Decorating and Design - Dining Room/Office Division

Hi! We had a decorator out who suggested we set up a better office situation for my work-at-home hubby by removing the living room (lr) furniture (lr is teensy weensy)--the lr is pretty useless as it is so small--as well as the secretary that he calls an office currently and having a desk on wheels made. Sounds great, and we're going to do it, but I'd like to also somehow "cut off" the dining room so that when he's working, my dh doesn't feel like he's still working out of the dr. We have a cathedral ceiling in there with a beam that goes across the ceiling, width-wise.

Question 1: should I somehow hang a curtain from the (2-story) ceiling to separate the office from the dr? Is there some other way to make the rooms separate but expandable (so that when I have our big Thanksgiving dinner, I can still use the area for our dr)?

Question 2: I currently only have one light--it's over the dr table, so when I do have large family dinners, there is no light over any but the main table. Track lighting might not be a good idea for formal dinners--any other suggestions that would stretch across the ceiling (somehow!!!) and still be over the office area (and I'm thinking it would need to be in sections so that not all lights would have to be on at once)?

Thanks!

Hi mmkrzus and welcome to DIY

There are lots of options available and as first approach, I'd suggest that you check the options at Ikea (http://www.ikea.com/)

In special, check the workstations

In my opinion, instead of removing the LR furniture, you should get furniture to hide / organize your husband's office
Look for the armoires' workstations--> with the open doors, they are complete desks / computer / file systems / light systems, etc.

As for the divisions, use small modules--> you can sctack them and fill them with books (even bussiness folders) and remove them for the family gatherings

Of course, I will be glad to provide some additional heklp if you can post some pictures
In order to set an image here follow these easy steps-->
1 - upload your picture to a free online photoalbum like Photobucket (http://photobucket.com/)or Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) , for example
2 - Look for the link of your picture (usually, photoalbums provide a "link for a forum" script) --> copy the full URL to the image, (not the page on which the image is located),
3 - In the DIY Forum--> Reply post or open a new post--> Press the 'Insert Image' icon above and paste the link--> or type before the URL and after it, ensuring that you do not have any spaces before or after the URL of the image

I think repurposing the living rm as an office is a good idea if you never use it as a living rm or gathering space. Sometimes the spaces in a house need to fit our need, not what they're called. As for a curtain between, I'd advise against it - it'll likely look odd.

I'd suggest a folding screen - they're not too expensive, are movable so that when you need more space in the dining room, it's an easy adjustment and it would block the messy office view. If the new 'office' will be fairly visible from pass by hall traffic or whatever, provide enough storage to keep as much clutter as possible hidden. Don't know what the advantage of a desk on wheels would be, but if it satisfies a need, go for it.

As for the lighting, that's a little trickier. There should be separate outlets in the living rm so that lighting there would have nothing to do with the dining room. Put a torchiere (floor lamp uplight) for good ambient light then of course a good desk lamp for task lighting. In the dining room I like to have my lighting on a dimmer to turn down the volume a bit during formal meals. How much longer is the table once it's all pulled out? Is the chandelier not over the center then? If that's the case, you might again use a torchiere or a couple of buffet lamps on a sideboard to bring light to that end of the room. Good luck - hope these ideas help.

Terrie

Hi Terrie,

I don't think this will work. --> according with the original post--> "should I somehow hang a curtain from the (2-story) ceiling to separate the office from the dr?"--> a sliding door for 2 levels will be heavy and will look odd

As for the lighting, remember that offices need ligh not only for desk task, but for general task, and the fixtures you sugeest will create shadows