Home Office....

I don't know why I start thinking about another project before I've even completed the last one!! (let alone STARTED the last one!!).  Anyone else have this problem??  I think I need to stop watching HGTV, as Peter Fallico's latest episode of Home To Keep had me thinking about my office....

My husband recently started working from home more often.  And in an effort to improve productivity, we've also combined our home offices into one. It's really opened up the spare room, but it's seemed to have cramped the other.  With two monitors, two mice (I like my thumb trackball mouse!), and two computer stations, the entire office has become a disaster. And I can't stand it! (I'm not sure how he's working in there so frequently and still OK with it!!).

Let me explain a little....although we've combined into one office, we have not, by any means, combined into one computer (or accessories - we still have two computer stations, as I have my PC and he has his work lap top).  Instead of just working off the laptop though, he plugs it in to this base thingy so he can use a standard monitor, mouse and keyboard.  And since I use two monitors at work, he thought we could both use two monitors at home now...only problem is, we don't have a "switch" to easily switch the monitors back and forth between the computers (instead, we have to physically unplug from his computer and plug them into mine)...so now my PC sits ON the desk (instead of on the floor), the printer now sits on the floor, and the two monitors are on individual stands (to be closer to eye level).

We also have a tall filing cabinet that we rarely use. We purchased it at an auction awhile back, and since it had been through a lot in its days, 3 of the 5 drawers do not open (or are EXTREMELY hard to open).  I've been thinking lately that we could do without this filing cabinet (or maybe move it to the basement for long-term storage needs), and keep the daily files on a bookshelf. I originally thought I could do something like this, with shelves flanking either side of the desk:

And we currently have 2 unused bookshelves sitting in the basement that look something like this (they're not hideous, but they're OAK - bleh!!). With a little love, paint, and maybe a feature paint on the backwall, they could be fantastic...

So I've been playing around with some different layouts...(yes, that angled closet is our linen closet... if you think our 7'6"x9'6" office is small, that linen closet is RIDICULOUS!), but the tight space makes things a little difficult (especially since our office also doubles as my Make Up Room, since the bathroom lacks the storage space necessary for getting ready in the morning)



Option #2 would feel quite cramped walking into the room...so I think Option #3 leaves the most room...but is it really that much different from how it is now?! The use of the bookshelves would help remove knick-knacks from the desk itself...and the bottom shelves could have boxes that house current filing that would be easily accessible...  What do you think?  Maybe I should start on my other projects first though.....??? (although they're just for looks...this would actually CLEAN UP a space AND make it look good) Hmmm