Making office space

[Coldhandscoldheart]

Just looking for any ideas. DH working from home, currently the living room. It’s doing my head in a bit, he’s currently under a lot of pressure, I feel we have to keep out of his way as much as possible. 4 days a week not an issue I’m at work, but on my day off I’m finding it quite hard.
In addition it means even when he’s ‘off’ he checks his work every time something pings and quite often gets sucked back in.

The problems
We’re renting, so big structural changes are out.
Te house is very small, two bedrooms.
The garden is not a bad size, but not huge & im not totally sure where we cou,d put a shed, although this is something I’m considering.
He does need a reasonable space, otherwise I’d be looking at the cupboard in our room.

Is there anything I haven’t thought of? We can throw a bit of money at it, although hope we can move again at some point.

I’d wondered about raising our bed (so a king sized loft bed) but worried about weight on the floors.

How many DC and ages?

I have a fold up desk & compact office chair in a bedroom

Could he work in usual spot when you are out & bedroom on your day off (eg even on a lap desk)

Honestly - I think you should try to move when your contract is up to get a bit more space, I started working in the living room And could never relax! Setting up in a box room means I can just leave that behind

Is there anything you can do with room dividers, or could you get another TV & on your day off have any chill out time upstairs?

Him hiding in the bedroom 1 day a week might be best compromise... is there an overlap after school when he is still,working and kids home? Working without a dedicated space is really tough (but obviously not keeping job much worse)

How much space does he need, & is this permanent WFH or coronavirus related & he’ll go back at some point?

Get him to turn the computer off when he finishes work - don't let him "just check" - it can wait until tomorrow.

Children 3&4. Permanent wfh. We can hand in notice any time, but most houses in our area are 2 bed or out of our price range.
A screen could work. Unfortunately he does need a reasonable amount of space.

In that case, I’d look for a place with a large or eg Lshaped master bedroom & divide with screens to make an office: WFH downstairs with other people in the house is miserable for everyone in my experience, and a separate place is much healthier mentally, you’re other working or not.

I’ve been looking for a place with office space: a box room, a ‘nook’ or corner of bedroom, hallway in some cases could work - but I expect to be alone during the day ... I’d also look online at rentals in your area as some streets might have houses with an area that lends self to it - you don’t know til you look :)

If you have a budget to do it, you could spend that on maximising storage elsewhere (incl a shed) to make space for desk in bedroom or partyitioning off part of LR

Do you have a dining room? Or space for a desk in kitchen? If he’s in the LR where do your children play? (It seems like the worst room.. if it was the kitchen you could at least meal prep/quick meals to work around the issue)

@Coldhandscoldheart
Is it a 2 up to down? Open plan? Dining room or kitchen table?

Yeah, two up, the downstairs is long living room/diner which is where the kids table and his desk is. Kitchen isn’t big enough to put him or a dining table in.
Might look at taking down the trampoline to fit a shed in.

Thank you for opinions btw.

A building of any sort outside with electric, some sort of heating and insulation is pretty expensive and I wouldn't spend it to one day leave it behind

Could you move his things to under the stairs? Or have a screen and insist he used headphones?
I wfh and gave to say in winter even with the heating on, being sedentary means I feel cold. Without the outside building being incredibly expensive, well insulated, it's unlikely to be warm enough and it would be expensive to get electric to it and I doubt the landlord would approve.

I think him moving into the bedroom on Fridays is your best bet, or even he has downstairs in the morning and you do in the afternoon. Could he organise his time so he can work in a smaller space just for half a day a week? And then squeeze in a small desk.

I know a few people who are working in their children's rooms. Could kids go into bunks and he have a desk (possibly fold down or camping) in their room? I think the key is you don't need to replicate his perfect working set up just for a few hours a week. If toddler needs their bed for naps, could they be moved into a travelcot in your room? This is how we used to do naps - they slept in a shared room at night but the little one napped in a travel cot in our room.

Hmm. I will have a think if we could move him one day a week. He has (and needs) quite a big set up tho. And we don’t have a great deal of space elsewhere.
I’d only be considering a shedoffice if we could a) take it with us and b) ensure it wasn’t too cold. Poor bloke doesn’t need that!

I feel your pain. H and I both working from home, permanently. I hate it. H has claimed the separate lounge, I'm in our bedroom with permanent set up & desk etc, and a laptop I can use downstairs when I need a change of scenery. Is there a possibility that he can work with a laptop just for one day (maybe save work that can be done on a laptop without the full set up on the one day you're all at home - emails etc?).

No, he absolutely can’t work on a laptop, needs two screens etc. If I wfh I either stand up at a kitchen counter or sit in my bed with laptop,
In principle it’s great, he’s there for the kids etc, but in practice 😨
In some ways it’s comforting that it’s nit just us though! Misery loves company lol.

I work from 2 screens and have build an office into my bedroom cupboard. The desk fits right against the door frame inside of the cupboard and I sit pretty much in the doorway. It’s perfect and now so inconspicuous compared to when I had it all in the living room.