Home Offices: Practical & Prominent

BLOG POST PUBLISHED OCTOBER 2018

As more people work from home who are either self-employed or have flexible hours and can work remotely, the home office has become an important, practical and prominent residential feature.

In the not too distant past, the home office for many was relegated to a makeshift space in some corner of the kitchen, bedroom or the basement. "Today, many home-based employees and business owners, are opting for a practical and professional setting as a separate room or a space that’s cordoned off and designed with the right equipment – furniture, lighting, added outlets, flooring, noise control, and design elements to create privacy that harmonizes with the overall décor of the rest of the home," says Rebecca Pogonitz principal of GOGO design group in Skokie, Ill.

Almost all residential jobs that designer Sharon McCormick, principal of Sharon McCormick Design in Hartford, Conn, takes on involve designing either one or even two (for a couple) home offices. "In the past five years, there’s been a 25 percent uptick in requests from people of all ages in my business to design home offices," she says. She estimates the cost ranges from around $3,000 for a DYI with lower-end furniture to a sky’s-the-limit office at $75,000-plus.