words and photos by: Scot Zimmerman
There comes a time in every man’s life when it all catches up with him. It sounds like a plot line for a novel, but actually, it’s my office. I’m practiced at looking over and through the stacks and piles, but it has reached a point that I’m admitting it’s time to start the cure; my office is a mess.
So this week, I have gone through my photos and am featuring inspiring home offices. The kind of offices that you say, “Sure, just stop by my office,” instead of, “Can we meet somewhere? I’ve got some construction going on at the office.”
I photographed Michael Upwall’s own home office for Utah Style and Design. I really like how the office space has its own distinct identity with the open ceiling and brickwork, but it opens to the home so while in the office, one could feel part of the home environment and not in work jail.
I find oriented strand board to be a beautiful material although it is usually a base layer or painted. The strand board on the walls, ceiling and floor remind me of a burrow in a tree with the glass wall at the end of the room. I like the connection with the outdoors, the bright green of the door moldings, and the red light fixtures, and I could benefit from the overall effect of “get down to business.”
Julie Chahine designed this loft office space for her own home in Park City. The purity of the white space and the symmetry are really pleasing to me. I also like the surface space provided by the U-shaped desk design. If I had this space I would have to fight the temptation to fill work area with model Land Rovers in my attempt at décor.
I really like storage walls in kitchens, and here Greg Hodgson introduces a storage wall to a home office. The bottom section is rollout file drawers and there are ample cabinets for office supplies.
Architect and interior designer Robert McArthur kept the home quality alive in this home office. In a remodel of an older home, he maintained the room’s beautiful historical elements. There is still a clean efficiency about the space.
Ezra Lee’s own home office is near the entry and at a strategic location to keep an eye on his young children. To the rear of where I am with the camera is a private patio. The wood slat floor is recessed in the concrete so the chair rolls easily and the desk with its waterfall edge is anchored to the floor.
This office can easily double as a small sitting room and is perfect when people need to stop by for a meeting. The art, mobile, and sculpture are wonderful, but my eye goes to the views out the corner windows to the hills of Kayenta. Ashley Johnson says that after a rain, waterfalls run down the hills.