“My challenge is privacy,” Ferguson said. “Unfortunately my office is shared space with the family and not private—between having a cat sitting on my desk, a DVD case and my husband’s wallet on my desk [it can be distracting]. There are those moments when you have a child crying in another room and you are left to use your discipline to focus and keep on working.”

Short Commute to Work

Ferguson said the best thing about working from home is her daily commute. She enjoys not joining the rate race and traffic. And, it helps to not have to stair in front of the closet too long to choose an outfit.

“It doesn’t matter if I have my favorite monkey pajamas on,” Ferguson said.

Field trips – Getting Out of the House

For Mellon, one solution to working away from home and physically getting out of the same room day after day, is to work alongside another artist at their studio or home office. Mellon said that it doesn’t make sense for him, for example, to bring his art to a coffee shop or public space.

“My first year as a freelance artist, I spent about four to five days a week working over a friend’s house, in stead of my own,” Mellon said. “He wanted the company, and I was adjusting to the work and the lifestyle, so that was nice.”

Mellon continued that he’s changed this routine, and works at someone else’s studio about four or fives times monthly. “If I do draw in public, it’s usually in a sketchbook or something else just as portable and not for work, but for pleasure or relaxation or to study something like people, buildings, etc.,” he said.

Return to Working Outside the Home?

Mellon said that the ultimate goal is to, yes, have his own studio office outside his home. Unlike like Ferguson, he misses getting in the car and driving to and home from work.

“I don’t miss having a nine to five job,” he said. “I miss being in a different area for part of the day. It’s too easy to not leave the house for days on end when you work where you live.”

Ferguson thinks the transition back to an office outside the home would be difficult.

“All of a sudden I would need to become more disciplined and organized to be able to prepare for work and child care,” she said.