Easy enough question, all opinions welcome. Sorting out lodging, it will be an off-campus family home for baby, wife and I. Basically is a 3 bedroom worth it so I can have a dedicated study?

I will be walking / riding distance from the Uni, and I am sure I will have some kind of work space there. I'm thinking that if I am spending even 50% of research time at home, it may be worth my own space.

Thanks in advance.

I think it depends on the person. If you don't mind moving from room to room to study (eg if you're in the bedroom and the wife wants to go to sleep, you move to the living room and vice versa) then you only need a 2 bed. If you want a permanent place with all your stuff around, then you might need a separate study.

Also depends on the project. If it's lab-based and you have spend time waiting around for things to work, then you will probably do your written work in between this and won't be doing much at home.

Thanks TreeofLife, i'm in social sciences, so no lab work here :P just statistics at worst

In that case, then if it was me I would definitely want a separate quiet place to study if I had the choice.

I think it depends on how you like to work as well. I have a desk at uni, but it's in a room with about 20 other PhD students. I'm not there that often as it is a lengthy commute, but I wouldn't choose to do my reading and writing there anyway. I'm studying Psychology so my first year may be similar to yours - loads of reading, writing, planning and thinking. I find that my work at home is worth about ten times my work in the communal office for these activities. I don't have a separate study at home, but I do benefit from having the place to myself during weekdays.

Have you asked your wife's opinion?

If you're going to be working at home most of the time, I would encourage doing what you can to establish work-life separation. Having a dedicated study performs two functions - firstly giving you some 'do not disturb, I'm at work' space. But also, when you're not working, you can physically leave your stuff (and hopefully stresses) there and rejoin your family.

PhDs tend to be a bit all consuming, so anything that helps you stay rooted in reality would be likely to be beneficial.

hi Fled
Welcome to the UK :-) If I had a choice, I would have a study room/desk at home. When I first moved in with my bf, all we had was our dining table and lampshade. I wrote my thesis on this dining table. Space was limited.

Each morning the bf went out to work and my phd would be all over the dining table--computer, mouse, speaker, notes, calculator, coffee mug, sandwich etc. By 5pm everything had to be cleared away so that we could have our meals at the dining table.

Next day, start over.

My other phd-related things (printed papers, notes etc.) were kept in 2 large cardboard boxes UNDER the dining table. Our living space was so small. For example if I were to iron clothes, the ironing board blocked access to the front door.

To be honest, it was chaotic to write my thesis without a proper desk because I had to move everything all the time. There was no feeling of stability.

I would have prefered to have my own desk at home where I can walk away from the thesis--and still come back to the desk and everything is there as it was.

Miraculously I did finish the thesis, so I have survived the dining table write-up :-)

love satchi

Thanks a million for all of the input folks, I will definitely try for a dedicated study space when choosing a home.

P.S. The wife is all for the small study :P