Crate Placement Question

Hi there!

We recently lost our twelve year old Aussie who has been with our family for twelve years, and are now beginning to look into adopting a new dog. Our Aussie was never crated, but because we have a toddler I'm leaning towards crate training with a new dog as a comfortable way to separate the dog and the toddler when needed, along with all of the other benefits crate training provides.

My concern is that we have a very small ranch house, and we will likely adopt a medium or large dog, and I'm limited as to where the crate can go. The living room where we spend most of our time is not an option. I can possibly squeeze one into our bedroom, but it would be… not ideal for space reasons. Meanwhile, I have plenty of room in our office, but that is a room that we frequent the least often. Is there any issue with putting the crate in a room that isn't highly occupied? I've seen a lot of people say that they keep theirs in their living area (so doggo is around the family when crated) or in their bedroom (for sleeping at night), but I can't judge whether there's any reason I can't just take the path of least resistance and put the crate in our office.

I would love to just train a solid "place" or "mat" command, but it's my toddler that I'm concerned about rather than the dog, so I'd really like a place doggo can escape from her entirely if needed.