To ask for your opinions on how to organise WFH spaces?

[Trifficultly]

DH and I both WFH. He is full time, I do 5.5 hours, 3 a week (16 hours total). He has a designated home office whilst I work in the house. It makes sense when he does more than double the number of hours, but as time goes on (we're now into the 5th year) not having a designated workspace is becoming increasingly irksome. I feel like I have considered all the options, but perhaps there's something I'm missing.

Options I've considered and the reasons they don't work:

• Work from the master bedroom - no desk, no room for a desk, and in the summer it's stiflingly hot
• Work from the kids room - has a desk, however it's increasingly untidy in there which makes it tough to focus. I'm trying to teach them to look after and clean their own spaces rather than me always doing it, which is a long and slow project. They've reached a point where they don't want me moving and messing with their things which I respect, but just kinda rules that out as a working space
• Booking into a shared working space takes a bit percentage of my minuscule wage.
• Make space in DH's office - we did try this but he often has confidential calls to make. Also he likes to chat, which when I have so few working hours I don't really have time for.
• Moving and extensions are WAY out of our budget.

The two things I mostly do are:

• Work from the kitchen table - though the chairs aren’t very comfortable. It’s a communal space, so my partner often comes in for coffee, lunch, or just to pass through en route to the bathroom etc, which, while fair, is distracting. I can’t exactly kick him out, but having him pottering around making lunch and cleaning up (better than not cleaning up!) or trying to chat about other things isn’t ideal when I’m trying to work. The kitchen is also often messy from breakfast, and even though I used to tidy it up before starting work, that’s fallen away over time with school runs and general life stuff. Five years in, we’ve lost that early motivation to keep things perfect. Have tried asking him his lunch schedule so I can also schedule mine for the same time, but it's often that he just grabs a lunch when he can. Not everything works to a schedule.
• Work from the lounge - Working here means sitting on the couch, which isn’t great. I can blow up an exercise ball and balance a bit of wood between furniture to make a makeshift desk, but it all has to be set up and packed away each day. Since I’m usually squeezing work in around childcare, the kitchen wins out just because it’s less hassle. The lounge is often full of half-finished Lego and kids’ forts, which I love for a family space but not a working one!

It's one of those things where it kinda worked in lockdown, we muddled through, but I'm steadily realising this is our life and it doesn't look to be changing anytime soon. Will be needing a workspace for 5-6 hours 2-3 x a week for the next 5 years or so. Need to sort it out!

Wondering if the internet hive mind can see a solution I've missed.

Is there no space in your lounge to put a small desk in the corner to have a permanent workspace? It really isn't great to be working from the sofa or kitchen permanently.

I have a very similar working pattern to you and your DH. My DP is full time, often on calls, often confidential etc so he has the office. I have a desk area in the dining room, which is permanent and out of the way of his foot traffic to the kitchen and bathroom.

I would try and carve out a desk area that is permanently set up in your lounge, and you need some kind of proper chair and desk for the sake of your back. The couch or an exercise ball aren't really going to cut it. I would explore am ergonomic folding chair or stool and maybe a wall mounted folding desk if you need to be able to put your workspace away.

DH and I share the office (spare room). If he has calls to make he goes into another room to make them, but this isn’t a frequent thing so it might not work. But your job is just as valid as his and so you are just as entitled to a proper work space as he is.

If you can’t share his work space due to his calls, then he can’t use your workspace (the kitchen, for example) to chitchat etc. While you’re working it’s your workspace.

I was going to suggest a fold up desk in the lounge.

Something like this so you could leave pens and papers in place.

The kitchen table sounds better than the sofa which would cripple your back/neck long term.

I work on the dining room table in the kitchen/dining room and I do ban people from the kitchen if I am in meetings. I feel if I'm making the sacrifice of working on the dining room table then other people can not boil the kettle when I'm in a meeting. I sit with my back to the wall so nobody gets to see m messy kitchen or dh walking through. I don't mind people passing through, or getting something out a cupboard, I can even cope with a sandwich been made - I can zone all that out. But nothing noisy, so no kettle, no banging about, no cooking.

I really like the look of some of the foldaway desks (saw some in Dunelm). Or you could make one of your own.

What do you need to use - laptop? Paperwork?

Could you also agree some times with your OH where you get the office and he works elsewhere.

Im starting a WFH home job soon and also have no space for a desk. my plan is to get a criss cross chair that matches the colour scheme in my living room, and a desk like this THIS to fold out when i need it and use a corner of my living room that current houses a book case i can move elsewhere.

Its not ideal, but it'll be doable. i also have a side board in my living room that has a cupbaird big enough to store a monitor and keyboard etc for when they arent in use. Its quick to set up and by a bright window.

Edit: double post deleted

No chance of him going to his employer's office on the days you WFH so you can use his desk in peace?

Otherwise the sharing of an office and you wear headphones, so you can't hear his calls and also so you can ignore his chit chat?

Buy a nice chair and use that at the kitchen table. When you are done, put your paperwork on the chair and wheel it to a corner somewhere out of the way.

Local library?

Good away desk sounds like it may be the way forward. Do you have space on a landing for a small desk?

Can the home office be split? Even with something like this:

https://amzn.eu/d/hJuaHcV

Or https://amzn.eu/d/7a7tbGp

Make it a permanent working arrangement. And you both use headphones for calls.

I have this in the living room and fold it away for the weekend. Not loads of space but does the job if you just have a laptop.

www.habitat.co.uk/product/4469867?clickPR=plp:4:25

Do you have a bay window in any of the rooms? I put a desk in mine and proper chair , it’s a nice little space to work from.

We do similar and I try to arrange my more important calls for days DH is in the office (for you, that would mean your DH arranging calls for your non-working hours).

Your DH needs to accept you’re not there to chat - maybe try putting headphones in (even if you’re not listening to anything) as a reminder

It sounds to me like you'd benefit from a rota. He has three days a week, you have two, or half-days etc. It seems a bit odd that a space in your shared house only belongs to 'him', if you see what I mean.

I am embarrassed to read this. To work from home you need a workspace. How on earth did you get into this position?
Just a desk in bedroom or lounge and live with it

Desk in the lounge and ensure kids tidy lounge up before bed seems most sensible. Perhaps DH could be in charge of tidy up seeing as he’s benefitting from the home office.

And tell your DH not to chat! I bet you don’t wander into his office and start a conversation.

Fold away desk cabinet or look at inspo on the internet for under stairs solutions. They look quite good

Have a similar situation & I’ve been looking at the LUNDTOFT sit/stand desk from JYSK. It is on wheels so could be moved into the home-office when not in use. I’ve also had my eye on the IKEA VATTENKAR storage box to keep my paperwork together. Although DH is WFH less & less so I’m normally in the home-office now.

Can you shift your hours around? So is there any potential to start early and do a few hours in his office or work after he's finished?

I'm assuming neither of you can go into your employers at any point?

No space for a pull-down desk in a hall/end of the landing/pulling out of the airing cupboard?

Yes, it's surprising to read there's an employer who agreed to have a employee without a dedicated workspace that complies to the required standards.

I don’t think my employer has ever stated any “required standards” for WFH!

I assume your employer is thinking that you are a professional and an adult who shouldn’t need to be told not to work amidst the breakfast bowls or with a plank of wood balanced on the sofa….

Its stuff like this that’s really harming the reputation of home working