Ideabook 911: A Professional Office at Home

THE QUERY: houzz member jryan asked: Looking for interior design advice for a real home office. Large surface desk space, 4 computers, 6 monitors, lots of cables. Not a lot of need for bookshelves or file cabinet storage. But a serious home office space. The kind of space that entrepreneurs need when they've moved a real office into a home. Not finding much in the way of furniture or design ideas online. Any suggestions?

This is a tough question, and certainly one that more and more of us are facing as we go greener by telecommuting and take a hard look at our overhead during challenging economic times. Adjusting to the work week at home can be tricky, but it certainly is possible. Here are a few ideas I have, and for those of you with experience with this, PLEASE add your suggestions in the comments section.

Keep the office as separate from your living area as possible! Ideally you'd have a separate outbuilding, but how many people have that? If possible, a separate entrance from outside or a separate floor of its own, - if none of this is possible, at the very least you should definitely have a way to close it off from other family members and home disruptions and distractions. No matter what the layout of your home is, when you are in the office, pretend you are in a separate building!

Make sure there is a place for everything, and try hard to keep everything in its place. Built-ins and/or shelves are an absolute must - it sounds like you don't need much in this area, but spread out everything you'll need to shelve or file and plan accordingly. Have a system and make sure that community items are in a place where everyone can get to them.

If your office is for you and others, each person should have a dedicated workspace with ample light, a comfortable chair, and wired for anything they need such as ethernet, etc. Once you have the space planning down, work with a licensed electrician to make sure the outlets are safe and well-planned. Do not scrimp on this part, as safety and efficiency are crucial.

The computer network should be set up so that everyone can scan, print, hop online, etc. from their own computers. I would recommend laptops, and looking into whether or not some telecommuting is possible. If you don't have the computers yet, make the salesperson spend a ton of time with you, showing you options that will save space. Be sure to ask about the latest in camouflaging all of those pesky wires.

Within each individual's workspace, they should have room to stash their items to keep surfaces as neat as possible. The neater you keep it, the more pleasant it will be, and the bigger the space will seem. If people are sharing a large table, try to have a drawer for each individual. If this is not possible, consider a Lazy Susan in the middle for a stapler, canister of pens, paperclips, Post-Its, et. al.

Try to pick a space that gets good natural light. After all, you will be spending a good chunk of your daylight hours in this space, and you really don't want to spend a third of your life in a dank basement or windowless attic!

Other things to think about are bathroom access, a place for a refrigerator, a sink and a coffeepot. It is optimal if these can be separate from family zones, especially if you have employees in your home. They don't want to be sharing your master bathroom and tripping over pink fluffy pom pom slippers, bathroom scales, or damp bathmats.

If it's just you at home, it's important that you set office hours and set up some boundaries. No "honey-do" lists allowed during work hours, no distracting phone calls from friends who think you aren't really at a "real job," etc. However, one of the huge benefits of working from your home is that you may be able to have a more flexible schedule and catch your kid's soccer game, enjoy last night's leftovers and some Real Housewives of New Jersey on the DVR during lunch, or take a class that your old 8-5 with the hour long commute never would have allowed.

Below are some images I hope will inspire you. I know you said you don't need a ton of storage, but others who are in the same predicament as you probably will, so I have included some favorite shelves as well. Included are some great examples of long tables/desk counters and good space planning for small spaces.

Again, saavy home office people, please chime in and comment, I am sure I've left off a ton of ideas, as no one is ever going to call my home office particularly professional...yet!