paperwork creep... the bookkeeping side, the authorly side, the small business side & the personal finances. It goes where it will.

biggest peeve is you never get to leave

The lack of proper studio space with good lighting. One converted bedroom with low ceiling does not suffice. Plus the whole house occasionally stinks of turpentine. I'd love to have a studio over the garage with skylights. Then I could walk to work.

I am a artisan who creates lighting fixtures, and right now I also live alone in a tiny dwelling, so I find that the creative process/manufacturing mess tends to creep into my very constrained living space. I periodically take a machete and hack back the jungle of creativity (i.e. mess) but I look forward to a larger studio and an actual office.

And as others have said since I sell largely on the internet, my customers will call pretty much 24/7.

I have found that working by myself in my home office (along with my connection with referral agencies) has been wonderful than working with large corporations over the previous 25 years. Eliminating all those complicated bureaucracies and corporation administration human robots has been a dream come true. When we bought the home we bought a house with a separate, private entrance to my home office rather than going through my house to the office room. The restroom for the business is also they're right next to the office room. Works terrific. I'm glad I left those large corporations and have my own home business with a private office.

My two large, mamma's boy kitties who insist on sitting on my lap and laying across my keyboard!

I never feel as if the workday is over. When I have downtime from my work, I end up doing laundry or dishes, so no time is wasted, but some days seem endless. I abhor people dropping in, so working from home is a good excuse to be brutal about disallowing it. But some people still do it - then it's doubly annoying. And I miss being around people and wearing nice work clothes. But working all day with my Chinese crested by my side is the greatest paycheck of all!

My biggest issue is my work colleagues not respecting the boundaries of when I am 'at work' or at home. I have moved holiday periods so many times because I was not going abroad and could therefore (apparently!) be flexible about when I was off work. I get emails and texts in off hours and they expect a response. I also tend to take my laptop with me on holidays away from home although the husband put his foot down the last time. When I told my boss I wasn't taking my laptop he was shocked, and commented that at least I would have my work iphone!!. I was even expected to carry on with online meetings and work half way around the world so I was taking these meetings at 4am and the like. The husband was less than impressed. It all puts a great strain on your personal relationships and you have to be careful not to let it rule. So now I think I will go with the husbands advice and tell them NO sometimes.

I worked from home for several years in a high profile, Technical Project Mgr position.

I can't really say I had a pet peeve.

What's not to like about working in your PJ's all day, or going out for a jog at lunchtime. Who cares how sweaty you get? No one can see you :-)

No worries about what to wear, or getting stuck in traffic, plus without a commute - extra hours of sleep in the morning!

It can sometimes feel like 24/7. My Project team was located throughout the US and globally. Because you work from home - you have no excuse for not being available...it is simply expected. I worked hard and earned every penny. It could sometimes feel isolating, as there is no such thing as "water cooler" chat, etc.

Still, the Pro's easily outweighed the Con's for me, and I was grateful to be in that position.

I voted for sharing my space. When the "office mate" is having downtime and playing video games the noise will start to grate on me until I insist he use headphones. Or he'll see something funny on fb to show me, etc.

I telework for a large corporation and I think the benefits far outweigh the problems. I used to work at the office so I can make some comparisons. The cost and stress of having to dress well and commute aren't there and the ability to go to the kitchen or stand up and stretch whenever I feel like it are great. I also get more work done because there are fewer interruptions. However, it is more difficult to collaborate and bond with my colleagues. Yes, we have conference calls and the internet, but it really isn't the same. It's a little lonely.

I love the one work day of no getting dressed up and no makeup. My pet peeve is having to lock the dogs (2) out during conference calls. They never seem to bark any other time!!

The period when I worked from home happened to coincide largely with the period of five and a half years when my brother was staying with us 'for a month or two while he got his life back together,'

I was writing for a series of blogs and with him in the house the only place I could work was the dining room. Every morning when I was trying to write, there he was nattering in my ear about the latest kerfuffle on his favorite gaming board or explaining to me how much harder white men have life than anyone else.

Part of my job also involved being up on trends and media representations for the subjects I covered. That meant a lot of reality television that really wasn't to my taste, but I had to watch. So he would stand there and complain about the shows all during the actual shows, and then stare hypnotized at the screen when the commercials came on.

Once I told him he had to ask before talking to me when I was on my computer and to shut up during ANY tv show I was watching... and made it stick, he suddenly found a new place to be in less than a month.

After that, working from home was a delight.

My husband and I both work from home. Fortunately, my office is upstairs and his is downstairs, so we don't have issues with interruptions or noise. We both had corporate jobs, before, so our families are accustomed to respecting our work hours. We just kept the same hours and lunch times we had before, so there wasn't a learning curve for anyone. On the plus side, when we have a deadline, we can "work late" and have a VERY short commute straight to bed! On the negative side, we are more vulnerable to working later at night and on weekends, since it's right here.

son shouting angrily (LOUDLY) at his xbox in adjacent rumpus room!

