Val,

My vote is for white. I like the brightness. It looks less serious that the wood. It makes your small space look larger. It just looks more casual and comfortable.

I think 25" will be too deep for your counter/desktop. I am basing this on my PB Bedford desk which is 23" deep and perfect (IMO). Can you have the top made with custom made for depth since you are going to use natural stone? 23" is in the middle of the dimensions you mentioned. I would go with 20" deep for upper cabs due to space.

Morning, Val

What a neat space..perfect for an office. I have looked at similar kinds of modular desks and my sister has the bedford desk from PB (not as nice-- but similar shape to yours). She has white bases with black countertops and a medium silver blue on the walls. She loves it and it's a nice space. I am looking at all black since I have a black frame/glass top work table. I think both your dark finish and the white/dark top will look great-- but they will give the room a different vibe. The white/dark top will look more casual and bright where the dark will carry a more serious vibe. I think using the same color or colorstrip on the walls should be enough to keep the room connected to the master suite.

What do you use your office space for? Do you want to keep it serious or a more light and cheery space? Of course it isnt all or none-- but in a room that size, I think the finish will definitely set the tone. Do you have a vision for WT and artwork? What vibe do they have?

As for your other questions -
I am confused-- only the first cup of coffee here--if you reduce the desk/cabinet size does that increase the size of the corner piece or is the whole surface area reduced? I would definitely go for the max total surface area.. and max distance between desks.

I think the cpu cabinet is nice-- but will soon be obsolete. Yeah, you can put a trash basket in there but it will be pretty much wasted space. I'd put in shelves.

Can't wait to see it all pulled together!

oh boy.. duh. You were talking depth. (I just spilled my entire second cup of coffee so you can see how my morning is going). I would still go with the increased depth... but my sister would take the 20". I like my surface area.. but again, the decision should be based on how you'll use the space. Do you spread stuff out for research or such?... Do you walk around or share the space with kids?

I would do the white. I love the darker cabinetry, but I think the white will be less imposing in the space.

I am a bit concerned about the arrangement in that when you are both working there, and try to move back in your chairs, you don't have a lot of space.

Have you considered putting the two desks back to back, coming out from the middle window? You could put a small cpu cabinet at floor height down closest to the window for each desk, so that it wouldn't show. That would also make your sitting space at the wider end of the desks, so that you take advantage of the angles of the side windows. No light blocking that way, either. You could put a low divider (like a two-sided cork board) between the desks for a bit of privacy if you don't want to be staring at one another. LOL.
Then create an "L" shaped arrangement of cabinetry and countertop space on the north and east walls that would be functional for both of you. Still have the undercabinet lighting and plugmould. Nice spot for a coffeecenter, too, and perhaps a mini fridge or beverage fridge?

Change out your overhead lighting to some kind of track system that would allow for pendants over the desks and the some other lights to wash the walls and highlight any art or important things that you might hang there.

Ooooooo -- my own desk -- my own office would be MY dream!

Another vote for the white cabinets with a darker countertop! Fresh and bright -- and easy to change any colors or artworks or area rugs to work with them.

Les has an interesting idea to have the desks back-to back in the middle section of the room -- and each side gets their own "space" Would be interesting to see a designer plot that out on paper! I have seen that done with bathroom vanities AND with those traditional "partners" desks -- but a custom "work island" might work!

Jan

Interesting..... I had this vision in my mind to do the cabinets in a dark cherry to tie in with the bedroom and bathroom for over a year now. It was only yesterday that the designer suggested white and I immediately dismissed it, yet since then, the idea has been growing in my mind. There is a lot of white trim throughout the house with the doors and molding plus the blinds there now are also white so it is really not adding another woodtone look. I could see myself making it less stuffy too with a fabric valance on the bay windows. The other advantage is that it is less expensive and it puts the third designer we met with (who will work through Costco and most likely the less expensive of the three--we get a $10 cash card at Costco for every $100 we spend, plus we pay through Costco and it counts for our EOY rebates). I am just going to sit with this idea in my mind for a few days as it is a big shift in my thinking for this room, but this type of input is so impt. for me. I will call the other two and tell them to quote in both the african walnut and white, but as of today, I'm leaning towards the white myself for a more airy, less stuffy look.

It is very hard to visualize how very small this is. It is only 8'9" (including the 3' bay bumpout) x 10' (including the step). Doing any type of cabinetry on the north wall would block the entryway. We wanted the desks to face out into a window so we have a view of our backyard while working. That way the blinds can be open yet no glare on a monitor. The desk locations are really fixed as all wiring and lighting has already been done with that in mind.

funkart: You brought up some very good points. We are working with closet companies for now that have all the insides for offices and do the wire management so it's not fully custom without an upcharge. So choices really are either 20"D or 24"D cabs but the countertop will have an overhang of 1-1/2". Yes, my kids (3 of them) do use it occasionally though DS has his own laptop, older DD we are in process of buying a laptop for her and my 7-year-old will probably start using it more and more--just the computer. Everyone (all 5) will use the printer (networked) and we may add a second one for laser printing (either here or in DS's room who has greatest need right now), but the narrower depth should still accomodate that. The narrow depth will definitely make it easier to reach over and open the windows. DH wants 20" and I'm leaning towards that as well. I actually want to cut down on the desktop clutter so I'd say more impt. is having enough storage to put it all out of sight--that alone I think will have the biggest impact. I guess things get lost in the back of drawers/cabs. anyway.

