Room debate

[Floatingdownriver]

My partner and I recently changed some rooms around at home, and the home office has been moved to a smaller room. It used to have a set up with space for two work stations, but it was mostly just one of us (Person A) using it when they WFH one day a week.

Now that it’s in the smaller room (and desk space has been reduced by 20–30 inches, but is still 7ft long), Person A wants it to just be a single workspace for themselves. But Person B wants to keep two workspaces, as they think they’re more likely to use it now the space feels different and also to give the option for their child to use it now for homework.

The image attached, though smaller is to give an idea of the set up.

Person A is correct YABU
Person B is correct YANBU

Did Person B (and their child) ever use it before (in the previous setup)? If not, then why not?

Person B used it infrequently because of a lack of light. The child used it fairly frequently for Lego.

If there’s better light now and Person B + child will actually use the second workspace, I’m not sure I understand what the argument against it would be, tbh.

The photo looks pretty cramped. If everyone tidies away when they use it I would go with just one space.

Is that photo actually of the home office? Or just the desks in a different room?

The photo is to demonstrate the type of set up it’s around 7ft so bigger than the one in the stock image.

No, but this is the set up style. The worktop is around 7ft long, resting on three storage units

Does the room double as a living room ? If one desk was taken away what difference does that make? Why would it matter ?

If person A is only using it one day a week, can't they have priority on that day, then others use it on other days?

Hard to say without seeing the actual desk and actual room. Does person A want sole use of the workspace? Or a single/large workspace that they will all share?

How big is the one in the stock photo? With two chair spaces and three cabinets it’s surely about 6ft anyway? I don’t think an extra 6 inches each makes much difference.

So it is still set up for two people?

If there were genuine reasons why B didn't use it regularly previously (lack of light) which have now been overcome, then it's not unreasonable that B would use it more now.

If the child regularly used it as a space to build Lego, then it's not unreasonable that they would continue to do so.

I am not sure who has the issue or why?

Hard to say. When the move to a smaller room was planned, was person A under the impression that it would be ok to be smaller because they’d be the only one using it, since B hadn’t used the shared space much before? How much space does A usually have? (Though all that would seem precious given an only uses it once a week).

If it’s a WFH space, does that work for a child to be in there doing homework too? Is it in a separate room or in an open communal area like the pic? Where else does the child have to do homework?

Does anyone want / need to leave stuff set up on the desk? Is anyone more prone to cluttering than others?

If B used to use it and child certainly did - I don’t understand why it would only be used by A now.

Can the child who “needs it for homework” not have their own desk in their own room?

It's a no from me. Even at 7ft for 2, too squashy

Id say set it up as a single space since it's not huge, and Person A has exclusive use when WFH, but the space can be used by other family members when Person A is not WFH

Why can’t it be set up for one person use at a time, So person A gets priority when working from home but on other days anyone can use it.

I’d just set up as a single space. Sounds like it’s used infrequently if just one day per week. I am on calls / meetings a lot so wouldn’t work sitting next to a partner anyway.

How often will both desks be used at the same time. Can child have homework desk in own room. Is this in lounge. How does it effect the use of the room. Id go for one desk due to room unless room is the size of a large village hall

I just looked up the stock image, the desk in that image is 98" long, so just over 8ft. Which means your one would be smaller, not bigger.

A 7ft desk is expansive, but 3.5ft is really quite a cramped space. I can see why someone who WFH would not look forward to that being their office desk for the day.

I wonder if you could have the best of both worlds. Use a middle unit that's slightly lower than the end ones and on wheels so you can move it. When there's just one of you using the desk move it to one side and the desk is wide open. When you both need to use the desk at the same time, wheel it into the middle. You might need legs in the middle, possibly just at the back, to stop it sagging as it's quite a big span.

Have the 7 feet desk space got free movement or are drawers in the way? There's no reason why a small area of the desk can't be used to store your laptop / child's Lego etc and leaves plenty of room for whomebervneeds to use the space to use it effectively.
The photo seems to suggest there would be 2 people at a time working which sounds not what you want/need? You'd do better with more fluid type space so there's room to store on the desk as well as person to use the space