wfh at.least 3 days a week, I took the spare room and replaced the guest bed with a sofa bed so I retain dual use of the room.

I had been on the kitchen for a long time during covid and it was not ideal, both when others wanted to use a communal area of the home - meaning we were in each others way. I also hated having all my coddle in the kitchen, it made it look a mess and was in the way.

Dh already had an office space (which is also his music room and library)

I wfh at my kitchen table, I leave my kit on it constantly. We (4 of us) eat on the rest of the table, it’s a bit cosier but fine. I only move my stuff if we have visitors. I like the kitchen as it is light, bright, warm (underfloor heating on a separate loop to the rest of the house, or sun heated), and I don’t feel isolated.
In your situation is probably work at the kitchen table, if there is still room to use it as a dining table.

I've been wfh for many years. At first I worked anywhere and then I got a desk in the living room. Then my back started hurting so i bought a really good and expensive chair. I moved my desk to my bedroom as it is a really nice room and only ever sleep in it and the heat rises so it is warmer and i can look out of the window.

However, I still move about - sofa, desk, dining table, kitchen table, garden table, bed!

But I like to have a space I don't have to clear.

So think of comfort and light. If it's somewhere you enjoy being then you're more likely to enjoy working.