When I read a post on Great Prices Here about Having a Home Office, I thought it might be a decent idea to write my own version of this post as I did not entirely agree with everything that Nicole said in her post. This post is to disagree with what Nicole had to say about picking a space for your home office.

Nicole suggests “a small, unused room or even part of a room” and also recommends making it fairly secluded and away from where everyone hangs out. While this theoretically sounds like a good idea, as it would be low impact and not take a lot of space away from your everyday living uses and being secluded would help to minimize interruptions so you can be more productive, things don’t always work out as well in practice as they do in theory.

My suggestion would be to set aside as large of space as you can possibly manage to spare for your home office. No matter how large of a space you have, you will likely wish you had more room. However, starting with a little larger space will buy you some extra time until you run out of room and make it easier to deal with the limited space you have as there will be more of it.

As far as the location of your home office, I would not recommend putting it in some dark out-of-the-way corner of your house as suggested by Nicole. If you put it in a dark out-of-the-way corner or in the basement or something along those lines, your space will not be as inviting and desirable to be in. My suggestion would be to put it someplace where you may have a few more distractions, but will be more likely to enjoy spending your time.

By putting it in a room with some windows and/or a bit of a view, you will benefit from having some natural lighting (which is good for both the mind and the body) as well as being able to see what’s going on without having to go to the other end of the house when you hear a noise or commotion outside. Also, having your office near or in an area where the rest of your family spends time will allow you to work while spending time with them rather than being separated from them in some other part of the house.

If your office is at the other end of the house, you will not want to spend time in it because you would rather be with your family. If the office is near where your family is spending time, you might not be completely focused on the work but you will be able to get at least a little bit done (which is better than nothing) and be spending time in the presence of your family as you would do anyway.

While there is no right or wrong way to set up a home office, these are my recommendations. However, you need to do whatever fits your personality and opinions and perhaps partake in a bit of trial and error. What are your thoughts on setting up a home office?