The demise of a room of one's own

Some of us covet a separate study; literally a room of one's own.  Is this still a woman's dream as Virginia Woolf suggested? What about men? And our children?

We're in the middle of designing a major renovation of our house. It gets you to thinking about how you really live in a space and how you might like to change.  Well in our house, plebs that we are, we write and surf and do unfinished (paid and unpaid) work on our laptops; in the loungeroom.  The TV in the background, news and current affairs as well as our fave TV shows are not exactly blaring in the background, but close. 

I've noticed we're not the only ones. When we visit friends, we notice the laptops on the couch, the backup systems in the corner of the dining room, fuelled by wireless broadband internet, and google literally at our fingertips for all important use in good natured household debates.

So why don't we crave a quiet space to think and work? Well we do already have that at our place but we find we don't use it. Why? 

Because we like each others company. We don't get to see nearly enough of each other, what with 70 hour working weeks and a young baby.  

So when we're crafting, debating and surfing, we like to feel that our family can come with us too, comment on our writing and ideas, while they're also doing their thing in that space. That's 'living space'.  At least that's what the architects and designers call it.  

Should we call it living/working space instead? While we're lucky enough to have desk nooks in private bedroom spaces in case we need quiet, we've decided to go for a collective study that flows into the loungeroom and kitchen. 

Call it the communal room of our own.