I work from home, and when my family does not interrupt me (as they are wont to do), I am able to get much more done. I think there's a caveat to the first lesson, though: you can get lots of work done in a short period of time if you're not interrupted, but it is hard to keep up a steady pace, working long days, for more than a few days at a time when you're doing creative work.

Your point that it's hard to do intense, creative work for more than a few days is well-taken: everyone was worn out after the weekend!