How would you arrange your house set up (pertaining to WFH and the kids' stuff)?

[Anonymous]

Those with little kids- do they have toys in the their room? A dedicated playroom? Both?

Dh and I both WFH. He has an office and I have been working from the dining room table, but I just got a new job where I'm going to be on camera a LOT so I need to juggle somethings around and make a designated office space for me.

We have a large house, but it's a raised ranch and very choppy and poorly utilized in my opinion.

Top floor: 3 small bedrooms (ours and then 5yo and 3yo each have their own) one bathroom, living room, dining room, kitchen.
Bottom floor: 2 bedrooms, full bath, laundry, second kitchen, and 2 family rooms. Currently, the bedrooms down here are DH's office and the kids playroom. The two family rooms are 1. our tv room which has a built in playhouse that Dh built during the pandemic and 2. is adjacent to the kitchen so we have it set up as a bar room/game room and our pelaton is in there.

Would you take the playroom and make an office for yourself and disperse the toys into the tv room and kids' bedrooms?

Designate a corner of the bar room for a desk? (this would be right next to DH's office and doesn't have a door)

Have the kids share a room and take one of the first floor bedrooms as an office (I'm assuming eventually the kids will want the basement bedrooms and have the kitchenette, a full bathroom, and hang out room down there).

If you have two WFH parents, what is your set up like?

[Anonymous]

I use a tv room in our house that has a door I can close.

My husband uses the small room in our basement that we designated as an office.

If you’re going to be on video a lot you want to be separated from the nucleus of chaos in your home.

[Anonymous]

I would take the playroom and disperse the toys. I think separate playrooms are nice, but certainly not a must. I doubt the kids will mind at all, so it's really a matter of whether it's more important to you to have the dedicated office with a door, or to have the toys confined to the playroom.

[Anonymous]

Yes I would take the playroom.

I do not think designated playrooms are necessary. We have never had one and it's never been an issue. Kids have some toys and most of their books in their room and a corner of the living/dining room has dedicated shelves and a play kitchen. When they were very small (under 2) we also had a bin of toys in our master bedroom so they could play if one of us needed to supervise while doing something in there.

We also have an "art cart" on casters that kind of floats between bedrooms, dining and living room for art projects -- like you, our bedrooms are on the main floor so it's useful to have something mobile like this. When not actively in use it lives in a supply closet.

Also as they get older, we intend to retire the play area in the living/dining area. We figure they will totally outgrow the play kitchen by 7 or 8, and once that goes most of those toys will also be too young for them (blocks, little people/playmobile stuff, etc.) I figure they'll keep some dolls and other toys in their room and we'll retain bins of legos and magnetites in the living room, but the rest of that shelving will be given over to board games for the whole family and maybe crafting supplies. In the end, the "playroom" years are somewhat short-lived and by late elementary there won't be a point anyway. So you have 5 years tops, before most of what is in their playroom goes away. I would definitely reclaim for your office and find somewhere else for that stuff (probably your family room since it's already got the playhouse).

[Anonymous]

I have my office in my 3 year olds room, just wanted to throw that out there. It works surprisingly well. I know it won’t work forever, but for now he is in daycare while I’m working. We keep his room simple and have a small but very useful desk in one corner. We have a small sunroom that is a playroom now and one day it may be my office but I really prefer not being on the main level for now.

[Anonymous]

I share the playroom and my office. As most often both are not occurring together. And when they are both being utilized together it works really well since they want to be in the same space as me anyhow and they're occupied. My camera does not face the playroom part of the room. Also consider setting up your desk and husbands desk so its pretty easy to just plug your laptop into his desk space. Docks make this super doable. And then you have another option if there is some important meeting and kids are home.

My kids are 4 and 6 and we've had this set up since early 2021 and I think it works really well. When they were younger I would move my laptop and keyboard to a secured location when I was done with work, but now that they know the drill I really don't need to do anything but close things down and turn off.

We don't have as many options as you have for spaces, but l think even if we did - we would go with a set up like this one. It's fantastic for days they're home sick and can be occupied in the same space that I'm in

[Anonymous]

We have a similar set up - my husband uses a spare bedroom as an office, the kids have a playroom, and I use the spare family room (adjacent to the playroom) as an office.

We considered flipping the playroom and my office, but I like being able to shut the door on the playroom so I don't have to see the mess and the dog can't access the legos. My kids are in school/after care while I am working, so noise is not an issue.

[Anonymous]

Our kids only have books in their bedrooms, but no toys. Toys are in the playroom. DH and I each have a small office across from each other on the 4th floor (it's the attic in a Victorian). Why don't you take the 2nd bedroom downstairs as your office?

[Anonymous]

I would designate a corner of the bar room for a desk. Get a desk with wheels so if you need more privacy, you can just roll it into your husband’s office next door.

After working from the kitchen island for years, I finally got a standing desk (FlexiSpot brand with third-party casters from Amazon) and it’s been a game changer. The desk is mainly parked in a corner of the living room, but easy to roll to another place in the house if needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have my office in my 3 year olds room, just wanted to throw that out there. It works surprisingly well. I know it won’t work forever, but for now he is in daycare while I’m working. We keep his room simple and have a small but very useful desk in one corner. We have a small sunroom that is a playroom now and one day it may be my office but I really prefer not being on the main level for now.

I think this is actually a pretty good idea as long as you can work around the kid's daycare schedule