Love not having the commute, but have the following issues

1. Workday is often longer (but I save 2.5 hours commute time)

2. Fridge and pantry proximity makes it too tempting to snack

3. Husband schedules deliveries and repair people on my work at home days, so I get interrupted.

4. No real drive to dress nice and put on makeup, which sometimes makes me feel grubby (and once got surprised when a conference call turned out to be a video call). I have to make an effort to be somewhat presentable from now on.

5. Endless hours on conference calls and staring at the computer with little human interaction.

Robbi, You are so right - every time something needs to be fixed here, I always have to deal with them because they come during work hours when my husband is at work and I'm supposed to be at work, but I'm dealing with the workers who...are at work. So the only person not really working is me. Hate that!

Refrigerator is a constant siren.

And now, on those rare occasions when I must work in person, I realize how old my "outside the house" business clothes are and how poorly they fit.

But I do love a 24-step commute!

Overall I love working from home, though sometimes it can feel isolating. Not enough that I would trade it for going into an office all day!

Hard to separate home from work. While the husband is gone and kids are at school, I should be strictly working. But I can't ignore the crumbs on the kitchen floor, the full laundry baskets, or the school paperwork on the counter, so I tend to put off work until those household items are completed. I can't concentrate when there is disorder. What I need to do is close my eyes walking downstairs to my basement office so I won't see it all...

Had an office area in mind but ended up I had to be tethered to wifi with an ethernet cable so had to set up in my living room so cable could be connected. Seems like in there should be options but no one could come up with one.

As others have stated, you must separate your work life from your personal life. In my case, my office is in the basement. At the end of the work day I turn off the lights and come upstairs. At that point I have "gone home" for the day. The real advantage is when you are called into work (I remotely support computer servers and I'm part of an on call rotation) I only have to go back down to my office, not drive across town.

Loneliness....Distractions from Cats....Feeling like I am constantly "on call" 24/7. Needless to say, I no longer work from home.

Love working from home, just find it hard on Fridays when I stop for the day and walk down the stairs--it's hard for me to get into that weekend spirit. For the past month I've made it a point to go out after work on a Friday--even if it's just to the gym, just a little ritual to help me celebrate the end of a work week.

i worked in several brick & mortar corporate, large scale design firms for about 15 years & now have a sole proprietorship in space planning, design & project management. i always longed to have a loft space where i could live & work in an environment where i was always creating. i love my chosen profession, & i have fulfilled that dream & LOVE the loft...a lot less work than a house. i never feel overwhelmed or indecisive about the separation of home & work. my family is off the reservation, but while my son was growing up, i had a retail design store in a commercial area, & i worked my "open" hours to suit my schedule. at first i thought people would be frustrated by a "store" that was only open 12-5, but it never happened. i learned time management in corporate training. remember the sign that said, "your lack of preparation doesn't constitute an emergency to me"? it's a subtle reminder that one does his or her best when relaxed, prepared and in the zone. i closed the store in 2008, sold the big house & did a year's road trip to see what came next. when i returned, i found the loft. http://www.ferriszoedesign.com

I am a work in progress at learning to defend my time. I work mostly from home, have 2 children, and was also doing about 95% of the household chores. I now have no problem letting things look less than perfect, or letting my housekeeper clean around me while I'm at my desk. I'm actually more productive when she's cleaning, because I feel like I have to earn the extra $ to pay her!

One must be most disciplined and ignore tasks that are in one's face when working from home... dishes in the sink, that should go in dishwasher but dishwasher is full so you end up doing all of that... While everyone else in the household is at their place of work away from the home and not being interrupted by the visuals of work left behind, dogs not walked etc... that is why there is renting space in an open space is growing in popularity... Yup you pay for a space but you are getting a lot done too!

My biggest pet peeve? MY PET. I love that she can sleep quietly in her little doggie bed next to me, but at some point, she gets the tennis ball and it's all downhill from there!

Trickiest part is finding a quiet place to make a phone call when kids or husband are at home. Sometimes it's the backyard, unless it's occupied as well. Sometimes it's my bedroom closet. It's also hard convincing others that I am really at work (at home) ALL DAY. Sister wants me to watch her kids. Church ladies want to drop by for a visit. I'm learning that saying no is a huge relief.

I love working from home since I am alone all day with my dog so no interruptions from family members ! BUT, even though I LOVE my freedom, I lack human contacts a bit, I mean, when I have to spend a whole week working on plans on my computer I feel the need to get out and speak to someone ! So, I walk my dog during lunch hour or when I need a break ! Friends and family know that I am busy since I made that clear a long time ago ! my mistake maybe ?

.Also, my office is too small, I would need more space for catalogues and samples, but I get creative in my storage space !

I have 2 issues with working from home 1. I get lonely, I live alone so I'm used to be alone a lot in my free time but I miss the "work gossip". 2. I have a rather small home and since my kitchen has a built in desk that is where I work, and since it's in the kitchen I tend to snack way too much! and not healthy snacks either.

