Linda from The Smarter Home Office's Profile

I second Mike_in_Hawaii. Food-based oils sound eco-friendly, but they will get rancid over time. I would hate to see anyone put in a lot of time and energy on refurbishing an old piece of furniture and then have it "go off" on them.

It is so easy to forget that a home is for living, not for storing your stuff.

I don't understand what part of "do" the two upholstered chairs are for in the laundry/office "do" room. Perhaps to sit and watch the laundry get clean and dry? That space could be used for a large table so work and crafts could be spread out, instead of being squeezed into tiny desk tops in the closets.

I would have to classify all these offices as "looks beautiful, not functional."

Great post, but I would like to amend the suggestion for #4 Lighting. Not depending on ceiling lighting is a good idea but supplementing them with a standard desk lamp is not the best choice.

Looking at the lighting photo here shows the shadows created by the overhead ceiling lighting - not good. It also shows the small glaring area of light on the desktop created by the desk lamp - also not good.

Solution: Use a table lamp with a translucent white or off-white shade. The shade will gently diffuse the light and give you a bigger spread of light that will cover most of your desk top. Thus avoiding eye strain fatigue headaches. If your style is simple or minimalist, there are well designed simple table lamps out there.

Removing the corner shelf and wallpaper is a good start. Since the corner is really inaccessible it would be hard to use for storage or seating. You might want to paint the brick the same color as the wall and place a good quality silk plant or tree in it. A SILK plant because the space probably has little light and is close to the radiator. The brick planter is not attractive enough to play up and you want to visually simplify that area..

"What if one peson wants to watch TV while the other one wants to sleep".

How about the TV watcher going into the living room to watch the TV there - with headphones so the volume as loud as they want and headphone leakage won't add to the light flicker of the sleeper.

Mark has a very sophisticated eye. This is a great assemblage of vintage colors.
One tip I didn't see and was probably taken for granted: Always, always make your final color selection in your home and not in the paint store. The lighting and sunlight in your home cam make colors look very different. This is called "metamerism".

Typingn-

You are smart in going vertical for your landing strip. Here are some ideas for stylish hooks and shelves with links to where you can buy them: http://www.thesmarterhomeoffice.com/2012/4-home-office-launch-pad-ideas-organization-for-business-on-the-go/ <href>

This is where you can be creative and have fun.Good Luck in your new home.

Linda

This home is charming and modern at the same time. I wish the 4 photos of the technology had been used for more pictures of the interiors.

Great information! I like the fact that you mentioned holding the paint swatches vertically. Everyone's first impulse is to hold it flat - horizontally - which does not give a true paint color reading.