Are papers piling up on the kitchen table? Want to get the computer out of the family room and away from the kids? You need a separate home office.

“The advantages of working at home are hard to ignore, but so are the distractions,” says Richard Roll, president of American Homeowners Association (AHA). “Try to avoid household clutter and chaos in setting up your home office.”

The home office experience can be either blissful or awful, depending on how your home office is set up, or set off from the rest of the house.

It's critical to pick the right location in your home, or food, noise, and foot traffic will distract you.

Make it work by taking into account all your personal and professional needs.

If you need privacy and quiet, the best locations for your home office are a spare bedroom or the basement.

First, take inventory of the space you'll need for office equipment, including personal computer, printer, fax machine or copier. You may want to remove the bed and replace it with a pullout sofa.

A finished basement or attic is the ideal location for a home office. Both can be easily converted and devoted exclusively to your new work area. In order to be comfortable, you may have to add a window air conditioner and insulation to the attic and a space heater to the basement.

If you need a meeting space for clients, you need a more private, formal space than a bedroom can provide. Obviously, sitting on the bed or taking your client past bedrooms and bathrooms is NOT the impression you want to make.

The basement is still the ideal choice, especially if it has a separate outside entrance.

If you're not a work-at-home person and space is at a premium, a desk or cubby in the kitchen or family room might suffice for keeping track of bills or working on the computer.

The most attractive, practical option is to build a home office onto your existing home, but it's also the most costly. You'll probably need a home improvement loan. Your property value will go up, but your property taxes and insurance will go up while you still own your home, too.

For more information on any aspect of home ownership, go to http://www.ahahome.com , the web site for American Homeowners Association.