Last May my sweetie and I decided to build a new home and one of the priorities in the design was the office for me and the design of the garage had to include shop space for him.

After months of building, struggling and enough stories to last another 25 years, we moved into our new home on December 13. While I don't yet have the kitchen island with a stove top, oven and kitchen sink, nor the shower doors installed on the free standing shower nor carpets or flooring, my office is 95% setup. The five percent left is the flooring and the bar sink and counter with small fridge so that I completely self-contained.

I had my first office client arrive on December 16 when the boxes were still piled high in the living room and hall but my desk, bookcases and filing cabinet were all set up and functional.

I knew I couldn't design the office and choose the colours and decide what to put on the walls so I hired a young woman in my region who is starting her own business designing home based business offices. Every change or idea she adds, makes the office more comfortable for both me and my clients.

It was she who chose the perfect location for the desk and the design of the desk. If I look just to the right of the computer, which is facing north, I can see the garage and see when my sweetie drives in, although no one can see me because I'm tucked just beside the window. Behind the garage are trees and mountains. There are no window blinds or other obstructions to my view of outside. I can also see part of the road and see when clients are arriving. We live on a dead end road in the draw of a mountain, off a valley in a rural area and there are only two houses so it's easy to tell why people are coming here. This spring, I will see a butterfly garden and a trellis and I hope, a small pond between the house and where sweetie parks. And of course, my beautiful mountains.

When I'm not working on the computer, I swing to the left to the bridge in my desk. Here I'm having the most difficult time of all. I look out over a small meadow and straight into the forest. In the spring, the deer will be down munching on whatever grasses we can try and grow. I can see the bird feeders on the cedar and fir trees and I can see the winter birds, the pine siskins, grabbing the sunflower seeds, and almost batting the seeds with their wings, trying to disperse the seeds on the ground below. At their leisure, they can then pick at them.

This spring, part of my meadow will be a fish pond. I can't have the best view, that's reserved for the front windows. :-( I will however see the flowers and the rock garden and when I open my window, I'll hear the sound of the waterfall.

When my clients come in, they sit at the third part of the desk where the end has a round part, like a round table. Their distractions are limited to the screen saver on my computer and the view outside, looking towards the driveway and straight at the mountain and the trees. My distraction is the glass office door which leads to the foyer and the rest of the house.

There are no sounds in our home during the day. And today, even with the snow tumbling down, there are no sounds outside either (I checked :-) ) I don't like noise in the background when I'm working so there is no radio, no stereo, no CD. The sounds of silence are the most beautiful sounds of all. And they are interrupted only by the sound of my fingers tapping on the keyboard or the soft ring of my phone.

Oh, I can't spend all my time in my office. I do have clients to visit in town and in the neighbouring towns. And I have my share of duties inside and outside our home that must be attended to.

However my office is my refuge. It's my peace of mind.

Living and working in the mountains in the Kootenay region of British Columbia, Canada, where all four seasons are born and die each year is a challenge and not everyone survives it well.

Home based? Oh yes. Lifestyle? The best.

I wouldn't want it any other way.

Marilyn Strong of The Strong Communication Group Inc.

Coaching & training entrepreneurs to dream their life & live their dream I'd rather know some of the questions than all of the answers, James Thurber