Awesome Home Offices
A home office is more than just a room with a desk and chair; ideally it cultivates an atmosphere conducive to work and concentration. Different work styles call for different work spaces.
Some people need isolation, some want to gaze out at nature for inspiration. Some just need a spot to do the bills that doesn’t take up too much room.
A home’s office can serve many functions—it can be used for reading, as a studio for art or a writer’s retreat, as a study, or a den, as a crafting room or a homework spot for the kids.
The following collection includes offices from pocket-size to pod to multi-level affairs, and in styles from modern to Old-World elegance.
By Colleen Kane
Posted 18 July, 2012
Texas
The Texas firm Jauregui created this mansion they call Spanish Oaks Showcase, which incorporates stone, marble, and wood beam construction as well as recurring arch-shaped doorways and windows.
The dramatic multi-level office emanates Old World style with its wood paneling, spiral staircase and chandelier and a semi-circular dark wooden desk echoing the arched upper window. There is also a pocket office off the kitchen for homework or jotting down a shopping list.
Various Locations
Austin-based Sett Studio makes freestanding backyard offices and studio buildings like this one, which is 92 square feet. The offices are delivered fully built, and installation takes about two days.
Prices for 80-square-foot models start at $15,000 and range to more than $63,000 for a 360-square-foot model. The energy-efficient modular buildings are built from eco-friendly materials such as structural insulated panels, wood siding, and water and ice shield roof membrane.
Various Locations in the U.K.
As a U.K. counterpart to the prefabricated freestanding studios of Sett, London-based OfficePODs are sustainably built freestanding “garden office buildings” of about 50 square feet.
They come with desk and storage, lighting, power, ventilation, heating and optional cooling. The life expectancy is more than 20 years, and they can be upgraded, refurbished and relocated.
Landskrona, Sweden
This chic modern townhouse wedged between two traditional homes was designed by Elding Oscarson, a partnership of two Swedish architects. The simple, glass-walled office is designed for concentration, across a gravel courtyard from the main residential dwelling.
Los Angeles, California
This six-bedroom, 14-bath mansion in the Holmby Hills area is on the market for $26 million. It features a colonnaded entrance leading to a grand foyer with dual staircases as well as an arcade with aquariums and a discotheque.
When compared to a private club, the bi-level wood-paneled home office and library with marble fireplace is not that exciting, but compared to other home offices, it’s pretty special.
Mill Valley, Calif.
This four-bedroom, three-bath redwood-beam home set in a redwood forest is on the market for $1.8 million. In addition to the tranquil setting, a sauna, and a fireplace, it has two spots designated as home work spaces.
Although the home was built in 1976, one of its work stations (pictured at lower left) represents a space-saving phenomenon known as the pocket office, which the National Association of Home Builders said was one of the biggest trends in new homes. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2012/04/pocket-office.html
The other office area (pictured at upper right) is a lofted little art studio with views of the trees and sky for inspiration.
http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2012/05/01/house-living-redwoods-forest-mill-valley-ca-photos/
San Francisco, California
This lovely ivy-covered cube is set in the corner of an urban garden designed by Scott Lewis Landscape Architecture. The little building is a studio for a modern home property that was designed by Malcolm Davis Architecture and borders on a park.
Napa Valley, Calif.
Eric and Melissa Schmitt’s Residence and Studio is a remodeled late-’50s ranch house. The pair own Schmitt + Company, a custom concrete-and-steel fabrication and interior design firm, which carried out the project. The formerly nondescript home came with a concrete-block garage, which the team transformed into this glass-doored studio and pool room.
Coral Gables, Fla.
This eight-bedroom, 12-bath coastal island mansion south of Miami is on the market for $18 million. Features include an observatory, pool and home theater. The two-story office uses the second level as a library. Sliding glass doors open up to a terrace.
Belvedere, Calif.
This waterfront seven-bedroom, 11-bath estate across the bay from San Francisco is on the market for $39.5 million. Most rooms in this elegant newly built home have views of the Golden Gate Bridge, including the home office.
Should that spectacular view make concentration difficult, the office’s floor-to-ceiling drapes can solve that issue.