The home office is starting to look more like home.
That’s the message of collections from Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Ethan Allen and other furniture-makers that are integrating pieces that work into overall home design.
They’re catering to a growing market of people who work at home at least part of the time. The International Telework Association & Council says a recent survey showed 24.1 million Americans–nearly one-fifth of the workforce–worked at home at least one day during the last year. That’s 2.6 percent more than the year before.
“People were finally fed up with the ready-to-assemble furniture,” said Lisa Kanarek, founder of homeofficelife.com and the author of several books about working at home. “They would spend thousands of dollars on a dining room set and family room furniture, and have this medium density fiberboard [for the office] that was just so tacky.”
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Whether your decorative style is country-cottage, modern and sleek or traditional, you’ll find armoires, creative filing cabinets and desk accessories that either hide your work or help it fit right in.
Discovery Channel decorating guru Christopher Lowell has a new line of home office furniture at Office Depot that blends with both traditional and modern decor. Pottery Barn offers retro-style lamps for desk lighting and an old-fashioned trunk with “subtle distressing” that holds files and a corkboard inside.
Kanarek is most impressed with the new office armoires, from a number of different designers, that can contain everything from files to printers to desk extensions, then fold up when work is done.
“You can literally close your office doors at the end of the day,” she said.
Leather office accessories can turn work into a decorative element. Magazine basket, photo frame, file box, bookends, supply and paper trays and blotter come in red, orange, saddle or black. $24 to $175 at Hold Everything or www.holdeverything.com.
The Cabot Home Office Trunk makes a nice coffee table on the outside with a space for files and a small bulletin board on the inside. $399 at Pottery Barn or www.potterybarn.com.
Horchow’s Elephant File Box with Stand looks more like a memento from an exotic place than a place to stash your paperwork. $207 at www.horchow.com.
Decorating tips
Here are a few tips from Pottery Barn’s new design book, “Workspaces,” for integrating your home workplace into your home decor and personality:
– To create an open look, “float” your table or desk away from walls and use shelves or other storage pieces that reach midlevel rather than extending from floor to ceiling.
– Use eye-catching items from around the house in new ways. An old wooden ladder propped against a wall, for example, can become an organizer or newspaper rack.
– “Adaptable” furniture can help a home office double as a guest room. A trundle bed can hide files in a drawer. A hanging canvas storage panel can be stashed when guests arrive.
The Joliet Office Armoire from Restoration Hardware hides your computer, your files and your work table, but it goes others one better by including a phone jack and six power outlets (four with surge protection). $4,265 at Restoration Hardware or www.restorationhardware.com.
The Pixie Lamp sheds an old-fashioned light on your work at home, in steel with antique nickel finish or brass with a hand-applied bronze or antique brass finish. $89 at Pottery Barn or www.potterybarn.com.
The Cottage Corner Desk from L.L. Bean comes in country colors–golden sand, milk white and sage–to blend in even if your home office is at the beach house. $349 at www.llbean.com.
The Tansu Desk with Organizers has separate storage compartments that can be stacked on top of the desk or hidden behind a drop-down front. $999 at Crate & Barrel or www.crateandbarrel.com.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Victoria Rodriguez ([email protected])