I've only been playing a few weeks, but I found that you didn't need to stand next to the crafting furniture in the residence to be able to craft. I thought this was fantastic as it lets you arrange your house nicely and still be able to craft a variety of items without running around.
Since the most recent patch, I am now required to stand next to the furniture in the residence.
Please don't make me stack all the crafting furniture in a big pile like I had to do on the original Runes of Magic servers!