Ideas for Keeping Computer Equipment off Limits

I'm w/Elena:
Regular desk w/drawers that have a lock

My old boss built a cover for their computer desk that hid the monitor on the floor. It was simply a wood door he built w/hinges attached to the desk

You can put a fake cover around the monitor to hide it. Something similar to those things they put over radiators in apartments in a big city. Or put a tiny desk top 3 tier shelving unit in front of it like a fake facade. Put it down on the ground when you need to use the monitor. Keyboard can go in the top drawer.

you can lock the computer itself....put a password on the computer and no one can get into it without it.

I've been working at home 3 days a week since my youngest was born (the older kid were 2 and 8) and my husband works from home as well. Keeping them away from our equipment has never been an issue and we don't even have a dedicated office space. My husband has a regular old desk in our family room where his computer, monitor, files, desk phone and printer are. I work totally on a lap top now which is on the kitchen table. They just know to not touch our equipment, ever.

I think the secretary desk is a great idea and it's good that you're thinking ahead, but it might not be that big of a deal anyway. Presumably you lock your screen every time you walk away from your computer so the biggest hazards are physical. Just make sure that you properly back up your files frequently and don't allow anyone to bring snacks or drinks anywhere near where your computer is. Keyboards are super-cheap so I don't worry about those too much and monitors aren't a big expense either. In my job, the data on my laptop is many times more valuable than the equipment itself, so just make sure that you have everything secured and backed up in case of an accident at home.

You might be surprised at how easy it is to keep him away. I've worked from home since before my girls were born and they've never messed with my office equipment. As soon as they could understand, I made it clear that that stuff wasn't for playing with, and they lost interest. I've got two flatscreen monitors, a printer and a laptop and when I am done with work for the day I just push everything to the back of the desk (it's basically just a counter) so that little fingers can't touch it by mistake.

i would add a lock to the doors that requires a key.

What about an ordinary desk with a drawer that locks, one that slides out from beneath the desk top? You could simply put the keyboard in the drawer and lock it. Hang the key on a hook that is not visible to your ds. Without a keyboard, a desktop computer is pretty useless.

We looked at that secretary desk at Ikea for exactly the same purpose when DD was litte - turns out the "desk" part of it that folds down so you can work on it is super flimsy and wouldn't last a week in my house. I love Ikea, half of my furniture is from there, but this isn't one of their strong products.
We just resorted to placing the computer and all cords neatly in the back under the desk (less enticing) and making it clear that Daddy's desk if absolutely off limits. A week of being super consistent with it and she got the idea.
Good luck.

You can get creative and make a home office in a closet, I've seen it done a lot of times, then you can lock the door when not in use.

As for IKEA's desk, here is one review on it:
http://ellaprettyblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/design-project...

There are a lot of computer armoirs out there.