Office Flooring

I am just loving my new home office.  I usually work 45-50 hours a week, and at least 35 of those hours are here at home. Having the office complete and not being shoved into various holes around the house has really made me realize how your environment impacts what you do.
A big question mark for us as we made decisions on this space was the flooring.  Since I work so much from home, it’s vital to have a flooring that will hold up.  At the old house, we did a berber, but after less than a year, it was showing wear, so I got one of those plastic things for under the chair.  I’d always catch the wheels of the chair on it, which I found irritating.

Options:

Tile – but I didn’t want to bump across that, either and the office is in a basement, so I was worried about the cold.  Couple that with the fact that Ryan JUST finished tiling the Family Room Bar, Bath and new hallway, he wasn’t super keen on the idea either.

Stained Concrete - as I researched it, I realized the amount of work involved in that.  And while an inexpensive option as compared to others, the cost still adds up, and there are maintenance issues, too. 

Laminate Flooring - This looked like our best option: at about $4-$6 a square foot, I could roll around on this floor to my heart’s delight. One problem, I didn’t love the look. 

Engineered Wood Flooring - Cost: $6-$11 a square foot.  Can lay right down on my basement floor and is real wood.  In fact, some of these products can be refinished up to 3 times because it’s real wood on top of the manmade product.  Downsides?  The price is going up AND now I have to be careful with my chair.

We had been checking out the products at various stores when we stopped in at Big Bob’s.

We started looking at the wood products, and then found CARPET! Specifically Carpet Squares that are used in Commercial Office Space!  Cost: .99 – 1.99 a square foot!  woo hoo! 

In addition to solids, there were plenty of other options.

   

And we went with this.  In person it looks like a nice wool rug.

Installation? Super easy.  We laid it all out and cut our squares before putting it down. Next, roll on some sticky adhesive – use very little – wait about 45 minutes and then stick the squares down.  The squares don’t slide around, but can be pulled up, repositioned and even replaced.  It looks great and feels better!  We will use this when we finish the kid’s room.  It would be great in a lot of places.  It took us about three hours to complete.  See more the final pics here.

Linked to Remodelaholics.

The Office and a Major Award

Okay. First things first.

I won a Major Award! I think it may be our shared secretive geekiness, but Bub at I'd Like To Hold a Tarantula (who, BTW, cracks me up) awarded me this.

Thanks!

There are some rules involved in my acceptance of this Major Award, which I fully intend to follow, but I have to share the Office NOW! Thus, I will devote my next post to my Major Award. (also allowing me to discuss my Major Award again.)

For today, on to the OFFICE!

Remember, we had unfinished basement that became this.



And now THIS!



and THIS!



and THIS!



and THIS!



After we replace Ryan's chair in the Family Room, his chair will move to the Guest Room and replace a Wing Back Chair, which will fill this corner along with a side table. But, that will have to wait.

We also made this



There were four separate metal squares from Old Time Pottery - $4.99 each. I brought them home and Ryan riveted them together. I couldn't find any cute magnets, so made these out of magnet tape and doodads I had around. It works great, and I really like it!

And now, instead of looking at a furnace, I get to look at this!



Much nicer.

Ryan finished tiling and grouting the hall extension today, so we can call the carpet guy to finish all that up. Then we just need to hang doors and trim and get a few more accessories for the office and then this project will be complete.

It's so nice to have the office clean and functional. oh....and I do still need to organize....well, it might happen - right?

Linked to MetMon at Between Naps on the Porch
and
FIF!

I may be the only one that cares

WARNING! Computer Geekery and Cabling Follow.

My KVM Extender came! My KVM Extender came!

NOTE: KVM stands for Keyboard, Video Display (or Monitor) and Mouse

It was last Friday. The UPS guy dropped it off 20 minutes before we were supposed to head to Grand Lake for a family reunion. No time to hook it up. GRRRRRR! We got home Monday evening and then I got SLAMMED at work. Double GRRRRRR!

But, with Tanner's help and patience, everything is now hooked up. And, while we are still having technical difficulties, it's a dream.

This is the KVM extender after I unpackaged it. I think it's really cool.



