When people consider their home office, usually we model them according to where we worked outside of the house. So, we think of a room with a door. (I don’t know too many people who think of setting up a cubicle in the middle of their home.) However, before you turn one of your spare rooms into an office, you should ask yourself a few questions:
- If you were studying for a test, or in this case working on a deadline, do you prefer privacy and quiet or do you like having people and background noise?
This is an important consideration because no two people would answer the same way. For example, my husband needs to be locked away in a sensory deprivation unit in order to do his best work. That would be ideal for him. No noise, no distractions, no people.Now, my personality is the exact opposite. Being sequestered away from the hustle and bustle of the house would drive me crazy. Even as a kid I studied with music in the background, the television on while fielding phone calls.
So, although we do the same type of work, our office spaces would be in two totally different places.
- Do you need your home office to be exclusively for your use, or could you share your space with the rest of the household?
Once again, this is a matter of personal style. My husband would love to have a locked room where no one could see what he’s working on and/or move his work materials around. He is much more structured than I am, so this would be a real need for him.I, on the other hand, don’t really care where I’m working. I can easily work in my livingroom, move into my “official” office, or work out of my bedroom. As long as I have easy access to the printers I’m okay. I just need a file cabinet or bookcase to put my unfinished projects in once the work day is over.
Needless to say, my husband and I won’t be sharing the same workspace anytime soon.
- Do you need your office space to have lots of natural lighting and windows or do you prefer to be in a windowless space with artificial lighting?This is one thing that my husband and I can agree on. We both like natural light, so a windowless office would seem punitive. We’d probably just differ on the location. Since he still works in “Cubicle World” the idea of deliberately picking a work space that relies solely on artifical lighting would be depressing.
I’d like to be able to watch the children playing outside while I’m working. I like the scenery and taking mental breaks by watching squirrels chasing each other or birds flying by to get their daily bird seed rations. My husband, on the other hand, would prefer to have a second floor office with windows which would cut down on other distractions.
- Would you like your office to be compact or spacious?
This is another good question to ask yourself. My first answer would be “spacious” but because of my style this would just end up being one messy space. I’d take everything out that I intended to work on, forget to put things away and in about three days you’d need to dig me out. So, a compact office would be better for me since it would force me not to get too far ahead of myself.My husband would be okay in either. He is more precise than I am, so would have no trouble keeping his office neat, with everything having a specific location.
So, how about you? Compact or spacious?
