When I moved to a new office my husband pointed out that the computer hutch and the U shaped office especially with light colored furniture is a secretarial layout, and not a current one either. He redesigned my layout so I have a large desk and a side table for my computer, & printer. His simple change of my not being surrounded by hutch, desk, etc. gives a real professional look to my office. In back of my desk is a series of 2 drawer wood lateral files which are counter height so I can put a plant there but also current files. I see a lot of clients so I needed space for their chairs. My clients can look out the window in back of me. I promise to take photos, but we moved into our house today, and I couldn't find anything until morning. So we started with: whats in your office that could go elsewhere>? Are you storing closed files? supplies, a printer (if a network is available) What do you have that your assistant could have besides paperwork. He helped me utilize my assistant of 23 years better and redesigned her workspace. Ladynimue's suggestions about really paying attention to how you work best (and put the times down as well) are great. My observation of accts offices is they have every file in the building on their floor. I once saw a cartoon that said "the acctg dept is limited to having 100 files on the floor next to each desk" You are an executive--they don't expect you to use the same furniture--ask very matter of factly what your budget is for new furniture, or better yet maybe they have some furniture stored someplace. Never hurts to ask. The other thing I would do is take a look at every acctg persons office, or read the furniture mags until you see a layout that you might like. Maybe a friend can point you in a new direction also. I was really stubborn about wanting everything the way I had it before--because everyting was in reach & I complained that when I was on the phone that was a problem. We got wireless headsets. problem solved. My husband is not an office designer--he runs his own company. His layout is very different. He has a rolltop desk that faces out so all you see is the back of the desk, and not the papers, inside. He has a work area to the left and to the right. They aren't connected. He has a couch and coffee table in his office.

Your inspiration desk is quite different than the drawing you posted of two L-shaped desks. I've been looking for home office furniture for quite some time and pretty much all of the desks similar to your inspiration photo also lack storage. If you want decorative legs, you probably aren't going to find them with file drawers. Do you have room for a separate credenza where you could store papers and files? FWIT, I pretty much rule out anything that would connect my workspace with my husbands. We already share an office, I don't want to share a desk, too (neither does he). I do like the look of those "shared" desks, though.

I'm assuming this is the current renters' living room furniture. The style of the house isn't country, and neither is a black leather sofa or a Kallax unit. So let's work with what you have that will have a warm, comfy feeling that isn't necessarily country. Do you have budget for some chairs, a coffee table, curtains, shelves and art work? Here's a direction: --Add a comfy chair or two with black legs in grays and a little tan--not necessarily this chair. (Later on you can get a nice gray sofa that will go with the chair.) --Add pillows to your sofa. Curtains: Large art work for the big wall: Long white low shelves for storing toys and for a TV if that's where you'll be watching. A couple of these for more storage. All of these pieces relate to each other and will go with new furniture down the road. Good luck!

May I suggest making a list of what you need in your office besides the two monitor screens? Do you need bookshelves? How many linear feet? Do you need file cabinets? How many linear feet? How much storage space for office supplies? I see you have a mirrored closet. Are you going to use that for out of season clothing or can that be converted into shelving for office supplies for half of it and a file cabinet placed in the other half? Will you be receiving clients for business meetings in that office? Do you need chairs and side tables and for business meetings in that room? Besides two monitor, what other electronic equipment will you be using? A laptop? A PC? A printer? A scanner? A CPU? Do you need an L shaped desk or just a straight desk? Do you want a desk with drawers? Do you need a bulletin board or a white board to think out projects? Do you want to take out the mirror doors and use the doors for this? Do you create create video presentations so that you need to block out the light and so need window coverings?