A top-of-the stairs landing morphs into a dynamic home office.

Written by Geri Boesen. Produced by Carol Schalla. Photographs by King Au.

Home Office

(ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: MAY/JUNE 2005)

I'LL ADMIT IT. I'm organizationally challenged. I frequently misplace car keys, and birthday cards get sent late (my family says their birthday "season" is over when they get a card from me). So it's no surprise that when my husband, Frank, and I remodeled our Des Moines house two years ago, I had a great space for a home office, but no real plan on how to make it work. A 7x16-foot nook at the top of the stairs has windows facing west and sits right off the master bedroom and upstairs laundry. We envisioned this second-floor space as a light-filled, stylish area that could be a home office and more, a place that could accommodate work, paying bills, sorting clothes and surfing the web. I also wanted plenty of storage (most of it hidden), so that a new family hub wouldn't become a family heap.

So what could I do? I worked with Midwest Living Senior Home Editor Carol Schalla to design a home office. The stylish, functional results are great, (though the birthday-card thing is still an issue).

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