What is the "office" situation in your home? That's the next room of our house that we're hoping to change, and I think we're going to turn our basement family room into a family room slash office space, both for when I work at home and for when SS and C may need to use a computer in the future.
Currently we have a bedroom that is an office space/extra bedroom that never gets used. It has a desk with a shitty old desktop computer (that never gets touched), the wireless printer, a futon and a treadmill. Eventually this room will need to become C's when we have another child, and since it's not getting used anyway in its current state we figure this summer is a good time to change it.
I need some inspiration, so if you have PIPs that would be awesome too!
I'm thinking of doing something like this (not these colors, but layout-wise), with a desk anchored on the back of a couch (facing the tv) with built-in bookshelves behind. H can easily make bookshelves like that in our basement living space, but they won't be quite as big. We already have one of those basement ledges to start off with, but it starts a little higher.
Our smallest bedroom is the office/craft room. I want to turn it into more of a guest room and get a daybed for the space and re-arrange the desk we have in there. We rarely use the room and it's just wasted space at this point.
Post by Ashley&Scott on Mar 27, 2015 13:04:48 GMT -5
Nope, we gave up our office to have a play room.
ETA: I don't miss it. We have a drawer of office supplies in the cabinet in the play room & a filing cabinet in our basement. We have a laptop but barely use it, it's in our basement on my sewing table/desk.
Post by countthestars on Mar 27, 2015 13:06:46 GMT -5
We have a little office off of our living room separated by French doors. I work in there now but the layout kind of sucks because the room is small with lots of windows, so not much space for my desk. If I ever stop working from home (HOPEFULLY!) we will do something different in there.
Post by rootbeerfloat on Mar 27, 2015 13:12:44 GMT -5
Ours is similar to yours, with the desk, old computer, and (unused) elliptical machine. Our goal is to get rid of the elliptical, update the desk (I envision 2, actually), add a futon (maybe), and a TV.
I have a designated office. It is small and doesn't have a closet so it couldn't qualify as a bedroom. But it is upstairs with the other bedrooms. It's nothing Great - I have a small desk, filing cabinet, and bookshelf. We also have a large armoire we use to store all of the linens and bathroom overflow since we don't have a linen closet
I wfh all the time now and my mom is here with the kids so I need a separate space. In that respect it's great.
We have a history of using rooms that were clearly designed to be dining rooms as offices. A home office room is mandatory for us because I work from home fulltime. I just got kicked out of a bedroom and into the dining room (that DH was already using as an office) to make room for DS. I won't PIP because it's a mess, but our office contains two large desks (covered in computers), a 2x2 Expedit with our printer on top, our pet snake in his tank, DH's commute bicycle (the office is just off the front entryway), and DD's stroller.
For your scenario, I would consider the following factors in deciding where the computer/desk area will go. Which way do you want the monitor to face? DH and I generally prefer to see people come in before they see our screens (so if we're working on a surprise or other secret thing we can hide it). However, if this is a computer you ever expect your kids to use, you might want to place the monitor such that you can see what they're doing on the computer as soon as you enter the room and from across the room. That way you can tell if they're screwing around playing games when they should be writing a 10-page paper, etc. Another decision related to the positioning of the desk/monitor - do you want the user of the computer to be able to watch TV while using the computer? If so, the pic you posted is a great setup.
Ours is nothing fancy due to the space constraints of living in an apartment instead of a house. However, it does have its own door that closes to keep the kids away from our papers/printer/wires of all kinds and it also has its own half bath, two pretty luxurious things for the area where I live.
DH and I have a desk each in there, plus an arm chair to sit in to read. There are also 2 book cases, but no room for anything else, not even for a DD-sized desk. We're soon going to give up a corner of our living room for her homework/crafting desk (to replace the kids' IKEA table she outgrew).
We don't currently. We have space for one in our new house, but I'm not sure what we'll do with it. We also have a nook with a built-in desk & crappy cabinets. I haven't figured out what we will do yet.
I work from home 3 days a week. My office is shared with the guest bedroom. I have a desk, 3 tier metal shelf from ikea, and a printer. I have a large filing cabinet in the garage.
