But like many women of her generation, the idea of staying at home – even to work – didn't appeal.

So she went ahead and set up what for many people is the next best thing – a shared office space designed for those seeking flexible work arrangements that doesn't involve rented buildings, a laptop in a café or a home office.

With Good Work Canberra, Ms Thavat is onto something; co-work spaces, as they're known, are popping up all over the world, with some, such as We Work in New York and the Hub in Melbourne, morphing into multi-million-dollar enterprises that are integral to the growing movement of shared resources.

But Ms Thavat is happy to think small for the moment, and Good Work Canberra, above Lonsdale Street Roasters in Braddon, is now a bustling boutique space filled with a diverse mix of people.

There's an ASX-listed tech company in one enclosed space, and a lobbyist firm for aboriginal employment in another, an up-and-coming video-streaming company using desk space by the window and the head of an interior design firm close by.

And on any given day, the bar space running through the centre of the space could be occupied by a blogger, a PhD student and a church pastor, there for some productive peace and quiet between services.

Ms Thavat said attracting a diverse mix of people was crucial to the success of what she sees as a social enterprise.

"It needs to be diverse and it needs to be multi-disciplinary," she said.

For Mikaela Danvers, who runs The Makers Collective, an online community for creative Canberra types, the ability to stop by the space and rent a desk for the day is a godsend.

"I think this gives people the flexibility to be able to work in a more structured environment rather than at home, where I don't have to put on a load of washing every five minutes," she said.

"For people like me and my audience specifically, who are stay-at-home mums who are maybe doing something creative and want to perhaps turn it into a business but are not sure yet, this is the step up to 'We're getting serious now, we're not just faffing about at home', which no one does anyway, but people think that's what we're doing."

And for Bronwyn Blue, who runs an interior design and fit-out company in Cambodia, working from such a space makes perfect sense.

"This is a really good solution for people who prefer to separate their professional from their domestic life," she said.

"I think also I'm the kind of person who sees a deeper social value of collaborative life. I love Air BnB, I love co-sharing of cars, I don't understand why everybody has a lawnmower in the street when you really only need one. So I think there's a deeper value beyond the functionality of ... co-working atmosphere, and it's good to invest in that."

Ms Thavat said while the space catered for anyone doing good work in Canberra, women returning to work after having children had a particular need for co-work spaces.

"To date, these types of spaces work really well for mobile tech users, but they tend to be men, and men … don't have the same social need for a flexible work space as I think women do," she said.

She said co-work spaces were also a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly option for smaller enterprises.

"It's an economical way to have an office and then share facilities, so there's a whole resource-management efficiency side to it as well," she said.

"Here for example, right now we are cooling how many bodies - if we're all sitting at home running separate air-conditioners, it's not very cost-effective, so there's that side to it."

Visit goodworkcanberra.com for more information.