22 May What’s a Pocket Office?

Residential design’s latest trend is the pocket office – a small space dedicated to paying bills, working the family budget, and some online activities.

They’re called pocket offices because they are roughly half the size of a formal home office. They’re also set up in high traffic areas where family members typically spend their time and interact. Many times they take the form of an alcove between the kitchen and great room or den.

There are a couple of reasons why full-sized home offices may not make sense in today’s homes:

Technology on a diet – from desktops to laptops to tablets, we no longer need huge rooms to house our main means of communication with the outside world. Gone are the days of separate computers, fax machines, and phone systems in the home office setup.

Boomerang Millennials – spare bedrooms that use to be converted to home offices are now being kept in tact for returning college kids that can’t quite make it on their own yet. Moving back home is an unfortunate side effect of the real estate slump that hasn’t quite been eliminated yet.

Where is the technology center in your home? Do you have a pocket office, or a place that acts as one? Share your comments below!