kswl: I'm glad to hear it's working well for your DS with the narrower width. With technology changing at such a fast pace and getting smaller and smaller some of these special purpose goodies become redundant. We're opting to skip the CPU cabinet for that same reason. I am putting in a keyboard pullout for me, but not my DH--he wants a pencil tray, but you make a good point about having to scoot out. greenmtn: I agree with that. We do like to open the windows as it brings in a lovely breeze. Lucky we do not get too much direct sunlight as our neighbor has a huge ash tree in his backyard that filters the light without completely shading the room. Tomorrow I will meet with the designer who did the above design. One difference between her design and that of the designer I met with yesterday is the amount of space for seating under the desk and cabinets size. The other designer has more cabinets and less foot room under the desk--which I like, at the same time it could prove annoying. I am also thinking of reducing the depth of the right most upper cabinet to 9" as I don't want to obstruct the window. I am wondering how to treat the upper actually. Do I center it on the wall (which is 33") or line it up so that it ends at the same place as the lower does? If I do the latter it seems to look funny to me -- not centered. If I do a larger cab. and bring it closer to center then it gets closer to the window too--hence why I am thinking of doing the narrower depth. I think I can still store many things there--paper, CDs, smaller books, etc. Hopefully by the weekend I'll have designs from all three. I want to get a custom cabinetry quote as well as I feel the cabinets would be better quality. These three places all specialize in garage/closet/office but the product is all melamine based. They are designed to have minimal backing and they do all the wire management to get power where we need it and hide all the cords. It's a start!

lynn: Your cherry office sounds wonderful. Are they built-in or freestanding? I can't wait to share pics!! I'm also wondering what to do for chairs since we have hardwood floors. It would work best to have chairs with castors so we can roll out of the way when we need to open the drawers, but am worried now I'll scratch the floors. rmkitchen: Ah, gentleman's closet, yes something like that. Who knows it'll have all our files, charging station, etc. DH wants it to go to the ceiling so my new idea is to do that and split the difference between ceiling and top of window molding (which is about 12") for the other cabinets. Would you mind posting a pic of your taller cabinets? I'm also wondering how it will work/feel with the huge upper doors (about 56"H)? Sort of like pantry doors sitting on top of a desk. I could td two stacked cabinets instead, but that will cost more, plus make the space less flexible to store larger items in adjustable shelves. Perhaps she could break up the look visually by making it look like one door is stacked on another. Does that make sense? I should probably go back through the FKB to see what the taller doors look like. Also with the taller cabinets, now the shorter base seems out of scale. Where it'd be really nice is for the two cabinets between the desks, but would be odd I think to do 2 different heights. I can't quite comprehend how these drawers eat up so much space with the glides, framing, etc. I'd at least like a drawer to store envelopes there. I can't quite get it as I have it in my freestanding desk--top pencil drawer, middle for envelopes, bottom of files--but it's a shorter base. I may have to loose the notion of a trash cabinet and just put under one of the desks--which I suppose there is room towards the back area. Anyway she'll come tomorrow and I think for the base, I'll see what she recommends will work best for the area where the cabinet butts up to the step and carry that look everwhere.

lynn: Our posts crossed. If I look at it from the point of view of what belongs in the room/house, it'd be the cognac or rustic cherry. In the house all bulit-in cabinetry is all either medium or dark cherry with white painted trim and oak flooring. The cognac is the best match in terms of color to DH's built-in, though the grain is a bit different. The rustic cherry is a tad more rustic--grainy/knotty than we have and are looking for. The cognac sample almost looks like it does not have a grain, but some type of rubbed on finish. I need to see the whole office pic again to be sure. When I go in the showroom on Thurs I will take some pics of the offices. That is an interesting point about sticking with the wood finishes as all the offices in the showroom were set up that way. It seems they have laminants that are matched to the cabinets so you get the durability of the laminent counter. So my choices wuold be to either match the counter to the cabinets or to go with some type of color from WilsonArt or formica. I don't want anything too busy or dating.

First, let me say sending prayers for complete healing for your hubby. No fun for sure. I have some thoughts for you regarding paint. If you haven’t started Re-painting, I would add 3500k LED lighting first and see if your walls are ok. It’s usually the quality of light that impacts paint colors. With your grays/black and beige flooring I would consider a deep blue for cabinets. Blue would unite all your colors. Consider extending arm lights for over cabinets. Or this fixture for over table. The first one below would be ideal if you have junction box in ceiling. Best to you in Heath and office space. Hard to concentrate when major health issues are wearing on you. Take care- Warm regards, Flo