Picture this: you need to put together a difficult report and your company's open plan office is noisy and distracting. Or this: your small son can't attend nursery for a week because the staff all have 'flu'. The answer? Working from home!

But hold on; just where will you work? At the kitchen table? On the sofa? On the floor? Working on the dining table or on a laptop in front of the television is fine for doing your expenses. But when you're working for longer periods you need to think carefully about comfort and posture and convenience, says Lauren Clarke, workplace consultant with global workplace experts Steelcase. You'll need to set aside a room, or at the very least part of a room. And of course your employer has a responsibility.

"When people are working at home for long periods the employer has a duty of care," advises Clarke. "The average office worker doesn't have a lot of understanding of these topics and that's what we're concerned about. The spine is not just skeletal, it has a circulation function. So for instance if you're sitting in a dining chair and the back has no contact with your lumbar region you're going to suffer at some point from headaches, neck ache and backache. So we advise organisations about ensuring workstations and work methods at home are designed to suit the task. I think that's quite critical."

Help with planning

The Steelcase service is quite impressive. They host homeworking web sites for employers, where the person working from home can download information on adjusting a chair and setting up a workstation. There's also a purchasing element whereby employees can select their own furniture within the budget so it matches their home decor. And there's a downloadable space-planning pdf. Clarke adds; "This encourages employees to select commercial furniture which is ergonomic and has the weight tolerances for things like printers and scanners, rather than going to a retail park and buying domestic furniture."

So what is wrong with domestic desks? David Rand, MD of leading furniture suppliers Morris Office points to several typical failings. "You have keyboard trays that are too wobbly. The desks don't comply with the Display Screen Equipment Regulations because they are too shallow and the screen is too close to your face. And you have the printer stuck down at your feet leaving no room under the desk for your legs. Office buyers wouldn't buy this sort of furniture for the workplace, so why do they expect people to work with it at home?"

There is, though, another choice for the home office – have it built-in. Living space designer Alan Conochie of ATD says that if you want a space where you can work happily and effectively you need to get the design right from the start. But what happens in most homes is this; "The PC is plonked down on a desk with a printer and a telephone. Other kit will be placed around it without much thought, filing boxes will appear, and clutter will gather. There will then only be space for one A4 sheet beside the keyboard and you've ended up with something that is not comfortable or convenient or ergonomically satisfactory."

Get it right from the start

So how would Conochie start? Here are the stages he advocates. "Think about light and windows and where your PC screen is going to be. Sitting side-on to the light source is best. Select a good adjustable chair with back support and room to move your elbows. Put your feet on the floor and your bottom on the chair. Then you can see how high your desk needs to be. You'll need a desktop deeper than those meant for home use, and a good, stable keyboard tray will deepen the desk space. If your chosen desk is too high or too low then adjust it.

"Then you need to think about the telephone. If you're right-handed you probably need it on your left, with space for a notepad on your right. Make sure you have decent access arrangements to cables – if you put the CPU on a trolley you can move it in and out and keep it off the work surface. Similarly put the printer on a shelf or a extendable monitor arm or on a trolley under the desk. When it comes to file space work out what you want to get at regularly, and have sturdy shelves above the desk so you can reach things easily. Lastly, think about good lighting, ventilation and a small heater."

Its an appealing picture isn't it. A comfortable, well set-out space in the spare room with everything you need in the right place. So pleasant, in fact, that you'll be making all sorts of excuses to work at home.