office space in main living area?

I used to. I used a bookcase to "divide" off a corner of my living room for a computer desk, and then a divider I used as a "wall" for another corner for a scrapbook area. I liked it, made the living room seem more cozy and useable.
My office area is in the kitchen now. No hiding my paper issues there. lol

DH's office space is in our dining room. It is an awful situation, but the only one available to us in our very small house. It is the hub of our house with doors on all four walls- french doors to the side of the house, wide opening to the living room, hallway door, and door to the kitchen. The room itself is only about 14x14. As it is, we have to scuttle around our tiny dining table to get anywhere in the house.

We are looking into having a built-in set up along one wall, possibly with fold down desks so that the clutter at least, can be hidden behind doors. We would use the same firm who made our kitchen cabinets and would have them made to coordinate. When we move or remodel, the build in would function as a buffet in the future.

I've found Houzz to be a great resource.

We have TWO desks in our dining room, which, like gorgeouskid's, is the hub of our house. They are both wood-grain in appearance, so they look like furniture. My DH's desk is along the window wall, and he keeps his laptop open on it. My desk is on the short side wall next to the door to the kitchen, so I can hear a timer or quickly take a break while dinner is simmering. My desk has a hutch, and I have photos and decorative objects on the top. There are four small cabinets and two drawers for storage, plus several open shelves. We can't avoid clutter, but we try to straighten up the desks before company comes. Part of DH's desk can also be used as a sideboard for dessert plates, cups and saucers, etc, when we have guests for dinner. We live here ALL the time, and guests visit somewhat rarely, so we feel entitled to make the best use of the space to suit our own needs. Besides, now that we're both retired, it's kind of nice to sit near each other, often in companionable silence, while we read or work.

Yes, we have a house that has a living room & family room (1980's house). So we turned one of the rooms into an office. The office is completely open to the front door and dining room. It's furnished with all IKEA, lots of drawers & doors so everything is out of sight when not in use. I still need to finish the space with a rug & other accents, but the big pieces are in place.

Here is my pinterest office board.  I combined a bunch of these ideas to come up with my space.
Office Board

This is our place.

I have my main workstation in our living room. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to "see" my family a lot of days during busy seasons. I like it because this way, I am still involved and listening to things that are going on, not stuck by myself in a room. I do graphic design, and the hub bub of the kids doesn't distract me.

to store the things I need right there, I have the upper part of a hoosier cabinet like this (but no glass- the doors are solid wood)on top of a desk my husband built and stained to match. my computer monitor fits in the roll-up cabinet portion, I keep labels and swatch decks in the upper center cabinet, cameras, memory cards and misc. USB cords plus a smaller selection of paper for making samples fits in the shelves inside the rightcabinet. in the left is the flour dispenser, so I can't store much except some cds and dvds for software and tax stuff, just thrown in there on top.

we use the bottom portion of the hoosier cabinet as a shipping station, the enamel top is great for wrapping things on.

I have this armoire in my family room . It is suppose to hold a tv and all its components but as we have a wall mounted tv, it wasn't needed for that purpose. I didn't want to get rid off it though so I use it for my workspace. It works well - I put in some LED lights from Lee Valley Tools (really easy to install!!) and I picked up some photo boxes from Michaels (5 for $10!), added a desktop file holder, a magnetic bulletin board from IKEA, some round cork heat pads from the dollar store and I made a padded ribbon board to cover up the back where all the holes for the wires are cut out. The desktop part is the perfect height for a kitchen stool. I love it - I can shut the doors and hide the mess away in a second.

(This isn't a picture of my armoire - I thought I had pics of it all decked out but I can't seem to find them. If interested, I can take some pics of mine later today and post them.)

 

Thanks. My mom took it of me she I was about three. One of my first memories was that swing in Mendocino.