How do you both work from home?

[Helpaladyoutplease]

DH has always worked from home 4 days a week, has the large converted attic which large computers and exercise equipment also up there. I'm applying for wfh jobs after working in a school for 15 years. My question is how do you people work from home? Where does the 2nd person literally go? I don't want to end up stuck in the kitchen on a dining chair until the kids come home then having to balance my laptop on my knees for 2 more hours sat on the coach! No room in bedroom at all for a desk or chair and no spare bedroom. Thanks all

@Helpaladyoutplease you need your own dedicated office space. We both WFH and have an officer each.

Yes, we have this too. I think you need to consider partitioning your large attic space.

Share the attic space?
We have an attic above the garage with 2 desks, and we've added a thin wall with sliding door if one of us has a meeting.
Works well, but we're not both WFH all the time

We both have our own offices.

We both WFH. Although we have space for each to have a study to work from, I sit in the dining room because it has a lovely view of the garden/birds feeding etc. Some ideas:
-Garden room, but would need to be insulated so you don't freeze
-Convert the garage (if there is one)
-Is there a corner is any bedroom you could use with a fold away table?

Definitely agree you need your own space. We have an office room downstairs which husband uses and I have a desk in the spare bedroom. I think it’s important to be in a different space than your living space, could you work in a kids bedroom if you can’t share the attic space?

Now consider what you do if your adult son also wfh, and your university DD is applying for placements that will involve hybrid working (so her working at home half the time ...)

<is it bad that I'm hoping DD isn't successful, because I have no idea how wfh is meant to be so desirable unless you have a big house ...>

You need your own proper set up office space. Easier said than done in some circumstances

Thanks all. We definitely don't have any cash unfortunately to convert a garage or anything... i think realistically the only option would be to work in one of my kid's bedrooms and tell him to stay out of the room until i finished work. It seems that lots of people seem to have room for 2 offices in their homes - can i ask how people are managing this ie do you kids share bedrooms so you can have an office each or do you just own big homes would you say?

Husband has his own office and I have a desk in our dining room.
We both work where maintaining GDPR is extremely important so could not work together. Separate space is a must.

Why can’t you share your husbands space without a partition? We used to work next to many colleagues in offices! You can get noise canceling headphones for calls.

We have a tiny study, plus a desk in the main bedroom.

I'm in a basic 1960s semi. No one shares bedrooms, we converted a bit of the dining room into a small office each with partioned walls. Can you do that with a move around in your attic?

DP has a garden office and I have the spare room but if we didn’t have spare room I’d totally make him share!

Confidentiality / GDPR is usually a concern.

Could you move some of the exercise equipment and share the office space, surely it's only like working in an office with other people?

If not for whatever reason, would your DH agree to alternate use of the attic office?

I'd have a look at fold down desk set ups for dining room or hallway. Upstairs landings can sometimes be good home office spaces.

We are saving up for a garden office to share but I am a little worried that dh's calls will annoy me more than they do now. I work in the box room, he works in the living room but his volume is always booming and I can hear everything his colleagues say like they're sat next to me

Neither of us have an office. I have a decent desk in the kitchen diner. DH works at a fold up table in ds's room. I feel sorry for him but I was here first 😂 We do both go to the office sometimes.

We have a 3.5 bedroom house (three double bedrooms and one tiny single, probably not even big enough for a single bed). We have one DD.

I have the bigger spare room as I WFH 5 days a week, DH has the tiny room (he WFH 2-3 days a week). We are regularly grateful to have the space, we both remember (not so fondly) trying to WFH from our old 2-bed flat.

you need your own space/office.
a desk in your bedroom might be enough. doesn't need to be big. my desk at home is 70x70cm.
most jobs will require you to fill in a workplace assessment. you need your own desk, separate screen & keyboard, desk chair. possibly a closable door, if you work with confidential files and/or have video calls.

We have an office each. Appreciate we are fortunate to have a big enough house.

One of us in the study and the other in the dining room. There is room for both of us but due to nature of our roles we need absolute confidentiality so can’t work in the same room

DH works from home full time and he has his own office. I work from home part time and I work in the dining room. It’s a large room so I have one end with a desk and proper chair. You do both need your own proper space if you’re both going to work from home full time.

We had separate offices, so not a problem. The key thing is two areas away from each other. It could be a corner of a room, but in your case, I would divide up the attic. Put in a dividing wall. You need to keep it professional. No popping in to talk to each other or making cups of tea. You are at work.
we were thrown into this scenario during lockdown. It was difficult at first, but you get used to it. Just keep your work and home life separate.

Edited to suggest the divided wall.

We have a 5bed and 2dc. One small box room.