Nowadays, more people than ever before are working from home. Working from home in a tiny house or park model home can be a great experience. Your morning “commute” literally consists of the few steps from your bed to your desk, and everything you need is always close at hand.
That said, working in a tiny space can also pose some challenges, especially if you are sharing that space with others. Let’s go over some tips that can help you to have an enjoyable and efficient work-at-home experience in your park model home.
1. Use a minimalist setup, and/or double up on functionality.
Many people take a traditionalist approach when it comes to setting up a home office. They think that because it is an office, it needs a “proper” desk. Quite frequently, that means a large, heavy piece of furniture that takes up significant space.
When you are living and working in a tiny house, you need to get away from that kind of thinking. It makes a lot more sense to install a small, minimalist desk, or even forgo a desk entirely.
You could instead let one of your existing furnishings pull double-duty, like a table or even a kitchen bar like the one you see here in the Champion Athens APH-528.
2. Get a partition.
A moveable partition makes an excellent addition to your park model home office. It offers you the following benefits:
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Increase your privacy and concentration.
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Section off the area where you are working to potentially take the “home office” deduction in your taxes.
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Provide a clean backdrop for video conferencing.
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Increase your mental division between “work” and “leisure” time with a physical barrier.
3. Think carefully about whether you want a view out the window.
Large windows like those you see here in the Woodland Park Timber Ridge Gettysburg make for marvelous views. The natural light they bring in also can be conducive to work.
But whether or not the views themselves can be depends on how you are wired. For some people, glancing out at inspiring views might help increase focus. For others, it could be a huge distraction. So, orient your desk according to your needs.
4. Consider using your loft or downstairs bedroom as a home office.
You might be tempted to set up your home office in your main living space, especially if you want to stay connected with what the rest of the household is up to throughout the day.
But you might find that that is too distracting, particularly with children and pets running around.
Should that be the case, one idea is to convert your loft into a home office. Alternately, you could sleep in the loft and instead convert your downstairs bedroom into an office. That would be a solution if it is important for you to have a door that you can close and lock.
5. Find a way to signal to others to not disturb you.
If you are unable to position your workspace behind a closed door, you might run into some challenges with respect to setting boundaries on your space and time as you work.
A good starting point is to have an open end direct conversation with other people in your household. Explain to them why you need to concentrate on your work and what they can do to make it easier for you by minimizing interruptions.
You might also want to come up with a specific way to signal whether or not you want them to initiate conversation with you—especially if you are prone to interrupting your own work to engage in spontaneous conversation. Indeed, this could be something as simple as putting on headphones or moving an item on your desk.
6. Wear headphones.
In general, headphones can be your best friend when you are working from home in your tiny house. Invest in a quality pair of noise-cancelling headphones that help you block out auditory distractions.
If you find music too distracting while you work, you could instead play white noise or ambient sounds. In fact, white noise can further help to block out noises in your surroundings.
7. Balance routine and the necessity of the moment.
Finally, it might sound ideal from an efficiency standpoint to work all day distraction-free and then interact with family members at night, but it is not all that realistic in such close quarters.
Your kids are going to come up to you with homework questions. Your cat is going to beg for food or attack your furniture. Your spouse is going to ask you about the budget or another household concern.
And sometimes, a family member is just going to want to share something with you. Since you are right there, it is hard for them not to.
Plus, you are going to want to interact with your family sometimes while working—that can be one of the joys of working from home. And if you initiate or continue conversation whenever you want while demanding they don’t, over time, interactions will start feeling imbalanced. After all, it isn’t just your space. It is their space too.
So, it is best to adjust your expectations. Try to maintain a routine with solid blocks of work throughout the day whenever you can. But build a little flexibility into your schedule for spontaneous interactions with your family too.
Ultimately, they will be happier and you probably will be too. This is essential if you want to live and work harmoniously while sharing a small space with your loved ones.
Have Fun Working in Your Park Model Home
That concludes our recommendations for working effectively from your park model home. Following the tips above will help you stay focused on work while also enjoying your family’s company throughout the day.
Please let us know when you contact us if you want to incorporate a home office into your park model home layout.
We will be able to give you suggestions for which floor plans might suit you best, and how to configure your layout so that one or more people can live and work comfortably. Please fill out our contact form or give us a call today.
