Building the Custom Home Office: Projects for the Complete Home Work Space (Paperback)

by Niall Barrett (Author) "YOU HAVE A LOT OF DECISIONS to make in setting up your home office..." (more)
Key Phrases: closed storage cabinets, tape cherry, cherry plywood, Sources of Supply, Other Materials Approximately, Lamello Duplex (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Given the amount of time we spend working, the successful design of a home office is critical, requiring the consideration of numerous factors, e.g., ergonomics, lighting, efficient use of space, and professional appearance. Barrett addresses these concerns in the first third of the text, devoting the remainder to the creation of a modular system of drawer cabinets, closed storage cabinets, shelving, desktops, and a "bridge" (a storage device evocative of the cubbyholes on a roll-top desk). The modular approach allows a great deal of flexibility, so these designs can be adapted to fit into any space and to meet specific individual needs. This and the section on office design separate this title from Danny Proulx's Build Your Own Home Office Furniture (LJ 12/01). Both are recommended, but if you have already purchased Proulx and can justify only one title on this subject, your patrons will still be well served.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
Everything a homeowner needs to know about designing a custom work space at home. Includes information on building home-office furniture, space planning and ergonomics, materials, lighting and computers. Featuring 12 projects, complete with measured drawings and cut lists.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Taunton; illustrated edition edition (February 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561584215
• ISBN-13: 978-1561584215
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #303,993 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic!, April 21, 2004

By	"angelintraining101" (Spring Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Hi to everyone interested. I want to let you know what a fantastic book this is. I just completed an entire office consisting of 10' desk with 2 sitting areas, a computer caddy, dual lateral file cabinets, two banks of drawers (5 drawers each), upper shelves above the file cabinets (hutch), dual printer cabinet and narrow shelves with lucite inserts. I have to say, it is beautiful. Now, for the best part. I had never touched a piece of wood in my life. I had not done any wood work at all. None, nada, zip.

After getting bids for my office in the 12K TO 13K range, I dediced to get some books to see if I could do it myself. I ordered The Custom Home Office: Building a Complete Workspace
by Niall Barrett along with 2 Danny Proulx books as well as others (6 total). I read everything and decided that I could do this. When I acutally got involved with the planning and design, it was Niall Barrett's book that lead me through. I used his book exclusively throughout. I purchased the tools he recommended, even my own table saw. I spent $1000 on tools and about $1500 on materials for a saving of nearly $10,000!!!

If anyone wants to see pictures of my office just to verify, you may email me at [e-mail].

To all other gals out there considering something like this....GO FOR IT!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good starting point, January 12, 2005

By	Andrew Violette "www.andrewviolette.net" (Hoffman Estates, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a great book for designing and building a home office solution. The cabinetry he builds in this book is what most people call European (or frameless) cabinetry. All the units are cut from plywood and edgebanded. The top and sides of the desk unit he builds are of a torsion box type construction. This is completely strong and imparts a modern, minimalist look. I like the way he used modern mounting hardware for the computer and desk drawer which elminates some of the more complicated parts of building a desk. One reviewer had problems getting the 32mm hinges: both Rockler and Woodcraft, among others, carry these products.

I am still in the planning stage with regards to my office, but I have built both frameless and face-frame cabinetry around my house and I have this to say: the pitfalls with European-style cabinetry is that the measurements have to be much more precise when building your cabinets because there is no way to dress up the edges. Also, unless your walls are completely flat and plum, there will be gaps where the units meet the walls (a good portion of this is solved in his design by developing that space as a place to put cords). This is no biggie, but if you want to use more traditional-style, built-in cabinets, I would suggest getting both Taunton's Workspace Idea Book and Jim Tolpin's Building Traditional Kitchen Cabinets (which you can adapt easily to office cabinetry).

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Close, but not perfect, September 22, 2003

By	Gawaine "gawaine" (Bristow, VA USA) - See all my reviews

The book does a great job of covering both ergonomics and the furniture building side of things. It includes plans for desk cabinets, book shelves, and desks that are actually sturdy enough to support a real monitor. We're still building out our home office, using the book, and have run into only a few frustrations.

It only falls short in a few ways. The worst problem is that some of the hardware that's needed is hard to find. The duplex hinges that are used for the cabinet doors are rare, and need to be mail-ordered from no-name specialty shops. It would have been helpful to have either had a web companion where you could buy the products, or to have had alternate plans showing more common alternatives, instead of using something that he's in love with.

I also would have liked to see, for each project, a cutting plan. Cutting plans were only supplied for the file cabinet and the bookshelves. Since we tend to get our wood rough-cut at the lumber yard, it helps to have something we can print out. It would also have been good for each project to have a list of the tools needed.