Working at home...

Working at home is not for everyone. If you’re the type of person that needs daily interaction with other people, it may not be for you. It also doesn’t work well without a certain amount of self-discipline. On the other hand, working at home can be an extremely efficient way to get a lot done. It can give you the flexibility to take care of errands and appointments at convenient, low-traffic times, and get a lot of work done while others are stuck on the road.

So, if you do decide it’s the right thing for you, then what? What are your requirements? Do you have a space that works well for an office at home, or does it necessitate a new home that’s more conducive to your needs? (Or at least the re-purposing of existing space?)

Much of that depends on what you do, and how your home is set up. If you are going to have clients coming to your home, it would be helpful to have a setup where they can enter and exit without having to go through private areas of your home. Terrace-level offices with separate doors are ideal.

Another factor to consider is whether there are other people in your household at home during work hours, and how near or far you need to be from them. Some folks prefer a separate space, such as a garage apartment, where they’ll be away from the distractions of the household, whereas others find it more convenient to be in the house, where they can multi-task.

What about size? Do you need to have a lot of storage and desk space, or can you just plop your laptop down and do what you need to do? A spare bedroom can work very well in many situations, but it often means sharing your office with a guest room, which can be tricky. I’ve seen many folks convert old sunrooms or side porches into nice private offices.

One thing you should consider that many people overlook is light. Working in a dark, windowless space is not conducive to productivity – or your mental state, and should be avoided. If the best space for an office in your home doesn’t get a lot of natural light, make sure to utilize good lighting to keep it bright. You can even get types of bulbs that more closely simulate natural light.

OK, so you’ve figured out your needs and wants for a home office. Can you make it work in your current home? Be creative. The space may be staring you in the face. My partner and I both work from home, and we were able to make it work by utilizing an extra bedroom on one end of the house, and adding windows to a former storage room on the other end to create two good, usable home offices. People ask me all the time how we handle both working at home. Having offices on opposite ends of the house definitely helps. We’re not distracted by each other’s phone calls and basically stick to our own areas.

One caveat about making changes to your home to accommodate an office: If you’re making any permanent or significant changes to the home to do so, consult your Realtor before you do it. You don’t want to do something that would lower the resale value of your home or make it such that a future homeowner could not envision using the space differently. For instance, if your only choice is to convert a garage, make sure it can be converted back easily.

These are just some of the many factors to consider in deciding whether working at home makes sense for you, especially in terms of the way your home may accommodate that work style. Make sure you’ve thought it all out carefully before taking the plunge.