I Worked from My Kitchen Table for Two Years

For two years after I went independent, my office was the corner of my kitchen table closest to the window. I'd clear it before dinner, set up again at 7am. My back was a mess and I didn't notice until it wasn't.

Eventually I gave up and bought a small desk. Not a setup, not a battle station — a 40-inch desk that fits in a corner of the living room, a real chair (the chair was more expensive than the desk and worth every dollar), and a small lamp. That was the entire renovation. It took 90 minutes to assemble and it changed my workdays in a way I was not expecting.

Three things I'd pass along to anyone working from home in a place that doesn't have a spare room:

• The chair matters more than anything else in the room. Spend the money. You will not regret it. You may regret almost any other furniture decision but you will not regret this one.
• A door is a luxury, but a defined corner is a real thing too. Even a screen or a tall bookshelf changes how your brain treats the space.
• Don't work in your bedroom if you can help it. Sleep gets weird about it.

The reason I bring this up at all on a real estate blog: I show a lot of houses to buyers who are deciding between a slightly bigger place with a real office and a slightly smaller place without one. The bigger place isn't always worth it. A defined corner usually is.