apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

If this was my room and my aquarium, I'd build a desk all along one wall (preferably the one with the window in the middle). On the left side, I'd proudly display the aquarium, on the right side would be my computer. Below, there would be a few drawers for office items and some closed storage for the buckets and the stuff that is under the aquarium now. I'd put a comfortable reading chair and a lamp in front of the other window, and some low bookshelves on the wall where the aquarium is now.

But what I am really interested in is: What is it that your husband is jealous of? :o) I'd love to see your updated home office, maybe there are certain features that your husband likes?

(On the wall with the window on it) Ultra sleek wall to wall desk, recycled timber or something new-ish would be great with 2 sets of trestle type legs for support (similar to the Ikea :: ).

I would be leaving the aquarium where it is, at the end of the desk (on the wall where the aquarium is cause you can't put it under the window... too much risk of algae buildup) I would build in a set of enclosed shelves for all the equipment required to maintain the tank.. food.. chemicals.. etc. I would also enclose the bottom of the tank in a similar material to the desk to hide everything else!

No need to tell you about cable managers and

Ultra-manly leather comfy armchair with vintage lamp for reading woudl be cool in the corner near the door!

Throw in a great rug in a bold colour and you are set!

Under the desk a series of rolling draw cabinets woudl be awesomely useful.

ikea legs i meant where the VIKA FAGERLID btw

Keep it modern and clean. Use solid colored roman shades to add some color or to make it look more manly. Furniture and shelving should be dark and sleek.

Is this home office used for business purposes, or just for balancing the checkbook and playing Half Life 2? If it's the latter, you need to ditch the furniture you have now - it looks like a depressing office drone's cubicle... with a fish tank inexplicably dumped in it.

You can keep the black leather chair (we men like a big leather swivel chair - it makes us feel like James T Kirk). Get a solid wood desk - perhaps antique circa 30s or 40s - and move it away from the wall so that he can see the door and at least one window from when seated behind it. If he needs a visitor chair, a small, low, padded armchair would be good. Replace that nasty plastic mat with a low-pile rug, perhaps made from FLOR tiles. Ditch the cheap lamps and give him a single designer lamp that gives good adjustable light.

Fish tanks, without exception, never look good from a decor perspective. Transfer the contents of the plastic buckets and other stuff into coordinated containers (vintage tin? glass? wood?) and position the tank next to the door so that passers by can't see it.

Built-in bookcases are fine, if your husband's "stuff" is 99% books. If it's mostly random objects, loose papers and other non-book items, open shelves will look cluttered and messy. Try a mixture of open shelves (for books) and a vintage credenza (for everything else). Otherwise a custom made floating credenza running the length of one wall might look good.

Walls could be fire engine red, dark chocolate, olive green or a sophisticated blue-grey. You have a light floor and plenty of light, so you can get away with deep colours.

A few ideas. He has nothing on the walls really, so a wall-sized bookcase would help, but so would at least a piece of art. Curtains for the window will help soften that area too and give some interest and pattern.

All the furniture feels slightly undersized, except for the chairs. Buy things for the location they will have in the room in addition to their function (i.e. a printer table that fits the wall too.) If you get a new, larger desk with a return (and hutch?) you can try to re-orient the desk so that when you are sitting in it, you can face or see the door (instead of facing the wall.) It really makes for a better feeling in the room - a feng shui principle that really does work.

And, my husband also has a 55-gallon fish tank and built cabinets for the lower half to hide the filter, food, and other stuff. It looks so much better (why are fish tanks so ugly?) Maybe you could have the fish tank look like it is built into a bookshelf wall.

One word: Lifehacker.com. They have a "workspace of the week" feature that's always cool, techy, and usually pretty cheap as well as mostly masculine entries. They always look great without forking over a lot of cash.

But I would also suggest starting with some lighting options and maybe different wall color. Looks like the man could go blind in there.

There's a place on those walls for a framed quote. Not vinyl lettering or a tacky poster, something tasteful and personal. Of course times change and your goals change, so there should be a way to change the quote on the wall whenever you want. Suggest you visit www.quotepalettes.com - something new for the new room. Get a pack of quotes so he can frame the words that move him.

My husband's office is a mirror image of this one: big metal shelving rack, cords everywhere, desk shoved against the wall.

We bought some of the Ikea Effektiv storage units and they look really nice. They have a very sturdy feel, too. I think they're available in a dark wood finish.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/workspaces/11688/