Home Work

IT SEEMS AS IF EVERYBODY'S DOING IT. ONCE THE domain of the few - freelance writers, entrepreneurs, or salesmen with vacuum cleaners, pharmaceuticals, or encyclopedias in their trunks - a home office is no longer viewed with a cockeyed look from friends or seen as a corporate perk by others. Today, employers regard telecommuting as a way to make workers more productive, and more people than ever are taking advantage of that opportunity or even launching their own business right out of the house.

Using a conservative method, the US Census Bureau calculated that the number of at-home workers increased from 3.2 million in 1990 to 4.5 million in 2003. Other estimates put the number as high as 20 million.

And at-home workers are putting more thought than ever into creating an office that doesn't just suffice. It has to be a private space for real work, to get away from real distractions - kids, the refrigerator, telemarketers, the television, the bed calling out for an afternoon nap.

"Working on the kitchen table doesn't cut it anymore, or working in the bedroom, or around a spouse trying to sleep," says Neal Zimmerman, an architect who specializes in creating home offices and recently completed Taunton's Home Workspace Idea Book. "A big issue now is the recognition, especially for people in family situations, that they need some kind of privatized space."

As their numbers have grown, so has the variety of professionals who tuck work spaces into a spare bedroom or an unused attic. Employers are more flexible in allowing some employees to work at home - Jet Blue airline's reservation agents do - especially as more companies hire contract workers to reduce the payroll. And the number of entrepreneurs and other self-employed people who work at home is growing faster than at-home workers tethered to an office, according to The Future of Work, an industry consortium that studies the phenomenon.

Boston is near the forefront of the national trend. According to Claritas, a business information service, metropolitan Boston has the third-highest percentage of work-at-home adults among major metropolitan areas, behind San Francisco and Washington. A 2004/2005 Gallup Poll indicated that home workers in Greater Boston were more likely than the general population to be college graduates, to be married, and to work in the high-tech or financial-services industries. Home workers in this area reported an average household income of $88,627, nearly $12,000 more than the general population.

"The stigma of working from home - I don't think that exists anymore," says Rosalind Resnick, chief executive of Axxess Business Centers Inc., a New York consultant to start-up businesses, which often begin in the home. Resnick became a home-based professional in 1990, when her daughter was born and her employer "basically told me to come back full time or quit."

Home-based workers are expected to spend nearly $18 billion this year on technology, from broadband services to portable Internet devices, according to Instat, a market-research firm. Nina Overall, a publicist for Beverly Feldman, a shoe designer with stores in Manhattan and Ibiza, Spain, says she has two offices: her home in Acton, where she lives with her 8-year-old daughter, and her cellphone. "I never leave without it." Technology - whether a BlackBerry or high-speed Internet connection - makes it possible to keep in touch with her boss, who lives outside Ibiza and is a frequent global traveler.

As important as technology is privacy. Setting up on the kitchen table leaves a home worker vulnerable to household distractions. It also means everything must be put away before dinner. Zimmerman's book is full of ideas for creating well-designed office spaces in sunrooms, lofts, walk-in closets, and dead spaces under stairwells.

Of course, different workers need different spaces: A graphic designer needs room to spread out materials - books, projects, or artwork - while some financial jobs can be performed with nothing more than a laptop computer and an Internet connection.

To create the right work environment, more home workers are hiring professionals to help them with important design issues, such as storage, furniture placement, and lighting. While home workers in Greater Boston spend less than the market average on clothes and shoes, the Gallup Poll indicates that they spend more on furniture and lighting. The goal is to have a space that is both efficient and aesthetically pleasing. For some people, that means a home office that doesn't look like an office.

Zimmerman says he once designed a space for an IBM executive in which the state-of-the-art technology was so well hidden that "when you walked in, you'd think you're walking into a club room in 1900."

Home offices are becoming standard in new residential construction, says Polly Dithmer, senior designer in the residential group at Add Inc., a Boston architectural firm. "Before, you'd have a library in a high-end home, but it was never an office," she says. Today, the office is often an integral part of the home.

Homework Tips

Office Hours: Some friends may think that since you are working at home, you are free to talk on the phone whenever they call. Don't feel guilty telling them you are on deadline and that ''after work'' is a better time to chat.

Kimberly Blanton is a business writer for the Globe. E-mail her at blanton@globe.com.