I have a tiny little office -- about 7 x 9 -- though with fabulous windows and a balcony. Personally, I LOVE the smallness of the space, as if feels just perfect for one person working alone. Now, when I have visitors, I do feel 'invaded', because it's a ONE-BUTT space ;-) As a potential home buyer, I'd really discount a house with a 10 x 13' living room. That's not NEARLY big enough to be useful. So for that reason, I'd suggest looking at furniture solutions instead of walls. There are some great wall units that can work well for an office, then close up to hide the mess. (And you can take them with you when you leave.) Could a pair of barn doors (exterior mount 'pocket' doors) be used to separate the living room from the family room to give you the noise-insulation you need?

I guess I'm becoming an expert in home office setups the hard way. I'm a lawyer with a true home office (not just a place to pay bills and do scrapbooking). Version 1.0: built in one 11' wall of downstairs bedroom, cost $7K (1999 dollars) for maple. Custom built by local cabinet person. 85 year old mom moves in and takes over downstairs bedroom, so office gets moved into spare bedroom upstairs. Version 2.0: I research all over the internet. I rule out the nice looking armoires because (a) I have too much stuff and (b) you still don't have a place to put your feet even after the worktop slides out; I suspect that all well used armoires end up with lots of scuff marks at foot level on the face of the cabinet. I buy lots of Christopher Lowell Shore (the same line that bestyears bought) and start assembling it. It's all crappy particleboard/OSB/pressboard with a hideous printed finish where you can actually see the pixels of the supposed distressing. It starts falling apart during assembly. Cost: $2200, 2009 dollars. Version 3.0: I order solid maple, made in California not China, from local furniture company, cost $3400, 2009 dollars, which takes up most of a 10' wall -- not built in. (Design wise, it looks a lot like the Logan office suite available at Pottery Barn.) It's decent quality but probably a grade or two lower than my kitchen cabinets. However, I think that a 10' wall of kitchen cabinets would cost substantially more than $3400 from any reasonable quality cabinet company. Version 3.1: My mom is now talking with cabinet companies about installing pull out drawers on the lower shelves in the former office so that she'll have drawers in which to store her clothes...grrrr! I really want my home office back -- although I really, really don't want my mom gone. One important point on drawers: File cabinet drawers look and function very different from kitchen drawers. Blue

Lovely set up. My sewing/office/exercise/library and wannabe guest room looks to be much that size and it took me years to get it looking mostly okay. A good bit was really looking hard at what I really used in there. Half the books, a bookcase, half the fabric and the completely unnecessary office supply organizers went as well. Now the desk drawers have room to stash current work, pens and small essentials live in another and the closet will be able to hold sewing projects in progress soon as well. Suspect taking all but the essentials out and reevaluating how to keep things on the shelves will do the trick. I used to have the usual paper office organizing in my spare room office and finally figured out I so rarely needed printing paper and envelopes that they were just fine in a box. Goodbye to the organizer. Perhaps a monitor stand for the printer so you can use space under it would help. If it has a drawer then the small things usually corralled in those desk top organizers could live in there instead.. Perhaps a rolling drawer unit under the desk top would corral some things as well. Not sure what is going on under the corner area but finding a couple good sized baskets that cannot be seen through would look less cluttery. When is the last time you went through paper? Perhaps there are things filed you no longer need. And you know what to do with those magazines!

Do you need an island (because otherwise the kitchen can't be made functional with a new layout/updates)? or just want one because they are on trend? Do you have another space for quiet work, privacy, and so forth? I personally would prefer keeping the separate room with french doors to a beautiful outdoor space - especially if I had school age children. Agree you need to look at your area and think about current trends in needs/wants. When factoring resale into your decision, do remember the probable expense vs return ratio.