Built ins...preferably antique :) large English library cabinets where there are no built ins. At least four cozy club chairs with a center table and tuck under automens. Fireplace of course covered with something wonderful. Audubans...originals....(because you said money was no object) on the free wall space. Heavily papered ceiling with a large French empire style chandelier...all black and guilt. Rich gold silk curtains, a built in which has a hidden table that rolls out to be a wine bar during large events...

But not that I haven't been obsessed with libraries lately lol.

That's a really good question.... I'm a practical girl and I work a full time job from my own home office. BUT, if I could have anything I wanted...

First, a generous-sized room. Not huge but not tiny--maybe 15 x 15 which is what I have now and seems to be the perfect size. Tall ceiling. I have 10 feet now, but wouldn't mind a bit more height. Built-in bookcases and paneled walls with only a few feet of exposed plaster up high where I could hang beautiful handprinted floral wallpaper. Very girly. French empire chandelier with TONS of crystal. Large woodburning fireplace. Two leather chairs and ottomans, sink-down-in comfortable for reading. Several cashmere throws for when the weather is a bit chilly. Porcelain lamps with handmade white silk shades perched on antique drum tables along with souvenirs of my world travels. A large and comfortable desk with space for my desktop, a dock for the laptop and a hidden printer for the practical side of me. The most comfortable desk chair ever (and I haven't found that yet! LOL) A stained glass Tiffany lamp for writing. Linen monogrammed stationery, silver pens, antique ink wells and millefleur paperweights. French doors on the south wall that open to a walled courtyard filled with roses and a stone birdbath and copper trellises and a teak Lutyens bench and overflowing old iron planters.

Wow,....I have some changes to make....LOL

One of the better things we did we wired the basement with an entertainment box that also holds the modem & wireless router; which pulled those things out of the office.

Will you have a computer in there? How about a printer or scanner?

A closet. It was a decision I made a few years ago when I was designing my office and I never regretted it. That closet was the place for everything in the house that didn't have a place. It helped me organize the office and the whole house.

Innovative features...well, one thing I did in a past home was to include a gift wrapping center within the built-in cabinetry. It consisted of a huge drawer that was big enough to hold rolls of gift wrap (needs super-strong drawer guides), a pull-out shelf big enough to cut paper on and a set of moveable dowels in a cabinet to hold spools of ribbon.

Oh, I thought of something I would really like...an in-slab safe hidden in the floor of the closet or accessible through the bottom shelf of a bookshelf. It would be nice to have a place to store some jewelry and a little cash that's easier to access than the bank.

All those suggestions sound yummy!

roselvr- how is the signal strength in your house after putting your modem and router in the basement? Did the range decrease? We will have 2 computers, all-in one printer/fax, modem and a flat screen tv w/cablebox and possibly a stereo receiver for music.

graywings- unfortunately no room for a closet. But we have a lot of closet space in our house and hopefully the built-ins will have enough deep drawer space for storage of office supplies.

Vivian- I would love to go girly, but unfortunately, my DH spends more time in there, so I think we are going to have to go a bit more traditional/masculine.

igloochick- I do envision some big comfy club chairs with ottomans, but probably more masculine(for DH). I think I can sneak a little femininity in with silk drapes and chandeliers.

We added on a "Conservatory" during the building of our house a few years ago with the intent of it becoming a traditional paneled library / office with built-ins. The room is very large ~ 27x14 and the ceilings are high(~13 ft). Unfortunately, DH wanted a tray ceiling(the angled type) to increase the height, but he wasn't thinking about how paneling would fit with that type of ceiling.

We are in the very early planning stages. We have large windows on 3 of the 4 walls(so luckily not much to panel).The last wall will be for built-in bookcases and a desk for me(DH's desk will be free standing). Unfortunately, we didn't think of putting a fireplace in the room when we built(it wouldn't have cost any different than the large arched windows on our back wall)

In the built-in will be mainly file cabinets on the bottoms, bookcases with arched glass doors on the top. My computer desk with be there and above it will be a cabinet for a TV, cable box and maybe a stereo receiver for speakers for music). I hate wires so we will definitely have to figure out how to do that and hide the wires.

Our biggest(and most costly) issue is how to panel the ceiling with the tray there. Our other options may be to add a few wood beams and do a warm faux paint finish or the least costly would be just to paint the ceiling.

My camera battery is dead, so I'll post pics once i recharge it.

forhgtv- missed your post while i was posting. LOVE the gift wrap station idea(will have to work on DH for that one). DH actually looked at some in wall safes and they were pretty expensive.

My daughter has no problems with her netbook on the 2nd floor. I have a fairly new router; the old one was also good. I'll have to ask her if she thinks the newer router has a better wireless signal

Kind of off topic, but forhgtv, do you remember back when The Spellings (of Dallas, Dynasty fame) built their zillion dollar home and Candy Spelling was made fun of relentlessly for having a room devoted to gift wrapping? I saw the room and it's not huge but perfect! And now many are doing it too. lol

I'd do those club chairs in either leather or mohair and definitely keep them masculine. We are going eastlake style here....no girly stuff allowed lol.

Be sure to focus on a good music system. It sounds like a great place to relax is about to be conceived.

Oakleyok, I guess I missed that program, but I've always enjoyed going all out when wrapping gifts and really loved the convenience of having all of the supplies easily accessible. I have seen some laundry rooms on HGTV that featured storage and a work space for crafting, wrapping etc.

Our library is perfect for us, it has wireless access like the rest of the house but it is really for reading and music. In addition to all the books, I keep a kindle dx on the coffeetable that has about 200 books on it. We have an ipod player and my piano, and a fireplace, but no movies or work desks or anything like that. Seating is a very long comfy couch (8 feet), two club chairs that share an ottoman by the fireplace, and two Martha Washington chairs. Both DH and I work a lot at home and have separate offices . . . his is a mess but mine is lovely with bookcases and prints from all the places we've been. And files and stuff.

I'm traditional and classic so it has to be all wood. I want a sitting area, a work area, a small kitchenette and half bath.

{{!gwi}}.

This for a library:

It's a turn of the century post office building that was converted to a private home. The loading dock became a veranda, the old postmaster's office became the owner's home office, and the safes are still in place, being used.

Our office is definitely not as fancy or beautiful as some of the pictures posted but when we designed it, I asked the builder to do built-in bookshelves around the french doors. It was wasted space anyway & I love having room to store books. Many are just old paperbacks but I love to re-read and they are easily accessible this way plus I like the way they look :)