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Here's a fun little question for today: Where in your home are you working? Are you cycling through a few spots in your home, or do you have a solid preference for one space? Here are some of the pros and cons to the different spaces…
Home Office
Pros: You've got a setup — maybe dual monitors, an ergonomic keyboard, a great office chair — peak productivity!
Cons: This may be a fantasy and may not exist — and if you have kids home, you may not be able to lock yourself away in the office all day.
Desk
Pros: It may not be a full, self-contained office, but you've probably got a keyboard tray and a comfortable computer chair, and you can leave your papers on the desk undisturbed at the end of your work session!
Cons: Your desk space may be a bit cramped since it isn't a full office — and you may also be tucked in the corner of the living room or some other space where roommates, kids, or partners are also trying to work. Noise and focus may be a problem — you may also have some interruptions.
Kitchen Table/Counter
Pros: You've got a table and a chair — and a lot of room to spread out your papers! A pro and a con: You're probably in the hub of your home, which means you can supervise others but also get interrupted more.
Cons: Your papers (and/or computer) may accidentally get food or drinks on them from others in the house (or, let's be honest, from you), and they may get shuffled and out of order. Odds are good you'll have to move your papers around to actually, you know, eat in the space.
Couch/Chair/Floor
Pros: Peak laptop life, right? You can work wherever, which means you can chase the sunlight, sit in front of a nice window to look outside, or move around the space to supervise kids or pets as needed.
Cons: The ergonomics here are… not great. Your back/bum/legs may be aching if you sit in one place for too long, it's hard to find space to keep the papers you may or may not need to reference, and, well, if you have limited space and want to watch TV later, it may feel like pretty much the exact same setup, which isn't best for work/life boundaries.
Outside (e.g., Balcony/Backyard)
Pros: Now we're talking! Sun! Breeze!
Cons: WiFi may stink out there, a stiff breeze can take your papers, and your laptop may not like the sun's glare.
Bed/Bedroom
Pros: You can probably get privacy by shutting the door — plus, who needs to get out of bed to answer emails, amiright?
Cons: Just a warning — workplace experts really advise against working where you sleep. It can be a great way to get a few discrete tasks done (checking email, proofreading docs, etc.), but be warned against working there all the time. Plus, the ergonomics are… not great. (A lap desk (affiliate link) can help a bit!)
What are your thoughts, ladies — where have you been primarily working from? Have you found it productive to switch between a few spots, or perhaps try to train yourself to do certain tasks in certain spaces? Where do you prefer to work from home?
All stock photos via Pexels: woman on couch (Andrea Piacquadio), woman at kitchen table (Ekaterina Bolovtsova), woman on balcony (Daria Shevtsova), woman on bed (Andrew Neel).
Anon
I hate it. Not only am I way less productive and suffer from not having physical separation between work and home, my setup (laptop on some textbooks, with keyboard and mouse, at the dining table) is awful and I spent all weekend with excruciating back pain. I have a lot more natural light than my office, though.
Anon
Try getting one of those laptop holders or bookstands that hold your laptop up at an angle. Or an extra monitor if you can swing it?
Cb
We have a makeshift home office situation – a small IKEA 2 seater dining room table with the monitor I stole from the office before we shut down. It’s in our sitting / dining room which isn’t ideal with a toddler but there isn’t really room for it anywhere else. We take calls from our bedroom so we don’t have to relocate the toddler when we need to take a call.
minau
I work only at our dinning table nowhere else.
Junior Associate
+1
Anon
When it was decided that our schools were going to move to virtual learning for the rest of the year and my kid would be home for the foreseeable future, I knew some changes needed to be made as I had been working wherever I found myself when my day started. We put together a home office space for in my bedroom using a desk and chair our neighbors put on NextDoor’s marketplace and an extra monitor my husband had in his office. It’s my first day using the setup and I love it. My back and shoulders had started hurting from working on the couch and this setup feels better ergonomically. I also have space to put all my work stuff, which had gotten spread out all over the house. Since now we are in this for the long haul, I feel better having my own space that feels like being at work; it’s helping me focus.
