Family Friendly Furniture

You've made the decision to create a home-based business.

Congratulations!

But what now? How can you transform your spare room into an office that will suffice for your professional needs, but still stand up to the rigors of a household with children? After all, despite your best attempts you've found that nothing's sacred to little hands.

There's certainly no one-size-fits-all answer here, but there are plenty of tricks and tips that might help.

Lots of families have one or both parents working at home, which requires perhaps more balancing than even working outside the home, but it's a challenge worth the effort.

To create a good office to start off the business on the right foot while contending with curious little ones, here are some ideas for office furniture you may want to consider:

• Desks - Whether your office is in the corner of a room or its has its own room entirely, desks should have rounded edges and sturdy drawers that can be locked if there will be papers and the such about that children should not get into. Don't count on "this room is off limits" actually working, especially if you have small, curious children.
  
• Filing cabinets - As it is with desks, so too should it be with filing cabinets and perhaps more so. Heavy cabinet drawers can be pulled out and actually crush a small child, so make sure you have locks that work, or at least very difficult latches to open.
  
• Computer equipment - Be certain this is kept where little hands can't get into it. Lock it into an armoire desk or even consider locking up your office at night. There's nothing worse than waking up to toast in your CD-ROM drive!
  
• Chairs - Invest in solid office chairs youngsters would have a difficult time tumbling over. Be very wary of regular office chairs kids can decide to turn into Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. Kids love chairs that spin, it's a simple fact. But, you won't love it if they go round and round and you find they actually stop after knocking your coffee over on a stack of contracts.

As you build your own office, keep some of the basic rules of childproofing a house in mind and you should be well on your way. Do not forget, however, that your office will now be located in the child's home. Do expect a problem to crop up from time to time and be proactive by keeping items they shouldn't touch out of sight - and mind! After all, kids will be kids.