Challenge to budding designers - dining room/study/library - how could this work?

[outdressedlikethis]

We use our dining room about once a week, when we're feeling we ought to Have A Talk or when family/friends pile over. I want to turn it into an office/dining room, but I can't get my head around how it would work. We need at least one of two desks permanently in action.
I've surfed but only come across enormous American dining rooms owned by lawyers. Our room is more 14 by 11 ft.

When you say "desk" do you have to have a PC?

I don't have one of these (yet) but am plotting one, and I only use a laptop, so I am hoping that what will work in a typical Victorian or 30s house is:

• dining table in centre, or possibly against chimney breast if room not very wide
• shelving all along one/two walls (possibly built in) for books and files
• a few shelves out of the above to act as dumping area/in-tray/papers in use place
• dining table to be used only for laptop and only the books/papers/files being used at that moment. Which will OF COURSE be tidied away at the end of the day

But if you need PC workstations set up that is a little different. 14 by 11 is a good size though. You could have one wall covered with built-in bookshelves and including a built-in computer desk (either with doors or not). This would protrude a bit more than the shelves but look reasonably sleek if it was all of a piece with them.

Laura Ashley have extending console tables that fold length-wise. So for most of the week they're a narrow table against the wall, and then they pull out into a dining table when you want to use it.

mto.lauraashley.com/furniture/cabinet/3332669/confirmation/brompton-oak-extending-console

MadSleighyetgoodatdesign - I like those ideas. And I think I could be disciplined about the papers/books/files. I also need one permanent PC station for the chap and his proliferation of black boxes. It might work.

Daisy, thanks for the link. These are good ideas. Gets moving clothes on:-)

Lots of people under-use their dining rooms and they end up full of office/computer stuff as there is nowhere else to go. Don't use your dining table for work as you will end up with a messy office and unusable table. If you have a chimney breast and need two desks, I would suggest having something built into the alcoves which is enclosed behind closing cupboard doors.

Tbh, if you need a large office area, I would be tempted to turn the dining room over to that entirely and entertain your guests in the kitchen if there is room for a large table.

Agree with lala. Why not turn the fining took into a study cum library, with comfy chairs, books, a computer table etc.?

Don't see how it can be a dining room as well though...I personally would hate to have a meal looking onto computers and files etc.

Aargh autocorrect. Fining took? I meant dining room

We have a computer cupboard in the dining room - it closes up nicely when not in use and is no different from any other piece of furniture, but you can open it to use the computer (it has a pull out shelf for the keyboard).

Go with the alcove idea. Buy at least two very good sprung dining chairs which will give proper support if used as desk chairs. Ideally, have your dining table on casters so you can wheel it against one wall out of the way and then position it back for dinners.

Otherwise, go to an antiques saleroom and buy a half-height bureau or a full-height secretaire. They were traditionally placed in morning rooms and dining rooms, and used for writing letters and paying bills. Job done and hopefully historically accurate to boot.

Thank you everyone for these ideas. I will 'out' myself; we're house hunting and I'm trying to think myself around the fact that we can't afford as much space as would be ideal. (We've found a house with acres of space but it has its problems, that's another thread...) In any case, like Lala I think a dining room is often wasted space.
I also adore 1605's idea - let's go Regency. Emails can surely be dashed off, just as letters used to be? But we would need substantial filing space. So I think turning the whole thing into a study might be the way to go.

I was going to link to this prior to seeing 1605's idea. Its what I want when we have a bigger house and I can have my own little library [daydreams].

You can use them for filing (drawers below and some have shelves above) or tuck a full size filing cabinet elsewhere (under the stairs? Or if you get a house with a big kitchen, go for a kitchen-diner and use the dining room as a proper study. Benefit there being that its very hard to not eat at the table if you have to walk around it to leave the room.