“Like everyone else, I went remote during the pandemic,” Tanya said. “At first, when it was just going to be this short term two week situation, it was no big deal: I sat at the kitchen table where the kids do their homework.”
She laughed. “After two weeks, it became clear to me why the kids hate doing their homework so much. Our dining room chairs are not really comfortable for prolonged periods of time spent working on the computer. So I got a little card table and set up a work area with a better chair in the corner of the family room.”
“Now here we are three years later, and I am still in that space. My company moved to a hybrid model – so while I do go into the office a few days each month, mostly I’m working from home.” Tanya said. “And with this set up in the family room, I feel like I am never away from work. It’s impossible to just relax because out of the corner of my eye I see all of the things I know need to be done.”
Life balance experts recommend maintaining a separate space for remote work whenever possible. Increasingly, the home office space has become one of the most popular reasons for a home addition in Massachusetts. For couples who have both partners working from home, a dedicated space is even more essential. “My husband will have a Zoom meeting at the exact same time I have my boss calling with urgent questions,” Tanya said. “We both need to be able to give our full attention to the task, without being distracted.”
When working with a Massachusetts home builder to design and create your new home addition, make sure you communicate what’s important in the new workspace. For example, Tanya and her husband Mark invested in sliding partition walls they can use to create a quiet space when needed and an open environment when not.
