The home office

It hasn’t been long, a couple centuries maybe, since most merchants - the baker, the tailor, the shoemaker - lived above or behind their place of work. What we deem as normal, the modern reality of separating our workplace from our place of residence, is actually a relatively new phenomenon.

The simple notion of the work place and the place for living being close together seems genuinely utopian in the context of a world that has the bulk of us travelling en-masse each morning to some distant locale in order to perform our vocational duties. The commute is the modern-day curse but the modern-day status quo.

But things are changing. Advances in technology are allowing many of us to work effectively from home and, as a result, there’s a growing trend to incorporate well-designed office space into our households.

Adding an office to a home can be as simple as renaming a room or as involved as building on a new wing, it all hinges on its intended use. For individuals wishing to create a home office, ask yourself these few questions: How often will you use it?  What are your work patterns? When will you be working? Can you afford interruptions or is privacy a paramount? Will you be entertaining clients routinely? The answers will generally hint to the best size and location.

For individuals desiring isolation from other family members (inquisitive young children come to mind) an office area connected to the master bedroom suite can provide the solitude desired. But the bedroom office creates a dynamic between the place of rest and the place of work that might be unwanted and entertaining clients there can create a stranger dynamic still. The bedroom office can work well for some and not at all for others.

Other individuals might find the bulk of their home office work is “overtime” in nature - evenings and weekends - and they desire a certain connection to the rest of the household when working there. I find this to be the most common scenario these days and I often incorporate such a space near the family activity zone - the living-dining-kitchen circuit - that allows the user to feel part of the activity while still providing a certain level of detachment when needed. French doors work great for such a space providing a visual connection even when acoustics require the doors to be shut.

Taking over a seldom-used guest bedroom is often an easy and economical use of space when creating a home office. The bedroom is typically contained in nature, allowing for privacy, and is often conveniently adjacent to a bathroom. Incorporate a Murphy bed (a fold-away wall bed) into the layout and the room will work like a charm for both office use and for the occasional guest.

For those intending on doing a lot of work from home then an office that’s private and off the main family circuit is your best bet. Locating such a space adjacent to the main entry often works well as it’s typically further away from the heart of the home and allows easy access for clients coming to and from the space. The incorporation of a separate entry door can make the home office more independent still, creating a true stand-alone place of work that’s still inextricably linked to the place you live.

If the idea of the 15-second commute from the kitchen to the office is enticing for you then give some thought of incorporating a home office into your life. Give a little thought to how you’ll use it before you lay it out and before you know it you’ll be reading the morning paper when most others are reading the license plate in front of them.