Are you using your home differently under lockdown?

[DeRigueurMortis]

Has anyone else found they've been using their homes differently under lockdown?

We're only a few days in but it's very noticeable here that we all seem to have laid claim to our own "zones".

DS has claimed the study, following which DH has converted the dining room into his home office (whilst also tinkering in the garage) whilst I've been retreating to the snug.

There seems to be a general agreement that the kitchen diner and the lounge remain communal spaces, but a tacit understanding that our claimed spaces are for each of us to get away from each other!

There's no issue, as a family we get on great but I think secretly we've all acknowledged that we are going to need a bit of "own time/space" from each other in the coming weeks to ensure that continues .

Anyone else experiencing this phenomenon?

I wish! Tiny flat, three adults. DH wfh on the dining table so I can't watch TV if I want to (fair enough, I suppose). DD is in her room all day because we can't make any noise in the living room. I've hidden in the bedroom now and then but it's not terribly comfortable so I don't do it often. I've never wished we had a garden or spare room more!

Wow a study, snug, garage, dining room...we bloody wish! Jealous!

Five of us in our flat - we already use all the space available. I did go down to the cellar for 5 minutes peace today though!

No. But we were home all the time before anyway so it’s not much different.

Nope everything gets done either in the living room on on the dining table. Dh doesn't start WFH till monday.

Ds in the converted garage (theres a ps4 in there), dd in her bedroom or computer room (spare bedroom), Dh at the kitchen table and me in the living room. I've done a few exercise classes using YouTube on the tv

I’ve retired to the East wing and DH has set up in the Billiard room. Our butler didn’t make it home so he’s relaxing in the orangery.

Stealth boast

Yes - DS has claimed the lounge as his study, so he doesn't have to work in the room in which he sleeps (we've been suggesting this to him for ages, pity it took lockdown to make him listen!)
DD is alternating between her bedroom & the spare room, depending on where the sunshine is (oh the joy!)
DH is all over the place, but then he always is
I've got the kitchen diner, which is practical and sunny, plus my garden - that's the same as ever, too!

Yes, we have a tiny (new built house size) garden. It's normally too small for the kids who prefer going to the park just round the corner. But somehow we've spent most of this week enjoying our garden. It's a space we never normally use really. But now in incredibly grateful for it.

DH has commandeered the top floor bedroom (normally the guest room/my laundry room) and it's now his home office. Kids and I have retreated to the middle and ground floor and do not venture upstairs.

Not intended to be a boast at all, stealth or otherwise.

I was simply interested in seeing if anyone else was using their home differently.

The one benefit of this I suppose is that no one is visiting so I'm remarkably non bothered by the chaos DH has created in his "new" office space.

Sounds like a lot of other people are doing the same and re-purposing rooms etc.

DH in the office where he WFH anyway. 8 yo doing homework on a small desk in there too, his room is too small for a desk.
I've got the dining table in the afternoon where I do video calls for 3-4 hours. Then i tidy away all my work so we can eat, play boardgames, and it all comes back out the following day. I'd love space of my own.

No garden, no balcony. Shared roof terrace that we're not really allowed on other than hanging washing - or we'd all be up there zumba-ing away or having a fag!

Spanish lockdown here, it sucks balls.

I'm rotating four children around rooms, laptop stuff sitting room, writing work kitchen, watching stuff online playroom. Annoying children sent upstairs. Ex is currently living/ wfh in the holiday cottage so we mooch over for meals. Highly recommend painting in the greenhouse on rainy days.

Two adults and three teens here- able to have a room each and thus happy, would be miserable if our house of introverts couldn’t escape from each other

I’m holed up in the manor but poor DH is stuck in the dower house for another 7 days because he visited some of the serfs last week and one of them coughed on him. Though actually it’s a blessed relief not having him around to moan about the the limitations placed on his usual schedule of country pursuits. The housekeeper is still fighting fit thank goodness, but the butler and DH’s valet are having to bunk in with the stable boys because they’ve all got fevers. I assume the DC are all fine but haven’t actually seen them in a week or so because the nanny has been keeping them nice and quiet in the east wing. I’ve banished my MIL to the summer house because she would insist on continuing public engagements and I don’t trust her hand hygiene.

It’s not ideal, but we all find ways of coping.

Two adults and 3yo dd in a one bed flat, couldn't do lockdown without a garden. I am wfh now at the dining table which is in the lounge where all of dd's toys are, and newly downloaded Disney+

Yes - DH & DS have set up in the loft, I'm studying in the living room 😀

Nope, I’m still using my kitchen to cook, bedroom to sleep and toilet to shit in.

Yes, similar to you, OP. I know how lucky we are to have plenty of space and I'm appreciating it very much these days.

I've got the small TV room, DH has the sitting room, adult DS has a small den downstairs that he's hanging out in. DH is still going out to work so he's in a separate bedroom with a different bathroom, I've got our bedroom with the en-suite and DS uses the family bathroom. We congregate to chat in either the sitting room or the kitchen, or in the garden.

Unfortunately not. I have a 6 year old, a 4 year old and a 1 year old. They have a bedroom each, we have a living room, dining room, playroom, dining kitchen and a study. Every single family member spends their entire day less than a meter from my ankles, whatever room I’m in.

Good to see that MN sarcasm/piss taking is alive and well under lockdown .

No, I'm not lady of the manor, rather the owner of a once near derelict old farmhouse.

It would be good to use the time to get on with some of the many diy jobs that need doing but I'm having to prioritise based on what materials I already have (thankfully I've unearthed a load of paint and pollyfiller).

Yes I appreciate we are lucky to have the space but I'm sure some posters are assuming a level of grandeur that's not based in reality (I wish) .

I remember those years Hoff when DS was little and I'd be lucky to use the loo in private!

Unfortunately not and my kids follow me absolutely everywhere. I expect they're feeling a bit confused at the moment and in need of close contact so I'm trying to be patient but I'd quite like to be left alone for a little while!

Not really. The (adult) kids spend most of their time in their rooms (they have large rooms with their own TVs, comfy chairs, desks and beds). Husband in his office and me on the dining table and in the lounge. We have all been spending each afternoon outside working on the garden which is different to normal. Normal is we are all at work full time and only husband is part time and home more.

DH sits on his arse in the armchair in the front room watching shit on his phone.DD2 has laid claim to the sofa in there and does her school work on DH's laptop.DD1 has laid claim to the sofa in the back room and does her school work on hers&sisters shared laptop.

DS1 hides as much as humanly possible in his&DS2's bedroom pretending to do his work but in reality is FaceTiming his GF.

I on the other hand spend my time alternatively between battling with DS2 to do his school work and then spending too much time on google on my phone because quite frankly I don't know wtf an extended pronoun is or how to rewrite a sentence in "Live style" ???? FML and I'm relying on the internet to help me help my kid and hiding on the patio/my room while I'm watching Netflix and DS2 is either playing on the patio (today he's been building a den in a tent) or playing minecraft on his iPad and frankly I'm not even sorry