There are things you should consider when creating a home office setup for remote working. Here's what I did.
@March 7, 2022 • 4 min read
Disclaimer: you will find Amazon affiliate link in this post. If you buy from it, you will offer me a beer, more or less, with no additional cost to you 👍
I decided to renovate my Home Office.
The 4 traits I focused on:
- increase comfort 💺
- improve sound experience 🔊
- look better during video calls 💅🏻
- reduce distractions ❗
This was the starting point.
A horizontal desk 160x60cm, an external monitor, keyboard and mouse. In this picture, you can see my old Surface 3 (I sold it) and my books and notebooks while studying for my degree.
The cons
- The chair did not have lumbar support.
- I could not lay my arms on the desk while typing, because the desk was not large enough: the keyboard was too close to the desk border.
- The keyboard was an old (but good) apple Keyboard with a Mighty Mouse.
- 🔊 I had no external speakers nor microphone, so my day was always wearing in-ear headphones (a Sony pair which I really love amzn.to/3pH7TwQ ).
- 💅🏻 I did have a lot of shadows and light coming from the left, making me not look good on the webcam.
- ❗The room was shared with my wife: her desk was on the opposite side of the room. but we had problems when we both attended meetings. Plus, we used that room as a closet so it was a bit messy.
Start renovating
We have a very spacious house (lucky us) so I was able to use part of our basement to create a private Home Office. The room is 3.80 x 2.80 mt and I started sketching a possible furniture disposition.
The most important part I focused on was the desk. I wanted a big corner desk with plenty of room to lay down my arms (45cm from desk border to keyboard) and the right distance to my monitors (60-70cm ready to migrate to a big curved one).
I wanted a library where I can show my Final Fantasy, Kingdom hearts and One Piece collections: manga, video games and action figures so I can turn off any background filter during video calls and anyone can get a glimpse of my passions. 🏯
I wanted to create an atmosphere where the white, wooden and green colors can mix and match to give me a relaxed, bright environment.
So I bought some SPC floor to easily install on top of the existing one: their click mechanism allowed me and my wife to do it on our own.
I looked on different second-hand sites and found my desk, wardrobe and library! There was a lot of fun renting a van with my wife and going to get all of them 🚚
New purchases
First of all, I bought a gaming chair. After countless reviews and going through stores, I found the best for my needs in a GT Player chair: amzn.to/34mU53m
Then, I wanted a portable mechanical keyboard with a numeric pad. I always spied on Keychron and in the end I bought a K4: amzn.to/3sWJVQB
I wanted a new mouse too, an ergonomic wireless one like the Anker I bought: amzn.to/3vL5nK6
I bought a transparent carpet to put under the chair in order to protect the new floor from the chair wheels: amzn.to/3tCu0pC
I already have a desk lamp I use to enlighten my face during video calls, here is the link: amzn.to/3vJx7P7
I bought 3 small plants: aloe vera, Ficus Benjamin and Lucky bamboo. They should help keep the air quality good.
Regarding lightning: for offices, it is advised to have 300-400 Lux per square meter. Simple math 400x11 = 4400 Lumen needed. I bought a lamp holder
.to/3Cm01Gn](
) with 6 LED bulbs 800 Lumen each
I chose a warm light as I find it more relaxing.
This is a bit of what the office looks like right now 😁
Still missing
- a microphone that makes me sound like a rock star 🧑🏻🎤🎙️
- external speakers that make my in-ear headphones not needed at all 🎶
- a fixed external webcam with higher definition 📸
- sound absorbing panels
- a big wide curved monitor (I think 1 big monitor may be superior to the 2 monitors setup)
- probably, an air conditioner as I think summer may be really hot
- a beautiful organizer like amzn.to/372JWcV
- some paintings