Home Office
9 August 2010
As Sarah mentioned last week, my most recent project is building a new
home office. I've always wanted my own office space with a nice
desk and room for all my stuff. Currently my "office" consists of
a Walmart desk shoved in the corner of the master bedroom. It's
cramped and not very professional. A world famous Kona coffee
farmer such as myself needs a more professional work space. I
should be able to do business with customers and other coffee farmers
without having to worry if I've picked up my underwear or made the bed.
When I first built the barn, it was designed to have an office.
It was going to be an awesome office with its own bathroom, room for a
couch and even a little kitchen area for packaging coffee. I
think the space was a little too awesome because instead of an office
it has turned into a guest room. It's been great for visitors such as
family, friends and the occasional farm worker but I still need an
office space.
The original barn plans included room for future expansions so building an
entirely new office wouldn't be too difficult. In the end though,
I decided that I'd rather have my office closer to the house. The
office needs to be far enough out of the way that it's quiet but not so
far away that I can't hear when dinner is ready. Close enough to
be able to yell for Sarah to answer the phone would be ideal.
The final solution was to take over part of our wrap around deck.
That section of deck wasn't really being used for much anyways.
It's right off the master bedroom so it's still convenient but separate
enough to be its own space. It has its own door so I can invite
other farmers over without having to worry if I left my dirty socks
laying on the bedroom floor.
The space for the office is kind of an odd shape. It's long,
narrow and wraps around a corner. There are also two large
sliding glass doors that were removed. That left some gaping
holes in the wall that needed to be dealt with. I needed a way to
let light and air still get to the master bedroom while visually
separating it from the new office. The solution: a large
saltwater fish tank. At least that's the plan. Other
features include a second door out to a new porch next to the garden, a
giant bookshelf along one wall, and a model railroad around the
ceiling. And of course plenty of storage for all my other toys
and maybe some business stuff too.
For now, I'm concentrating on getting the room built. The basic
construction is done and I've started the finish work. I'm
building a large custom desk that will fill up two walls. By
building the desk myself, I'll get it exactly the way I want it.
Who knows, there may even be a secret compartment or two. I'll
never tell though.
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