When your living room is also your home office

You've closed the laptop, but the charger is still across the side table and your papers are on the couch. There's nowhere to sit until you clear away the workday.

In a living room that doubles as an office, the desk needs somewhere to hold your work after you stop using it. The couch needs to stay available for sitting down.

Give each part of the room a purpose

Look at the room when both areas are in use. Someone may want to sit down while a call is still going on at the desk.

The chaise on our 96-inch L-shaped couch gives you somewhere to stretch out after time at the desk. Keep that end free of laptop bags and spare equipment so you can actually use it.

If the desk chair backs into the chaise, try another position for the desk. Pull the chair out and have someone sit on the couch before settling on the arrangement. It's easy to miss the overlap when the chair is tucked in.

Let the atmosphere change after work

A lamp near the couch lets you turn off the desk light in the evening. Place it where it lights a book or the side table without shining into the nearby computer screen.

The corduroy has a soft, ribbed surface. A wood side table and a throw give that corner a different feel from the computer desk, even when the two areas are close together.

Agree on what happens when a call and the television overlap. Keep headphones by the desk if that's how you'll handle it. Moving the furniture won't separate the sound.

Make packing away part of the room

Give papers a drawer or a bag beside the desk. Put the charger there too, instead of leaving its cable stretched across the side table.

Leave room on the couch for someone to join you. A book beside the chaise is fine; a pile of work waiting to be moved is the problem you're trying to solve.

Before you leave the desk, put away the last things you used. The couch will be ready when you come back to the room.