Incorporating the Home Office into Your Design

If you've decided it's time to create a home office, you'll certainly have many ideas to consider. The home office is growing by leaps and bounds today as many people no longer have a dining room and choose instead to create a cozy and practical home office. This space is one where the children can do their homework, where the parents can pay bills, and where work can be conducted from home.

Building a home office as part of a new home certainly affords itself to different considerations than does integrating an office into your existing home. Examining both of these possibilities will allow you to consider how to use your space, and how to get the most from your new home office.

Starting From Scratch

If you're building a new home, you'll certainly have many decisions to make about your home office. Assuming that you can create the house of your dreams, you'll want to consider the location of this office and its purpose. Here are a number of ideas to consider:

1. In the kitchen: Many couples choose to create a small home office as a part of their large kitchen. As a center of family life, the kitchen today receives a great deal of the family activity. Creating a small area in the kitchen for a desk, a computer, a file cabinet and a bookcase allows you to use this space well. You can check email while cooking or while getting the kids off to school or you can watch your children do their homework while you prepare dinner.

2. A stately room: You might want to create a grand home office that is situated in its own space. Home offices are often on the same floor as the kitchen and other social space, but are in the back of the house. Put doors on this office space, allowing for a private location to conduct business and to get work done.

3. Off of the bedroom: Another great location for a home office is right off of the master bedroom. Create a large bedroom that you section into two area. This creates a great, cozy office that is primarily designated for adult use. Children can have a separate location for homework and checking email, but this will be the parent's study.

Integrating a Home Office into an Existing Home

While it's easy to visualize where you'd like your office in a brand new home, it's often more difficult to incorporate this into your design in a home you already own. Here are some tips for incorporating the home office into your existing home.

1. Take over the tv room: If you have a television room in your house, you might want to change it into an office. You can always put a flat screen tv somewhere else in the house, or you can even leave it in the new study. Take this space and put a sofa, computer, bookcases, large table, and other essentials into it. It's now your home office, without giving up much of your comfort or your savings.

2. Close in a porch: If you have a porch as part of the house, perhaps you want to close it in. You can enclose it primarily in glass and make a beautiful home office that also has a nice view!

3. Extra bedroom: If you have a guest bedroom, or your kids have their own rooms, you might want to consider moving people around. Take over one of the bedrooms and make it into the home office. This creates a secluded, private space to work. You can still leave a sleep sofa in this location for guests, but you will be utilizing your space more productively when you don't have guests in the house.

Be creative with your home office and thoroughly consider what you want to get out of this space. If you create the home office correctly, you'll find yourself and your entire family enjoying it for years to come.