My favorite thing in our northwest suburban house is our home office next to our kitchen, where our dining room used to be. In 1992, we added onto our kitchen, making it large enough to accommodate large family dinners, making our formal dining room less necessary. Last year, in the dining room, we installed long, custom-sized wood worktops supported by attractive matching wood storage units. My husband and I share one long worktop and each of our two elementary school-aged sons uses a corner unit.
Now, all the bills, papers, office supplies and school notes I had been storing in the kitchen drawers and cabinets for years finally have their own place. We are close to the boys to help with homework or oversee their computer use while preparing our evening meal. In the past, their homework was done on the kitchen table and they would have to move their work to their bedrooms when we needed the table for dinner. I like the fact that I can walk away from my paperwork and come back to find it undisturbed and not in anyone else’s way. Now a room we barely used has become a convenient refuge for all of us.
–Jayne Meschnig, Schaumburg
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Amy Capista-Meyer, a vice president for Shorewood-based Phoenix Developers, says the home office has been quite popular in new housing for some time, but has become even more sought after in the past four or five years.
“We almost always try to incorporate a first-floor den or office,” she said. Sometimes, room for an office is incorporated into a loft space.
Buyers who want to add an extra room to the floor plan should expect to pay about $10,000 for a 100-square-foot space, she said.
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