I generally do all of my work at my desk on the main floor of our house. When we first moved into our house, we designated a room upstairs as the office and we put in a desk for me and a desk for my husband up there. But then when we started both working from home in March of 2020, I moved my workstation downstairs because we both couldn't be on meetings at the same time in the same room.
We originally bought the desk where I work now with the purpose of it being a sort of mail station. Now it's just my desk. I try to pretend it doesn't exist when I'm not working, but it's in our living room, so work sort of looms over me all the time.
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| I considered neatening it up and cleaning up the papers, but I decided to keep it real. This is it in its real life. |
But this is where I do most of my writing for this blog, too. In general, I like this is a work space. It's warmer downstairs than it is upstairs. The dog and cat sometimes visit me when I'm working. I can hear when deliveries are made. I can be the nosy neighbor and keep track of what's going on in the neighborhood. There are some drawbacks. Because of my laptop and my second monitor, there's very little space for me to write things on paper. Because we had already used the drawers in the desk for things like dog brushes, packing tape, and masks, there isn't a lot of storage in the desk itself for office supplies.
I guess I could go back to my desk upstairs, but I really don't know what I would do with my second monitor there. My husband also still occasionally takes video meetings upstairs, so I'm sure that sometimes I would annoy him to no end. So we sit with a pretty good, but less than perfect solution. Write on.
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| My cube is in the far right corner. Truthfully, I could have stepped back another ten feet. |
My writing space when I go into the office is a tiny cubicle in a giant room. The room was originally supposed to be used for a giant computer lab, but we've decided to put that lab somewhere else and so now I am all alone in a giant space.
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| It's desolate, isn't it? |
What does your writing space look like? Do you wish it were better in some way?
I love my writing space but it is tiny - and if I could make it exactly what I want I would add a comfy armchair for reading. It is also very chilly in the winter.
ReplyDeleteBummer that your space is in the living room. That is such a disadvantage of working from home, that work is always THERE, living with you, expectant and unavoidable.
I have an office in our basement (it's actually pretty big; it was designed to be a bedroom when we bought our house, but we ended up putting the guest room in a smaller room), but most of the time I prefer to work at the dining room table or on the couch. I do all of my writing for the blog in one of these two places or, if I wake up early, in bed.
ReplyDeleteFor taxing work tasks, I will go to the office because I have a set of IKEA dresser drawer that I use for filing + two monitors (and I usually have my laptop open on my desk as well).
I have to admit I have things pretty good - because I've worked from home for over a decade (most of that time in a tiny apartment where our desk took up a big chunk of the living room), when we moved into our first house we made sure to carve out space for an office since we knew we'd be working from home. COVID really hasn't impacted that at all, except for when the kids aren't at school and then my husband and I can't do work calls as easily (I usually do mine upstairs while he uses the office if we have calls at the same time)...
I think it is easier now that our office is NOT in our living room but, honestly, working from home regardless of whether you can close a door on the office - work always feels "present" - but maybe that's also mostly due to the office we all carry around in our pockets?
http://elisabeth-frost.com
My work computers took over my writing/crafting desk, so if I am not working (in the corner of our small living room - ugh. I wish I had an office!), I am usually writing (my blog posts and such) at the kitchen table. I like being in the kitchen - it's just not the most ergonomic work environment. I did have to purchase a desk chair to be able to work from home 10 hours a day!
ReplyDeleteI love your little, cluttered desk. Keeping it real :)
I think your living room desk looks cozy! I definitely see the disadvantage of working in the living room though. I currently do my writing at the kitchen table. Since I don't work from home and only do my blog for fun, I can't really prioritize a home office right now. Someday!!!
ReplyDeleteI hear you! My work space is set up in my living room, so it's hard to truly get away from work. I really want to have a second bedroom that I can set up like an office. The apartment I was in before was so tiny that my desk was shoved right next to my bed and let me tell you, that is NOT conducive to a good night's sleep. So getting the desk out of my bedroom was a small win!
ReplyDeleteSo many of us in the same boat- I, too, work in my "living room" (aka, the only room here other than the bathroom and bedroom). I literally see my desk every waking moment - unless I am in my closet. :) So I sympathize! It's hard. But I am glad to have a space, and VERY glad it's not in my bedroom. Small things!
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