Senior Attorney
I just want to know why that woman on the balcony is so darned happy.
Cat
presumably because she’s an influencer in Paris posting pics to her blog :)
Senior Attorney
Also I think she’s in The Before Time.
Anonymous
Wouldn’t you be happy if you had an apartment (presumably in NYC) with a balcony (unheard of for affordable apartments)?
CountC
I somehow prepared for this without knowing this would happen. I bought two large monitors this winter and created a small work desk area in the dog/office room. My boss told me to buy whatever else I needed when we first got the WFH orders, so I grabbed a printer/scanner off Amazon. I also had accidentally ordered a second docking station for my laptop, which is great because I essentially have the same set up now at home that I do at my office, minus a real keyboard. I try to only work in here because the lines are already blurred enough between work and home life at this point.
NY CPA
I am using a card table set up in the corner of the bedroom, near a window. I purchased a comfy desk chair at Staples, and brought in a lamp from elsewhere in the house. I have a second screen from work that I am using. Although I hate working from home (and always have), it’s a set up that works as well as can be expected.
Winter
I’ve had a dedicated office set up all along, which worked fine for the occasional day here-or there in the past. But now that it’s all work from home, I found that space depressing and not well set up for ongoing use. So, I set up a dining room table that we were no longer using in a spare room that gets more light. It’s so much better. Before leaving the office, I brought home my dual monitors and technology (and office plants!). Next, I bought an actual office chair. Having the right kind of chair has made all of the difference in the world. I spent a few days in a dining room chair, and my spine was not happy. If you can swing it, that has been the game changer for me.
Leatty
I worked from home on a regular basis pre-COVID, so I was fortunate enough to have a dedicated office space at home with dual monitors, a keyboard, supportive chair, and phone headset. Unfortunately, my office space doesn’t have a fourth wall and door, so there is no way to keep my toddler out of my office. After one particularly horrific phone call when my daughter was screaming as my husband pulled her away from me, we moved my equipment into our bedroom where I have a much smaller desk. It isn’t ideal because I don’t have as much space, but I am so much more productive when my daughter isn’t around. Since DH and I are splitting toddler-duty, we both spend a significant portion of our on-duty time working on our laptops while she watches TV or plays outside.
Anon
I’m “woman on couch.” The only other real option in my efficiency-sized apartment is the kitchen table, which is too high a surface for me (and therefore was ceded to my taller spouse). I don’t miss sitting in chairs at all, but I am getting sore wrists about now!
Amberwitch
Since I don’t have an adjustable desk at home, I keep changing between sitting at the desk in the living room, and standing at the kitchen bar in the kitchen. The bar is a hair too high, but when I wear my indoor birkenstocks it works out fine. So picture me in a suit, wearing silver birkenstocks *big eyeroll*
Anon
If you have room and a little extra cash, I bought a bare-bones adjustable desk for $250 at Office Depot this weekend. It’s pneumatic, not electric, but it works pretty well. It wasn’t money I wanted to spend, but today has already been SO much better both for comfort and focus.
anon
I’m working at a table. Even so, I’m also having a lot of neck and shoulder pain. I really wish I’d thought to take my chair home with me!
Anon
I’m considering running in to grab my office chair. My office is closed so I wouldn’t be exposing anyone.
Not that Anne, the other Anne
The “hobbies table” in the basement is now my home office. Due to my partner’s profession (IT administrator), we already had an external keyboard, monitor, UPS, and mouse, which I set up just in case about a week before the WFH ruling came down from On High. We also have an old office chair we’d been keeping around for said hobbies table. I cleared out a drawer in the plastic three-drawer filing cabinet next to the hobbies table and it is now my office supplies drawer.
