One of the biggest—and least-expected—trends of 2020 has been the return of the home office. It’s become one of the most desirable search terms for home listings (one architect’s gone from adding dedicated workspaces in 15 percent of his projects to a whopping 75 percent), but let’s be real: Many of us can’t dedicate an entire room to our nine-to-five. There just isn’t the square footage, so we try to cram in a work area wherever we can—the living room, the dining room, the nook between your kid’s daybed and their leaning tower of pipe cleaner crafts. Some of these spots aren’t ideal, but if you’re looking to create a home office space for the long haul, there’s one room you should absolutely avoid making multi-purpose.
Spoiler: You’re probably doing it already.
Complete spoiler: It’s your bedroom.
It’s tempting to stick a desk in your room. Even if you don’t have the luxury of working from home amid the pandemic, you might need a space to, say, file your taxes or pen that next Great American Novel. But it can also be a secret source of stress.
