Office sweet office

Style need not be sacrificed for efficiency if you work from home. Rosalind Russell advises

Like many other parents, Zerbanoo Gifford was thrilled when her elder son went off to university. As a writer and charity worker, she was also very pleased to reclaim his bedroom in the Victorian family house in Harrow on the Hill and turn it into an office. When young Gifford comes home for Christmas, he will have to share his room with his mother's computer, fax machine, printer and desk. And, during the daytime, possibly a charity volunteer or two.

Builders and developers are taking seriously the predictions that by the turn of the century, more people will be working from home. Even some of the cheaper houses now being built have a small study. And buyers who have no intention of leaving the security of a company pension are flattered by the notion of needing a study at home. In older properties, though, most people have to make do with the spare bedroom.

There is so much demand for home-office equipment which sits happily with domestic furniture, that storage-product firm The Holding Company has just opened a new Home Office extension in their King's Road, Chelsea store. A range of German-made desks can be supplied in any paint colour a car comes in, from aubergine to orange, to fit in with any home colour schemes.

"Even if people don't work at home full time, they have computers or they work weekends, but they don't want traditional office products in their homes. Ours are very homely," says Boston-born Dawna Walter, who launched the store two years ago after moving into her new husband's London mews home and finding there was nowhere to store her 45 pairs of shoes.

With the zeal of an evangelist, she set about designing all sorts of cupboards, boxes, trolleys and shelves which have been so woefully missing from the average British home. Now, she says with deep satisfaction, 40 per cent of her customers are men. Attracted, one suspects, by the toys for boys, like the cord-control tube which allows wires from of hi-fis or computers to be tucked in at varying places. So instead of having a trail of spaghetti tangling behind the desk, there is one, neat tube (pounds 8.50).

A new Holding Company store will open in Glasgow before Christmas, with Dublin, Newcastle, Manchester and Leeds next in line. Any stray muddle makers not in the target areas can be mopped up by reading Dawna's book Organised Living, which is published at the end of this month by Conran Octopus.

The Nomad desk from the Holding Company's mail-order range costs pounds 275; a Club chair pounds 69. Modest prices, but still a luxury to a fledgling charity like Zerbanoo Gifford's Asha Foundation, which is raising funds to help street children in India.

"We're still working at tables and sitting on my dining chairs," says Calcutta-born Zerbanoo. "It's difficult to find office furniture that doesn't clash with antiques elsewhere in the house. Besides, I like to keep things simple. The less clutter you have, the more you get done."

A cheaper option would be the new storage range from Sainsbury's Homebase, pitched at the student market, but just as viable for anyone who works from home. A desk, in green, aqua or pine effect costs pounds 39.99, a matching mobile pedestal file pounds 34.99 and a swivel chair pounds 14.99. They're available until 20 October.

The Holding Company mail-order catalogue 0171-610 9160, or at 241-245 King's Road, London SW3 5EL; for Homebase stockists and availability call 0645 801800; Asha Foundation 0181-422 8556.