Honestly, I would be a lot less productive without my partner’s tendency to hoard computer peripherals and have hereby promised not to give them any more grief about this habit!
pugsnbourbon
We have a brief window of sunshine before the rain returns, so right now I’m working from a camping chair in the backyard. I normally work in a basement office so this is pretty nice.
KS IT Chick
I have the home office, complete with second monitor and actual desk. We are still in the midst of moving, so my desk is currently my sewing desk. It actually fits me better than my computer desk, so I am planning on switching them permanently.
Thanks, it has pockets!
At a table in the living room with the TV in my line of sight. Now, right now I refrain from having it on all day because with both of us home we need to be mindful of electricity usage, but most of the time I like having a familiar show on in the background. On very slow days, you might find me on the couch.
But man, sometimes I wish I had the space for a full desk and extra monitor like I’d have at work, it probably would make WFH easier. When we do look for a house, I may want one with a room we can use as a home office and library.
Anon
I’ve used the TV as a second screen to play the otter or the panda livecams. This has the added bonus of keeping my cats distracted from distracting me! I also really wish I’d moved to a place with room for a home office before all this.
Coach Laura
I start the morning at the kitchen table in the great room with a view of the TV, which is usually on mute. I use my laptop with a wireless keyboard and mouse. I have an extra rolling chair that I’m using now after getting a terrible backache the first week – I’m on week 4 WFH now.
My DH is also working at home and he has the study with a door because he’s on calls almost continuously. He has the standing desk and stands his whole workday. He starts early and ends work at 3 so at that time I go into one of our kid’s old bedrooms (kids are grown) and work in there because he’s just too noisy and annoying. I also take calls in there earlier if I need quiet.
I have a standing setup in the bedroom if I want to use it and a second office chair there.
In Seattle, we still have the heat on and sitting on the deck isn’t yet possible but maybe in a week or two!
Coach Laura
Good article. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/8-ergonomics-tips-to-stay-healthy-as-you-work-from-home/
The Beagle has Landed
I started at the kitchen table while my husband used the home office (he’s retired and it was always “his” office when I was at work.) Bar-height kitchen table was h**l on my back so I made a deal for the home office and now have it at least half-days, with a keyboard, mouse, and monitor from work hooked up to my laptop. The afternoons are SO productive now… If you can carve out an “office” space somewhere in your place and find an old monitor and keyboard somewhere, along with at least the most basic task chair, it is great!
Also, whoever called the office the office/dog room, ours is the same! 4 dog beds in this room alone, for two dogs. They own this room, but that’s okay, they’re good company when working.
Anon
My partner is sick (but still working from home) and we live in 700 square feet so I am working, relaxing, and sleeping on the couch. Not ideal.
No Longer Anon
I have a desk, which I barely ever used in the 4 years post-law school, but am REALLY glad I have now. It’s in a corner of my living room. The lighting situation sucks a lot, but there’s nowhere else to put it (and my apartment has weird lighting generally- big loft apartment without any real overhead lights in the loft area and natural light comes in at a weird angle). I cleaned it up last night and made it a bit calmer of an atmosphere, so that at least helped. I printed out one of my favorite quotes and framed it, added a few little personality touches, and added a candle that I didn’t light but smelled nice even without being lit today. I also moved stuff around in the one file drawer I have so I could store my work files there instead of in the hutch of the desk, which stressed me out.
MJ
I have a home office because I regularly work from home, but with my husband also here now I’ve ceded the space to him. He’s on the phone a lot right now, and has to host video calls, so it makes more sense. I’m answering emails, running social media, and making the occasional phone call, in comparison. So while he’s in the office, I’m set up at our dining room table, because the light in there is wonderful during the day (and my small inherited antiques collection makes me happy).
Cosby
I currently run a small business on the internet, and I work at home most of the time. Working from home is entirely free and comfortable, but it can be surprisingly hard, like you can not concentrate on working. My tip for this situation is making the working space at home look like an office working space with full office equipment, organized, and have a specific schedule! That already helps me