Space--The Next Front.(home offices)(Brief Article)

Anyone who brings work home at night knows the feeling: dinner is over, the kids are in bed, but you just can't face the messy pit you call your home office. Trevor Hughes knew that phenomenon all too well. His work space was a cluttered, poorly lit corner of a guest room at his home in Maine. "The room was basically dysfunctional," says Hughes, an attorney and privacy expert. So he entered--and won--a contest by Logitech, a computer-peripherals maker. The prize: a $7,000 home-office makeover, including a host of new computer gizmos and some nice design flourishes.

A spiffed-up home office is a luxury that's fast becoming a necessity. The rise of the "free agent" lifestyle in the '90s created a home- office boom, and now cool gadgets are getting cheaper. Consultant Terri Lonier of Working Solo says too many home offices are thrown together without a plan. "You set up a table, put the computer on it and find a chair, but you never step back and say, 'Is this the best way it could be functioning?' "

Start with new technology. Flat-screen computer monitors have dropped below $400 in the United States and free up precious desk space. Wireless keyboard-and-mouse packages go for as little as $69 and eliminate desktop cord tangles. If space is really tight, consider a notebook computer. And trade up to DSL or a cable modem from a dial-up service.

Don't stop there. Paint the walls; move the desk toward a window. Add cheap shelving or cardboard file boxes to a closet. "The only things on the floor should be a chair, furniture and a wastebasket," says Neal Zimmerman, author of "At Work at Home: Design Ideas for Your Home ...