Next-Generation Design

Cyber Spaces
As kids spend less time outdoors and more time on YouTube, parents find ways to make the computer part of the family—and the décor.

By Brittany Jasnoff

Kathy and Brian Hines first tried plunking it down on a small desk in the kitchen, then tucking it away in an armoire in the family room. But they couldn't find a spot where they and their three children could harmoniously share the computer. It took a renovation to their shingle-style Manchester-by-the-Sea home five years ago to create exactly the right space: a home office situated between the kitchen and the family room.

The couple's decision to create a tech hub for their family reflects an increasingly common choice in home design. According to a report last fall in the New York Times, almost three-quarters of American youngsters are accessing the Internet not from their rooms, but from a communal area like the kitchen or living room. From a parent's perspective, building a computer workspace into this kind of high-traffic spot can not only help make the Internet part of a family's day-to-day life, but also offer the ability to keep a (discreetly) watchful eye on kids' online activities.

For the Hineses, the ideal solution took the form of a 12-foot U-shaped mahogany desk, installed by Universal Builders of Beverly and located in a bright, bay-windowed nook of the office. Two computers, two chairs, and—for extra comfort—heated stone floors from Tile Showcase completed the setup, which solved two problems at once: It created a large enough area so that two or more family members could comfortably work at the same time, and it allowed Kathy and Brian, who hired Beverly design firm Siemasko + Verbridge for the project, to monitor everyone's computer use from a respectful distance. "Because the desk is U-shaped, the kids didn't feel as if I was looking over their shoulder," Kathy says. "But if I'm working on the computer at night and my youngest son is doing his homework next to me, he's close enough to ask questions."

As part of a recent renovation to their Weston home, Carey and Craig York-Best were also bent on having their computers be out in the open. They opted for a bit more of a dividing line between grownup and kid territory, though, via two desks incorporated into the new family room—a freestanding one for their three young children, and a built-in for Carey. "Their desk is close enough to my own and to the kitchen that with a quick glance from either location, I can tell what they're doing on the computer," says Carey.

Overseeing the renovation was Boston-based ThereDesign, whose founder, Katy Flammia, has firsthand experience with this type of layout challenge: She and her own daughter share a built-in desk that's tucked into an entry-area alcove in their Brookline home. "We can pass by and see what's on, ask questions, and play games with her," she says. "Also, we know exactly when it's been a bit too much time online for the day."

Putting this kind of extra effort into designing a comfortable, useful computer setup for the whole family can pay out lasting dividends, too. Even though two of the three Hines children have now ventured out of the nest for boarding school, their mother says, they haven't stopped using the communal desk, often setting up laptops there when they come home. "When they were younger, we didn't allow them to have computers in their rooms," Kathy says. "Now they don't like to work in their rooms."

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