Turns out you can also use this to have TWO KVM stations running off of one PC - One could be in the kitchen and one could be anywhere you could get the wire to--as long as it's less than 328 feet. Neat, but, that's not how we used it.

I set up the keyboard, monitor and mouse on my desk and plugged them all into the REMOTE piece of the extender, which I placed Under the desk.



The Orangey-yellow Cat5 cable runs through the wall and to the closet--like the red line depicted here:(The blue lines are supposed to be the cable and telephone lines coming from the street.)



The orangey-yellow Cat5 plugs into a LOCAL piece of the Extender, which looks almost identical to the REMOTE piece.

A cable runs out of the LOCAL piece that plugs into the KVM ports on the back of your computer OR, in my case into this KVM Switch.



The KVM switch allows me to use the same Keyboard/Monitor/Mouse for two different computers. I just have to switch between computers, so I can't be using them at the same time. (but they can be on at the same time.) Out of the KVM switch comes TWO cables, which each have plugins for the Keyboard/Monitor/Mouse. I plug one into my home computer and one into my Work Computer...sort of.

Because my work computer is a laptop, (and I don't do well typing on the laptop keyboard and I need a larger monitor) I actually plug the second KVM cable into a Port Replicator. This is it.



The port replicator has the KVM cables and my work printer all plugged into it, and then ONE USB cable comes out of it. That USB cable plugs into my Laptop. (I have the same Port Replicator in my other office.) Like this:



This means, when moving between offices, all I have to do is plug the Laptop into Power and one other cable, rather than all the cables that go into the Port replicator. It just makes things a little easier.

Here's a rough drawing of it all.

Red = Cat5
Pink = USB Cable
Purple = KVM Cable
Blue = Telephone cable (the red cable to my work phone is correct, it's a VOIP phone)
Brown = Cable cable



wow. If you made it this far, drinks on me! But, totally worth it. Right?

Now ALL that crap is in the CLOSET! YAY! And I have no crap on my desk.

Note to Bub: Don't say it!!!!!

Done with the Geekery!

Pretty pictures in next post.

I promise!

Another post about Extensions, this time the KVM kind

I look at all those fabulous offices in Ballard Designs and such; how do they do it? I'm not talking about the design, which is gorgeous.

I'm talking about where do they put all their crap?



First the books.

They have the attractive, leather bound kind.

I have the dog-eared-neon-yellow-Dummies Guide to SQL or the Fat Spiral Gregg Reference kind. Not to mention the mismatched-Binder-holding-various-reports kind.

Computer Equipment.

They have a laptop. Or, at the most, a monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I have two printers, a fax, a scanner, the modem and router, the PC, a laptop, an adding machine, home phone, VOIP work phone, port replicator, and of course the keyboard, mouse and monitor.

The Decor.

They have Giclee prints, handcrafted acanthus message boards and animal print file folders

I have sticky notes, manilla folders and arts & crafts created by my children.

The MONEY

They have $129 to spend on a desk organizer.

I have a house payment.

The REALITY

I can't do much about the money, BUT, I am working on the hiding of the crap.

First, Ryan built a closet in the office where I planned to house the printers, scanners and such by running USB cables through the wall by the desk into the closet to connect everything. Except, a USB cable max length is 16.4 feet. I need 20-25 feet. My first reaction was "well, shit."

Now there are ways to extend the cable, yes, however, we found an even BETTER solution.

A KVM extender! Just over 100 bucks at monoprice.com.

It allows you to plug your Keyboard, Monitor and Mouse into a little box. Attached to that little box is a CAT 5 cable - technical maximum length 328 feet! You run that cable to another little box (Mine will be inside the closet). Out of THAT little box are the Keyboard, Monitor and Mouse cables, which you then plug into your PC - OR, in my case, into a KVM switch, which allows me to use my Keyboard, Monitor and Mouse for either my PC or my laptop, using a keyboard hot key to make the switch. (Scroll Lock, Scroll Lock, Down Arrow).

Here's my fancy interpretation of how the KVM extender works.



Why am I so handspring-happy about this - aside from my natural geekish tendencies?