Post by bunnymendelbaum on Mar 27, 2015 13:44:04 GMT -5
I WAH full time and mine is in the playroom. I don't work much while the kids are here, so it actually works well. It gets great light and if I have to send a file or take a call when they are here, my computer is right there. I used to be in the basement in my own office, but it was too depressing, so I moved up. At my last house the kids where home with a nanny some of the time, so my office was in the ok-sized pantry.
Eta: the clean desk is mine. DH doesn't WAH anymore, but hasn't purged his desk yet. The shelving unit on the left has 2 printers and supplies. We rent, so that's the excuse for the wood paneling and 70's window shade.
OK, here is our current setup. I had a bigger dedicated office in my old house which I really miss, but we have to have a guest room because we have so many OOT visitors here. It works well for us!
We have an "office" but really it just has our file cabinet, printer, and a bookcase. The rest is "playroom/den" with a fold out sofa, TV, toy chest, etc. We really don't need a room that's dedicated as an "office" right now, so it's more of a family room/den.
countthestars Where is the actual tower or computer? I'm thinking of getting a plain white desk like that, but can't figure out where to put the actual computer or where to dock the laptop if I did.
OK, here is our current setup. I had a bigger dedicated office in my old house which I really miss, but we have to have a guest room because we have so many OOT visitors here. It works well for us!
OK, here is our current setup. I had a bigger dedicated office in my old house which I really miss, but we have to have a guest room because we have so many OOT visitors here. It works well for us!
I can't see your pictures.
Hmmm. They are hosted on imgur. Are you at work, could that site be blocked? Can you see it on your phone? I can see them on my phone and 2 different browsers.
In our current house there is a designated office. It's tucked off of the family room with a glass door, fireplace and no closet. So definitely an office and not a bedroom. That is my office. It has an L desk, nice chair with ottoman and is also where we keep the dog crates.
One of our extra bedrooms upstairs is DH's office. He has a desk he built from Ikea pieces, plus a TV stand and a TV for his video game playing.
At our old house there wasn't a designated office so we just each used a spare bedroom. We both have laptops and tablets but like our desktops and having dual monitors as well so we don't share. At the old house my office was also more of a craft room. Now I don't have that in this new house and I miss that. I set up a table in the basement for that though but it's not finished and gets cold sometimes. #FWP!
page So weird. I can't seem them at work, using the browser on my phone, or on the Tapatalk app. Apparently the world doesn't want me to see your cute office.
page So weird. I can't seem them at work, using the browser on my phone, or on the Tapatalk app. Apparently the world doesn't want me to see your cute office.
We have a history of using rooms that were clearly designed to be dining rooms as offices. A home office room is mandatory for us because I work from home fulltime. I just got kicked out of a bedroom and into the dining room (that DH was already using as an office) to make room for DS. I won't PIP because it's a mess, but our office contains two large desks (covered in computers), a 2x2 Expedit with our printer on top, our pet snake in his tank, DH's commute bicycle (the office is just off the front entryway), and DD's stroller.
For your scenario, I would consider the following factors in deciding where the computer/desk area will go. Which way do you want the monitor to face? DH and I generally prefer to see people come in before they see our screens (so if we're working on a surprise or other secret thing we can hide it). However, if this is a computer you ever expect your kids to use, you might want to place the monitor such that you can see what they're doing on the computer as soon as you enter the room and from across the room. That way you can tell if they're screwing around playing games when they should be writing a 10-page paper, etc. Another decision related to the positioning of the desk/monitor - do you want the user of the computer to be able to watch TV while using the computer? If so, the pic you posted is a great setup.
Sadly, facing the tv is actually a big part of why we want to set the room up this way. Right now, I often find myself working on the couch with the laptop and having the news or whatever on in the background anyway. This way I could be sitting at a proper desk and doing that.
Good point about older kids working on the computer though. We'll have to figure that out a little later when it becomes a reality with SS.
page Yay! Now I can see. I LOVE all of the natural light in that room. That's part of the other reason we want to move the office stuff into the family room. There is a big window that practically spans the entire room. P.s. Tell me about that docking station set up. Do you use both monitors (the laptop and other)? Where is your printer?