Archives for October 2014

One is easy. Two, not so much. Here are ways to make room for two to work at home

If you and your partner both work at home, you are part of an ever-expanding number. Personally, I can think of four families who have recently, and rather abruptly, had a spouse join the other in coming home to work.

One of the couples lives in a beautiful four-bedroom lakefront home in which there are separate offices for the wife and husband. She is a real estate agent. Her office is on the main floor in a sunny room in the front of the house, where she has a large desk, bookshelves, filing cabinets and all the tools and accessories you might need or want in an office. The husband was, until a few months, ago primarily on the road. He worked at home only a few hours a month and instead of working in his small and dark office on the lower level, he tended to spread out on the dining room table or the kitchen island.

They were both delighted when he began working at home, and yet it was a big adjustment. Making another workspace for him became a priority when she realized it was stressful having him commandeer the kitchen every single day. While it wasn’t ideal for him, it was preferable to being holed up in “the dungeon,” as he called it. Their solution was as simple as swapping his office in the small, dark bedroom for one in the larger and sunnier guest bedroom overlooking the lake. Now both have spacious, functional and pleasing workspaces that are, most important, separate.