Office Space

TLOML and I are lucky enough to work from home. This is a nice perk which serves to counteract the fact that we both have to travel a fair amount. I also have conference calls with the East Cosat at 6am or 7am a couple of times a week, and the occasional 8pm or 9pm call with colleagues in India. Being able to work from home, and claw that time back by taking a lunchtime run, or downing tools at 4pm to play with Lady P, makes this all okay.

The only downside of working from home is that you have to turn a bit of your house into an office. A real office, with a filing cabinet. a printer and a shredder and a proper desk and a decent office chair too. Like most people we've always squeezed our home office into the guest room - or vice versa, more accurately. Which works, but as I said, ours is a pretty significant office set up. It has always been a squish. Our guests usually have to use one of our desks as a nightstand, and may occasionally be woken at 6am by the sound of the printer whirring away.

Possibly the very best thing about the Sugar Cube is that it has a separate building in the backyard that we can use as an office. So we have become commuters. This footpath to the end of the garden represents our daily commute:

The office has no plumbing, so can't be used as a guest room. But it does have plenty of space for TLOML's business, including a couple of desks for co-workers. And I have my own little corner, tucked away from him, so my boring Big Corp calls don't distract him from growing his business empire. From my desk I have a view of the top of the grapevines, and the occasional butterfly. (I will also be able to keep an eye on the growing wasp risk as the weather warms up and fruit starts to appear. Vigilance will be key).

My corner

This lovely building was formerly an artist's studio, so it is rather sad that we are now using it for the business of law and management consulting. Maybe one day, when we've made our millions, we'll use it for more creative endeavours. For now, though, it is the perfect home office.