This means ALL my crap will be IN THE CLOSET! On my desk will only have to be Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor, the first part of the KVM extender, my adding machine, my work phone and my home phone. That's it! WAY cool. Almost like the fancy office people's homes in the Designer Photos.

Monoprice sent me an email and said the extender shipped yesterday! I hope to have it before Friday. And will be sure to share all my wiring.

tee hee! I'm loving it!

Hi Ho! Hi Ho!

I am sitting in the new office on the computer! It's still not all set up, but will be VERY soon!



First, just let me tell you...

I ran across THIS desk at Cargo Largo.

List price $1,573. Can be had all over the web for $1,099 plus shipping.

Cargo Largo price? $499

The desk is HUGE. 68 1/4" wide by 32" deep.

And I like to spread out. (Which is a nice way of saying I am a slob with poor organization skills and my crap is all over the place.)

SO! I went home to measure and although I LOVED it and LOVED the price, I was concerned that it was just a bit too big.

bummer.

We kept shopping, but could find NOTHING in the right size/quality/look for the price I wanted to spend, which, unfortunately was now $499 because of the Cargo Largo desk.

We visited nine furniture shops,including Cameron's (where we did buy two pillows and an end table.)


No Luck.

Getting tired, we decided to head back to Cargo Largo for one last look.

Cargo Largo's selection changes quickly from day to day, and we were hoping they had more options for us.

The stars aligned, the angels sang and-because we were in Independence-to paraphrase our 33rd president, Harry S Truman - "the buck stopped there!" Guess what!?!?! The desk was marked down to $349. It's mine, all mine.

Ryan called Sweet Bob, and the two of them - in one manly move - got the desk out of the truck, around the back, through the door and into the office. And it fits perfectly.

And now I am waiting on a KVM extender to clear up the clutter.

That's right! Check back tomorrow for the techie details OR skip the techie stuff and wait for the pretty pictures, which will be coming very soon!

So close, yet so far away.....

A close friend's father passed away, leaving more important matters ahead of the soon-to-be-glorious office.

AND the week has filled up FAST! This is my "to do"/"get to do" list for the rest of the week:

1. go desk shopping



2. reschedule my missed hair appointment.

Dear Marsha,
I and my roots apologize...

3. Tomorrow and Thursday - Work in the office.

I love meetings!

4. Thursday night - go to Starlight for The Producers

5. Friday night - SeeBig Head Todd and the Monsters with the BODEANS!!!!! at Grinders

6. Saturday DAY - Shop for BABY clothes for seeing the !!BABIES!! at Grand Lake over Labor Day


7. Saturday NIGHT - See Paul play in Tonganoxie

8. Sunday - Move into the new OFFICE. hope, hope and fingers crossed!

So, there you have it. Only one full week behind!

The best laid plans of mice.

Don't Panic.

I can almost taste it!

Friday Night we put the carpet down!

Then Saturday while I painted this



Ryan and Tanner hung doors, put up the ceiling fan, installed the baffles, and finished up the electricity.

And check out the new hallway to the Office. This is before. Please note the empty blank wall to the right of the Entertainment Center.

And now the fantastic arched doorway with lighted sconce leading to the almost finished office.

Oh BABY! I could be in it by tomorrow!

Once upon a time, in an unfinished basement far away...

It's getting exciting around here! At least for me.

I have a full-time job where I am fortunate to work from home about 70% of my time. Before we moved, I had a great home office that was PERFECT. In the new house, there have been so many MUST DO and REALLY MAKES MORE SENSE TO DO projects that we kept putting off finishing a space for the office. And, because of my work, I need to be behind closed doors; thus, I have been working in different parts of the Unfinished basement.

Right now I am shoved into the room with the Furnace and Hot Water Heater. It's MAYBE 4 1/2 feet deep, so I keep banging into the door knob behind me. Here! I just swiveled around in my chair and took pictures to the left and right, front and rear.



Go ahead Fergie, say it! It's G-L-A-M-O-R-OUS! But not much longer!

What was Unfinished basement became this:



Then THIS!



Pete (our FABULOUS mud and tape guy) completed the drywall finish today and Harper and Savannah volunteered to help me with some painting. These wonderful ladies did almost ALL of the Wall priming. Thanks, ladies!



It shouldn't be much longer!