apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Nice, but before rushing out and purchasing some of this.

Is there enough room for your knees? (Too many of these things don't, comfortably if you are taller than about 5'5".)

Is there enough room for the computer, monitor, printer, UPS, and whatever other junk you need?

Is there enough (desk surface) room for work papers, and little storage for "other stuff" like CD's and pencils?

Will the doors swing into the way of anything critical, like light, access to bathroom, into priceless heirloom...

Are they solid enough to take a good heavy lean, a 90lb monitor, have small children use them as stairs, so forth.

Cable management?

I've seen a lot of these that are not thought through.

That Armani stuff (here and in person) is crazy beautiful. Definitely splurge-worthy.

I'd add two options from Crate & Barrel as additional candidates...

Nile Home Office
www.crateandbarrel.com/itemgroups/4605_0.asp

and

the Hideaway Home Office Armoire
www.crateandbarrel.com/itemgroups/3258_0.asp

I just luv my lil Blu Dot l'lil Buddy Desk. Coupled with the neglected herman miller stacking chair my imac looks fab in its home.

I would rather hide the TV. Stuck 32 flat screen in an 'Effective' Ikea long unit and tricked out with 170 hinges from Rockler's hardware catalog.
For the printer I took the shelf and stuck it another cabinet and tricked that out with 14" full extention slides from Rockler again.

All said its a sweet combo.

I just ordered a desk and shelf system through shelf shop on the Upper East Side. It's the RAKKS suspension shelves with the custom made desk with drawer. It's FABULOUS! And it looks terrific, offers more space and costs less than most of these.

What I dislike the most about every compact "office solution" I've seen is that you have to face the inside of a cabinet to use them.

I'm much more interested in an effective, portable storage system that can be moved around... or is beautiful enough to remain out and not LOOK like it's hiding all of my stuff.

I work from home, which gives me the luxury of looking out the window - why would I want to face the inside of a cabinet?

My two computer setup is just too big to fit into one of these little boxes. I'm not ashamed of my real desk.

~evamn reminds me of when I was in High school and would talk about all the mods I had done/was doing to my car at the moment...oh she was a sweet set up.

My desk I'm told looks mroe like an NYPD command center.(sperad across 2 desks w/ a hutch each)

I have 3 laptops 2 desktops, 3 screens (19, 21, 32)and then everything is wired to the theater. (this is of course in addition to all the docks, for pda's phone, printer, scanner, cameras ,routers, modems, etc etc etc)

This also fluxuates drasticly as I do lots of pro bono non profit work for non profits...

I would love to find something that could hold it all and not look like an office work station.

Even something to house the server tower would be great.

I'm betting a lot of readers have desks that top these. There should be a Coolest Desk contest!

mmmm me of me could use a customized 'tricked' out desk.... I thinking of something I was working in hotel/resturant design receptionist desk, where the montors were resessed face up on the glass top of the desk. Had a website but lost it. I know it isn't homey but Herman Miller has some nice 'comand centers'set-ups with rack/cable space. Sorta pricey but a good point to start from.

voorummmmm

I've eyed the herman millers...and if I was ever to get down to a resonable limit..I would opt for one but..unforunitly no.

I even considered a KLM switch (to let me use multiple pcs on one set of moniter/keyboard/mouse) however I need constant access to data so ...not possible

The resessed glass is just bad ergonomics.

Thanks for the tips though.

Eventually I will build up a new office and try to intergrate items in to/on to the wall

High up shelves for items that I never need to touch (routers/ modems) mid level shelves for the occasinals (printer/scanner etc)

and the hutch for the aux moniter and pephials (pda's cameras' phones etc)


I envy my borthers minimalistic set up.

He has a massive executive desk with a 23in cinima display mounted to the wall. in one drawer he hooks up his power book and pulls out his blue tooth mouse+ keyboard.

Via pc anywhere/remote pc he controls the comuters in the server room located in the basment.

The only thing he can't do is play video games.(but thats what work's for)

momi -- I have a KVM built into my monitor. It's not a superfast switch between computers, but it does save me from having two. One of these days I have to hook up a real broadcast monitor on my desk, and I'm not looking forward to having that monstrosity... If you get a chance, you should take a look at some of the solutions they make for video editors and the like. Editors have to have at least two if not three monitors, and they also often have clients hanging out, so the desk has to be minimally chaotic and easy to clean up afterwards -- you don't want one client seeing the next one's work.

ahh KVM...I just bought a few tickets for KLM (airlines)..hence the slip.

I'll look in to the video editing stations...good idea. If not I'll just fabricate something (and possibly share)

Part of my problem is I'm still using CRT's However once OLD (organic liquid display) moniters hit the market in decent sizes I'll switch over and get myself a few priceless sq ft back.

I have the Hold Everything Marlowe desk that I use for my laptop. I have to admit it is not the most comfortable to work at, but it is a great place to stash my laptop and office stuff while I am not using it. It is in the living room and you can't even tell that it is an office piece. When I want to use my laptop I just pull it out and use it on a lap desk (that also stowes in the unit.)

Room and Board also has many bigger options, including a line you can make from custom parts (I think it is called Linear). They have an example of it as a desk cabinet in the store in Soho.

'Me of me' is getting some great ideas. Use HM a starting point for inspiration. You can also check out hardware the Hafele Show room at the top end of Madison Park, 25 East 26 St. Granted its hinges and knobs, and more ...but they have some cool innovations.