Two WP installs on the same hosting space

Hi guys,

Apologies if this has been resolved elsewhere (though I couldn’t find anything)… I’m in the process if working up my own theme for an online portfolio which will use WP as both a CMS and a ‘traditional’ blog. However, after endlessly tinkering with PHP files, trying to force WP to do both things, and reading this post https://www.rimmkaufman.com/rkgblog/2006/12/30/wordpress-cms-breadcrumbs-nav-plugins/, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s going to be easier to have two separate WP installs (one for ‘the website’, and one for ‘the blog’) on the same hosting space.

i.e.
https://www.website.com (install #1 – the cms)
https://www.website.com/blog/ (install #2 – the blog)

Anyway, my burning question is: do I need to actually make two physical installs i.e. all WP directories, plus plugins, plus theme files and images, plus user accounts x 2, or is there an easier way of integrating the two installs so they effectively ‘share’ the same common files?

Many thanks in advance.