In the almost twenty years I’ve been working from home, I’ve had nine home offices. Moving my home office so many times gave me insight into the benefits and disadvantages of using certain rooms to work. The one room I’ve never used – and won’t use – as a home office is a bedroom because I’d spend more time working and less time sleeping.

Before you set up a home office, it’s important to consider every room in your home. Even if you already have a home office, there may be a better place for it.

I always ask my clients these questions to help them determine the best place for their home office:

• Will you actually work in this area?
• Will there be only a few distractions?
• Is there – or could there be – enough lighting?
• Could you run a phone line and Internet connection into the room? (If you already have wireless, you’ll be fine.)
• Are there enough electrical outlets?
• Is this space comfortable year-round?
• Is there room for everything you need (desk, file cabinet, computer and storage)?

If you answered “yes” to most of these questions, then you’ve found a good place to set up or maintain your home office. Before you move to another space, try it out for a couple of weeks. You may find that the room is too noisy, there’s too much traffic in and out of the space or you’re isolated from the rest of your family.