Home offices getting an upscale makeover

 When executives telecommute, they do it in style, from homes offices complete with 300-bottle wine cellars, custom-built desks and interiors modeled after yachts. The home office is no longer a cluttered corner with a fax machine, but a “recreational status symbol.”

Nationwide, home offices are regularly ranked one of the most popular “special function” areas in the home, according to American Institute of Architects Data Citied By The Wall Street Journal. In fact, the swanky home office is so popular that Toll Brothers, the largest luxury home builder in the U.S., now adds an enclosed study to all of its single-family houses, representing a 90 percent increase from a decade ago, according to Tim Gehman, head of Toll Architecture’s design branch.

Gehman added that home offices also tend to get a “showcase spot” by the front entry. “Studies have increased in importance,” he told the Journal.

But home offices tricked out with hundreds of leather-bound, gilt-edged books, antique guns mounted on the wall, or Brazilian cherry flooring with maple-inlay aren’t all about business. These offices are also about entertainment and relaxation. “It’s a lifestyle room,” for getting together with friends, Charlotte Jensen, a San Diego interior designer, said. [WSJ] –Christopher Cameron