The uppers will probably be 14" deep, though only one upper. The one tall cab could be something different--could even be 24"D and desk cabs 20"... I'm still trying to figure out the size of the cab since the wire we put in for the plug mold is right smack in the middle where we would do two equal sized cabs and I'm not sure how much it can be move--so the tall cab may end up being larger--closer to 36" and we also need some filler of the left to accomodate the drawer clearance. I'm still debating putting an upper on the west wall or just leaving a bare wall as I don't want to feel closed in, though I'd really like some overhead paper trays over the printer to load it up.

Today I'm going to head out to 2 of the showrooms and will visit the third tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have a clearer idea then. It took me 6 mos. to design my kitchen (time well spent) though I'm hoping to do this one in much less time as we are so sick and frustrated with dealing with it as it is....

We put in a built in office in a loft space in our previous house. We used 20" deep counters so that we had more room to move around and our chairs wouldn't bump into one another. It worked very well, and we never noticed lost storage space. We went with a dark wood for two reasons: one, I liked the library feel of the darker wood and two, with chairs swinging around, I wouldn't have to worry about scuffs on the cabs. Our counters were formica, which doesn't get damaged by hot electronics or markers the way granite and wood do. :)

Here's a pic (sorry it's so dark, it's the best I have):

saraschlos: Thanks so much for posting that picture. That is exactly what I needed to see. The layout is even quite similar. I can see your space was really small as well, but looks like you came up with an efficient design that looks attractive and uncluttered. You don't by any chance still have any measurements of the space do you? Who did your office?

That is another point to think about with the white regarding the scuff marks. You still gave it a pretty look with the darker wood by adding the valance which I want to do at some point as well. Did you like the glass doors. I can see that also makes the space feel more open as well--though you can see any cluttered shelves. Perhaps I should do an opaque glass on one of them. How did you handle your lower storage? I'm thinking mostly filing cabinets with two banks of 3-drawer cabs--no lower shelving.

saraschlos: I noticed you did not do any lowers between the two desks like I am planning. I could really use the extra storage at the same time I see advantages of your design as the chairs could slide next two one another and then more than one person look at same computer screen. We do that sometimes either helping the kids with a computer assignment, DH and I working on fiances. etc. What is your take on that? Did you like your setup or wish you had some files, drawer next to you?

That space was very necessary to fit the two chairs comfortably, and also made it possible for our daughter to join us in the middle, but we had more storage on the opposite sides of our desks than you will have. In your situation, I don't think I would sacrifice the storage, but make sure the space for your chairs is at least 32" wide (I would prefer 36") because office chairs, particularly ones that swivel or lean back or have arms, tend to be wider than dining room type chairs.

On the leg of our U desk next to the bookcase, we had a double lateral drawer cab with 2 cd drawers and a pencil drawer, then a cabinet with a pullout and pencil drawer above (we used the pullout for trash and the paper shredder so that we could keep the kids out of the shredder). Then my desk -- we kept the corner instead of going straight across to conserve space. Then he open area, and DH's desk, which went straight across (he had the larger monitor). Next to his desk, we had a double lateral file cabinet with a pencil drawer and two double file drawers. On a fourth half wall, we had a separate desk that also had a double lateral file and a pencil drawer, so we actually wound up with too much storage!

Oh. Sounds lovely. I can really see now why you miss this house so much compared to the new one. Another thing I was thinking about is asking if they can do a file cab. on wheels in that space between the two desks so we could wheel it to one side if we wanted to scoot the two chairs next to one another. How large a cab did you need for the shredder? Though every shredder we've ever had I've broken.....

I was also thinking of doing the 20" deep cabs for the desk area, but to keep the tall/wall cab that is off to the left (similar to where yours is) 24" deep. DH is known to collect a lot of electronic gadgets, cables, etc. The other difference is that our walls are angled whereas yours are not so you still had those deeper corners for the monitor to go. Other than that so similar except DH gets the laptop workarea and I get the PC workarea.

I really need to get going though to the showroom.

Thanks so much. This is one case a pic is really worth a thousand words!

Our shredder cab was either 18" or 21" -- but it had room for both trash and shredder, so could have been about 12".

I have just a moment but I wanted to share a few things after reading (vry quickly) through your responses.

1. Putting the monitor or laptop against the window does not ensure that you don't have glare. I also have my monitor in front of a window in my home office and I had to put window coverings up.. my window faces southwest so I get strong afternoon sun.

2. The white def has issues with scuffs and coffee drips (my doing) and finger marks-- but your kids are older than my sister's. They all clean up easily though. At least on white you SEE them.

3. In addition to not loving the 20"depth of my sister's desk, I also didn't like the large number of cabinets. It works fine for her... but if you expect to ever scoot around the desk or work on the surface area without the monitor/laptop, you end up straddling the cabinetry. I forgot that I did decide 20" would be sufficient for me-- but only because I added a DR size work table. Again-- it's all dependent on how you will use the space. I really LOVE the module styles... but they are modular because what works for one person won't work for another.

on a related note-- because I am a claustrophobic freak, even in a much larger room, I can't work with overhead cabs.

two printers rock for a family of 5 computer users. What did we do before wireless printing???

I vote for dark furniture. Also, I'd not put your computer screens in front of the windows. It's a good idea to take a break from staring at the screen (yeah, I know, we're all Garden Web junkies) and focus on something else. Unless you have blinds drawn, the contrast between the screen and the window will be too great during the day. I have my screen perpendicular to the window, which minimizes glare.