a floor plan showing doors, windows and dimensions including size of essential existing furniture would help and extra daylight could be provided with a DIY Solar Skylight (check major hardware stores for Illume and Arcol brands

can the desk be lined up along the other walls?...we need dimensions to be specific

there does seem to be enough room for a shelf above the screen but knowing my IT enthusiasts he may not use it anyway but, If the room can't be closed off try the Solar Skylight for extra daylight although he'll probably be happier with a better desk lamp consider a curtain to close off the mess and at least you know he's safe and happy at home in his IT nook

You hubby probably knows where everything is and doesn't consider it a mess. Can you put doors on the whole nook so that you can close it off when he's not in there?

All those ideas are great. If I was having this much trouble with my better half, I'd send him on an IT seminar for 3 days, do the work while he's away! Voila!

I couldn't stand to see that mess.

Sky tube it and enclose the space. There is room on that desk for all that stuff, put the monitor and printer on desk top, build some floating shelves and if you don't want to enclose the space, build a shelf on top of the wall, will still give you light. Put the CPU on the floor and cut a hole in the desk for all the wires and plugs. Nearly one whole shelf is just for powerboards. Might be time to call a sparky for a few extra power points! Good luck.

You have to get as much as you can off the desk. There are lots of solutions nowadays for hiding cables and putting printers in cupboards under the desk etc...Ideally your desktop should have 1 or more screens (if your hubby is an IT guy we are surprised that there are not 2 screens!) and the rest of the space is clear. Use the side wall to build in better storage. Good luck!

View the following for inspiration :) Study nook in a North Perth home

Remove red shelves and build in a wall of fitted shelving on that left hand wall, extending right in along the side of the desk. I notice the filing cabinets are at either end of the desk - can they be moved to the right hand end so as not to be blocking the storage area you will have created. In fact once you have the extra shelves you may be able to get rid of one of the filing cabinets.

Place the printer and extra equipment on the shelves where they cross the end of the desk, and you have all the rest of the wall for dedicated storage for books, files, rubbish bin, containers for EVERYTHING, appropriately labelled, this may help hubby to keep things tidier, eg a container for all the cords and connections, another for USBs, appropriately labeled, Lots of file boxes or other appropriate storage containers on the shelves.

Install plenty of electrical sockets, or fit that power board UNDER the desk, out of the way. A charging station would be useful.

Stack of fresh paper for the printer, bin for rubbish - having EASY access to EVERYTHING is the answer.

And yes, hide all those cables! Wireless gadgets if possible!

My desk has a half-depth shelf under it, in front of my knees, which has the printer and spare paper stacked on it. Works just fine, out of the way and accessible.

Hi Kathy Very helpful advice so far and isn't it wonderful having Houzz to get so many opinions. The Solar Tube is a good idea but we did it a bit different. We cut a 3' x 3' hole in the ceiling of the kitchen and the family room for the diffuser and changed the terra cotta tiles above each opening for glass tiles.Now at midnight with a moon we think we've left the light on. Good luck.

Part of the problem is all the darkness! Get rid of the red shelves, paint the filing cabinets white, and bring them out and park them along the left wall to form an L-shaped work station. The PC can sit on the floor behind them (under the desk) and the printer on top of one of them - easier to use the printer and read its display too!

I would put 2 wall mounted white bookshelves full length on the left wall, one to line with the wall opening and one 350 below that, which should give enough working clearance for the new desk return (the filing cabinets).

Leave the wall behind the desk totally uncluttered, or maybe with a skinny shelf returning at the low shelf level, at this height it shouldn't impede the screens. The low shelves can have an LED strip light under to provide concealed desk illumination.

Here is a bit of a mock up impression of what I was suggesting:

I agree take everything out and do away with all things "dark" introduce lights/skylight greenery and declutter........ if not used/looked at etc dispose of it!!

if light is a factor - forgetting the clutter etc, why not consider adding a Sheer or Net curtain rail from the ceiling and just pull it across when the study is not in use. The Sheerness of the fabric will still let the light through. Alternatively could you afford tinted glass doors, which allow you to close off the area but still allow all the light you need in the room.

Sounds to me as if the only problem here is HUBBY! If he is not prepared to consider any changes all you can do is close the door on him and leave him to his cluttered space!