How to Create a Work-from-Home Office Space When You Have Kids

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Do you have a work-from-home office space? It might not be feasible when you’re working from home with kids or in a small space.

That’s why I recommend carving out a workspace, even if it’s not a traditional home office.

You need a space for your business things to call home. A place to keep your planner, ideas book, and everything else. A place you can teach your kids not to play on/in.

When you create a workplace, you also have an area where you can train your brain to be in “work mode.”

But if you’re going to work from home while you’re also taking care of your kids, you can’t just go to another room and shut the door. Otherwise, your kids will find all sorts of things to do that you may disapprove of.

In this post, I’m going to share some tips for creating a place where you can work with your kids nearby and also a place where you can store all your things. Depending on your home’s layout, these may not be the same space.

My work area has changed a couple of times over the years, but here are the principles I always use to create a home office space in my home.

1. Have a Home Base

You can’t carry your entire workspace around each time you need to work, so you really need a home base. For me, it’s a roll-top desk. It’s been in the living room and is now in our home office. Wherever it is, it holds the bulk of what I need for my business.

In the desk you’ll find:

• The charger for my laptop
• A phone charger
• Several pens and packs of index cards for taking notes and outlining
• Files with printed-out records and other physical documents
• Basic office supplies

It’s a place where I can store things I don’t use all the time, but still want to know where they are. It’s an area I’ve taught my older kids not to take things from without asking. And I’m working on training the younger ones to do the same.

Without a home base, my things get lost. I don’t know where to keep my work items, so I just set them down somewhere. Then one of the younger kids doodles on my notes or my child with Pica eats a couple of pages from a book I’m reviewing.

As you can imagine, this leads to frustration. It’s so much nicer to have a dedicated home for my things.

When picking a home base, here’s what I looked for:

• Something that could close (I love the roll top on my desk because I can keep the younger kids out of the top area. Having it closable also kept my living room from looking cluttered when I was in the middle of a creative project.)
• A place with drawers so I could stay organized
• Room for my laptop and other tech stuff

Before deciding to use the desk, I considered repurposing an old dresser. It was the perfect height for a “standing desk,” and I could have placed my laptop charging area on top. Then, the drawers could be filled with my supplies.

I also considered using a rolling storage cart, because I liked the portability. It was something I could house behind the dining room table and then pull it out when needed.

Your home base doesn’t need to be fancy. It does need to meet your needs. So spend a few minutes brainstorming what your area must have. Then start thinking about ways to make it happen in your space.

Here’s a pic of one of my old home bases. When I began using two monitors, my rolltop desk wasn’t wide enough, so we found an old metal teacher-style desk at a surplus sale and brought home.

2. Opt for a Laptop

We have one desktop computer in the house, and I use it for bookkeeping for one of my VA clients and when I need Photoshop.

But the desktop is in the office. I can’t easily keep an eye on the kids while working on it, so I stick to using it when my husband is home or after the kids are in bed at night.

The vast majority of my work is done on my laptop. I started out with just an inexpensive machine from Best Buy. It lasted a long time! But, since I launched my business in 2015, my husband has surprised me with two different machines:

First it was a Microsoft Surface Laptop 2. I loved it for a while, as it reduced my boot time and ran faster than my other one.

Then, before my c-section in 2021, he bought me a Macbook Pro. I still use this when I need to work on the go. But these days, I typically work at night, in the home office on our desktop (an MSI Gaming Desktop).

Regardless of the style of laptop you use, here are the three main reasons I preferred a laptop when I was working during the day, when my kids were around.

• Portable – you can work at the dining room table or from your home base. You can even take it to the waiting room and put it to use while you’re killing time!
• Smaller footprint. My laptop is small, so I don’t need a ton of space to set it up and work. By comparison, the desktop is huge.
• Can run wirelessly. My little kids LOVE to pull on wires. It drives me crazy! And it makes working difficult if they’re tugging on my mouse’s cord or trying to unplug my keyboard. Oh, and the power button on the desktop seems to always attract unwanted attention…

3. Prepare the Space for Kids

I know my kids will be nearby while I work. Currently, I’m sitting at the dining room table with my laptop. I’m wearing the sleeping baby in a sling and hoping he stays asleep until I get this post written!

A couple of the other kids are in the same room as me. They’re playing a game together, but I know they’ll be coming over soon.

Because I know that my workspace needs to be safe for my kids as well, I’m prepared. I have some toys on the table behind my laptop that I can hand to the toddler when he gets bored. I have the room as child-proofed as I can get it, so I don’t have to worry about the little ones finding something they shouldn’t have.

We used to have tall baby gates completely blocking off access to the rest of the house from this living/dining room. But, as our child with special needs got bigger and stronger, they become a hazard. He tried climbing over them and just pushed through them, knocking the whole gate over.

So we’ve taken those down, but I miss them!

Think about your main work area, and decide how you can make it a space where you and your children can peacefully coexist. You don’t want a ton of breakable items in there or things you don’t want your kids touching.

If you have end tables or something, consider adding some toys. If you have toddlers who love to empty out cupboards, this gives them an area where they can explore and empty without getting into mischief.

I like to keep some blankets nearby so the kids can make beds on the floor or pull them around them on chilly days. They’ve been turned into numerous forts over the years.

Depending on your business, you may spend quite a bit of time in your work area. Make sure it’s comfortable for everyone.

4. Declutter Frequently

My desk isn’t always spic and span. I often have to stop and clear it off before I return my laptop to it in the evenings.

By taking time regularly to declutter the area, I ensure it never gets too bad. It also prevents me from stacking up papers and never looking at them again.

I tend to take lots of notes by hand, and then transfer them to the computer if it’s something I need long-term. These papers need to be tossed in with the papers to go in the wood stove instead of staying stacked on my desk.

So spend a couple of minutes each week decluttering your workspace. It’ll help make it more pleasant to use.

5. Use Your Space

Even when my home base desk was in the living room, I often moved to the dining room table to work. My brain now has associated the table with “work mode.” When I sit here, I can knock out blog posts much more quickly than when I try to sit at the desk.

The chairs are comfortable, the height is right, and I can easily keep an eye on the kids.

It works for me!

But I can’t always keep everything set up on the table. We need that space for meals, so I have to utilize the desk as “my space.” When I forget about my workspace, I lose things, or the kids draw on them. It never ends well when my work stuff gets left in the living room when I’m not working.

So use your space. Get in the habit of putting your things away.

And figure out where you work best. You really will work faster when you’re in a space where you’re comfortable and not constantly worrying about the trouble your kids are getting into.

6. Teach Your Kids to Respect Your Workspace

Ideally, you would never have to worry about your kids taking things from your workspace. They wouldn’t stack their stuff there, either.

But the only way to get there is to teach your kids to respect your home base.

This takes time and patience.

I start when my kids are toddlers by firmly saying “no” if they try to take something from my desk or pound on my computer. Then, I move them away or provide a toy or something to distract them.

As they grow, I say, “No, that’s for Mommy’s work.” Continue to be consistent with this; your kids should eventually learn that you don’t want them using the stuff in your home base.

My older kids sometimes forget that it’s my space. So I remind them kindly. I let them know that it’s my area of the house, and I need to keep track of the things there for my business.

When everyone is on the same page, it’s so much easier because they remind each other. I like it when that happens!

Did You Carve Out a Home Office Space or Have a Home Base?

I’d love to hear about where you work. Do you have a portable system like I do, with a home base, or do you do all of your work from a specific space in the house?