Design a Home Office
Creating a built in, or using an existing piece of furniture
by Joan Gaither
Having some sort of home office has become a requirement for almost all families, and military families are no exception.
Putting together a home office doesn’t require a tremendous amount of money. It does, however, require a large dose of imagination. The first requirement is to find a space, such as a corner of a room, that doesn’t get as much traffic as the rest of the house. It helps if you have one of those armoires or secretaries that convert to workstations.
One solution to the workstation problem is to place a plank of wood or an unused interior door on top of two file cabinets or two 30-inch-high bookcases. If you can place such an arrangement under a window, consider adding a storage shelf above the window. For a marvelous built-in look, place two narrow bookshelves on either side of the window. This setup will also solve your storage problems. Paint the shelves or bookcases, stain them, or leave them in their natural state—it’s your call. While the window will serve as a light source, you may want to supplement it with a light fixture.
If you are “space challenged” (and most of us military are), give some thought to an idea I had when our son was in high school. We cut a piece of plywood in a triangle, covered it with vinyl, and mounted it with “L” brackets in a corner of our son’s room. Directly above the built-in, we installed another small triangle for books, pencils, a calculator, and assorted high school paraphernalia. Near the back edge of the larger triangle we drilled a hole to enable electrical cords to be run to the nearest outlet. The used office chair we found at a consignment store added the final touch.
Design Tip: Think twice about placing a mirror on the wall in a work area. Although this is a design trick that’s frequently used to visually enlarge a small space, you’ll find yourself grinning like a Cheshire cat at your reflection all day, which is almost certain to interfere with your work.