I have to say that after reading all these comments (loneliness, isolation, distractions, interruptions, can't separate home from work, work 24/7......) I don't see the attraction. I'm in no rush to trade my "at work" office for a work from home office, despite my hour commute.

i've worked from my home always - since my mid-20's and i'm 59 - and the most difficult thing is boundaries. well-meaning people assume that you can do anything during the work day and yet wouldn't dream of thinking someone 'at work' could do these things - lunches, shopping, afternoon visits, taxi to appointments, ferrying around out-of-town guests, etc. work is work and real discipline - and NO TV - are the strict boundaries if you're going to thrive at it for longer than a brief period.

You can never get away!!!

Unfortunately, there wasn't a choice of "all of the above". LOL Yes, it's my office, my space, but when hubby comes home and has the TV blaring in the other room, doesn't help! Even if I decided to plop down in a chair in my office and read a book, I wouldn't be able to hear myself think.

You can never have enough filing cabinets, trying to figure out where to put 'em and look halfway decent without getting the old metal ones - very challenging.

Homes are set up to be homes, not offices that literally are offices - unfortunately designers forget that fact.

Suffice to say, I've learned, and thankfully I can do this, the bulk of my work is done when no one else is at home, or they've gone to bed...unfortunately.

I love working from home. I don't miss the long commute or office drama one bit. I am happy to throw laundry in first thing in the morning and reload the dishwasher at lunch - I try to stick to a schedule. I do go for a walk if I get stuck and need to clear my head, and I can use my treadmill when the weather is bad. If I could just get my kids to knock before barging into my office, especially on their days off, it would be just about perfect. I do miss going out for lunch - I am very rural, so running to town doesn't make sense, and I do miss a couple of my favorite co-workers, but this has been a terrific arrangement for me.

I work from home and love it. I have a sunny sliding glass door in my office and love to look out into the garden during the day. But, my pet peeve is the neighbors loud and constantly screaming children.... They are 6 and 4 years old and they sound like they are being stabbed when they play! I wonder how the parents can bear it! Where are they while their children are giving off Death Screams? They never seem to have parent interaction or supervision.

All of the above!! I love working from home but I am newly remarried and I had to give up my office to create a bedroom for my step-sons (we have 5 kids between us). Now my office in the cold weather is a corner of the living room and when the kids get home, it is chaos!! I use my screened in porch during warmer weather but I can't leave anything out there in the elements. We love our house and neighborhood so I'm stuck with this arrangement for a while at least. Maybe we can rearrange things once the kids start going off to college in 2 years??

I've worked from home full time for years, and my biggest pet peeve has nothing to do with my physical environment. Many times, family members and others assume that, since you work from home, you can easily take care of home tasks or errands while they are away at work. People somehow place less importance on your job when you work from home, but I have been my family's major breadwinner for years.

Leaf blowers, mowers, chain saws etc. All day long sometimes. Leave that poor landscape ALONE. Sigh.

I've worked mostly at home for 10 years, and I love it for the most part. I love working in casual clothes, sitting with my laptop in a comfortable place, and taking breaks when I need to; my stress levels are greatly reduced and my creativity flows far more easily. The only downsides come in the form of personal calls, sales calls unrelated to my business, and sometimes neighbors who visit on deadline.:) I'll gladly take those, however, over the office gossip, critiques and politics that tended to fill previous, more public workplaces.

Noise! There's constant construction or landscaping noise in my neighborhood and it drives me nuts.

While I'm on the phone with a customer and my dogs bark if someone comes to the door, they see/hear someone walk by or a UPS/FedEx truck passes by,...or a leaf drops (a slight exaggeration). I appreciate appropriate alerts, and they will stop when I tell them 'no bark', but it is awkward at times.

I agree that you can feel like you're always at work! My niece moved to a new city in California but was able to keep her old job in New York State by working remotely, but she found a local office that was set up for remote workers to use internet and office supplies, and to get much-needed human interaction! She really enjoys working from home knowing she doesn't have to be isolated every day.

I tend to take my laptop from room to room depending on my mood. Today I'm on the porch. Closing down my laptop at night lets me know the workday is over, and it took me a long time to not feel guilty doing that. I hide it out of sight.

Working on dining room table. Need to get actual office with desk in it organized so that I can close the door at the end of the work day. Sometimes I don't get up from the chair for hours and I skip lunch.

TELEMARKETERS!!! I don't answer the calls, have many on call block, but they are relentless!

I've lived and worked in an artist loft for 25 years, so obviously it suits me. But increasingly I feel the need to get out for a coffee, or whatever, most mornings so I don't so I don't go straight from my bedroom to my office. On the other hand, it's super nice, to have my morning commute be a 25 foot walk down the hall.

I agree with mKieley on both counts. I missed the social interaction as well, but was really glad I didn't have to deal with traffic and other issues.

I don't like it when people call and say things like, well you don't GO to work, and think it's not really a job. They think I can stop at any time and do whatever they want me to. Because, you know, I don't HAVE to be at work...I can take off whenever I like. I CAN take off whenever I like....but not whenever someone else wants me to. I still have work to get done.

SHOUTING!! Like the one poster said, I can hear hubs SHOUTING all the time!