How to Set Up a Great Home Office

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view of home office with blue walls, bookshelves, desk, artwork, lighting and more

What makes a great home office? We've talked about this before, but as we've all had a bit more experience “upgrading” home offices, let's discuss! What have been your favorite “home office upgrades” you've made since the pandemic started? What do you miss most about your old office setup? 

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A Comfortable Office Chair

You absolutely need a great office chair if you're working from home all the time! Readers sang the praises of the Bret office chair (above) when we discussed it for a Coffee Break a few weeks ago. Of course, at the start of the pandemic we also rounded up the best office chairs for working from home as mentioned in a lot of reader threadjacks (many of them pictured below).

The reader favorite office chairs for women include Steelcase (Leap and Gesture), Herman Miller (Aeron size A and Sayl), and Branch. On the budget side, this Ikea chair has been a favorite for a decade, and I've also bought this under $50 option and liked it. Don't forget a floor mat!

How to Set Up a Great Home Office #2: Dual Monitors on Risers (or Books)

I've written before about why dual monitors are great — they've been a huge upgrade for me at home. I have both my monitors on these risers (so much space for papers beneath!), but as many readers noted you can also do books. I have two 27″ monitors, so it's a lot of space. 

A Printer

As I noted in our post on how to cut down on printing at home, I really, really hate printing at home. (I saw someone joke on Twitter recently that NO MILLENNIALS OWN PRINTERS SO STOP ASKING.) I get it, I really do — but I still think a basic printer is essential to have in your house. They're not that expensive, and if you need something scanned properly — or if you want to do a proper markup on paper — they really are essential.

We upgraded recentlyish (2018) to a printer that works with AirPrint/Google CloudPrint, and it's been a big improvement — there's something great about being able to print that random kid permission slip or whatever from bed and then see it the next morning and be able to pick it up. Also, if you have multiple people working in the house, it's great to prevent people having to interrupt your computer work “just to print something.” 

This is the printer we have (not pictured) but it's sold out now; I've heard great things about the HP one above.

The biggest cost consideration with a printer is ink, so don't forget to factor that in! If you're a Costco member you can check about their refillable ink programs; there are also the newer low-cost ink programs. (This PC Mag article looks great for assessing whether one of those programs makes sense for you.)

An Ergonomic Keyboard

I looove my Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard — the split keyboard and comfy wrist cushion are really comfortable for me. I got it a while ago because I kept getting aches and pains in my thumb, so I was upgrading all of my ergonomics. When I saw a doctor about it, though, some scans found that I just had arthritis in my thumb, which apparently is really common. (YAAAAY.) Still, since using this keyboard my thumb has barely ached at all, so I do think ergonomics played a big part in it.

This option is a wired one if you prefer that to Bluetooth.

{related: better ergonomics at the office}

Under Your Desk: Slings, Stools and More (Oh My)

I bought this foot hammock (pictured) on a friend's recommendation, but haven't installed it yet — I've also used a child's stool (like the ones from Ikea) or a packed banker's box. I haven't liked the actual products I've bought for under the desk, like this one (which for some reason I've apparently bought twice!).

A Plant

It's really nice to have a plant in your office, whether it's real or fake. I recommended the pictured fiddle leaf fern branch last week.

Whenever I get flowers from my husband I always cut one or two and put them in bud vases by my monitor.

(Amazon has many bud vases, but after a lot of trial and error I'd recommend opaque bud vases rather than clear — it's just too hard to clean the clear ones so they don't look cloudy.) 

A Well-Lit Space: Task Lamps and More For Your Desk

I recommended this LED light for a dark office corner the other day, but there are a lot of ways you can go, from adding task lighting to fancier overhead lighting to even adding sconces near your workspace. They can be a great way to add personality, some design chic, and improve your experience working from home.

Personality Infusion: Artwork For Your Office

As we noted in our post on decorating office walls, this is a great way to infuse personality into your office! We've also covered 7 great places to get art for your office and home

Ideal Office Upgrade: Faster, Reliable WiFi

Wirecutter recommends either a fancier router or a mesh network like Orbi (but not both). If you've upgraded recently, what did you choose — and what changes in your WiFi have you noticed? 

Ideal Home Office Upgrade: A Zoom View

Whether it's a beautifully styled bookcase, a large plant, a piece of art — or all of the above! — a great view behind you can be important for the Zoom calls of today (and even more so if you've got interviews, court appearances, or other video calls scheduled at home)! 

But obviously, this is a “wish list” item rather than a “must have.”

Readers, what is your workspace at home like? What upgrades have you made since the pandemic started? What are your best tips for how to set up a great home office? 

Stock photo at top (blue-walled office) via Stencil.

22 Comments

  1. Has anyone here bought a Nintendo switch recently? I’ve been trying to get one for weeks but Amazon has been sold out of them. I’m just wondering if anyone has had any success buying one and if you can share with me your secret. Thanks.

    1. I did! My daughter asked for one for her birthday, and I had been looking since May.
      I tracked availability on the Nintendo website, and started checking stock in other parts of the country where I have relatives living. Most of the stores will not hold or deliver them to you, but last week I found “limited availability” in a store near Kansas City (where my parents live). By the time my mom got to Target, they were sold out (had been for 24 hours though the site still said in stock). My mom then searched other local stores and found one in a nearby Best Buy.

      The limited stock listed online that I’ve seen recently has all been in the Midwest: Kansas, Minnesota and Illinois.

    2. I bought a Switch Lite from Walmart recently. I checked every morning for 2-3 weeks. Sometimes I’d get all the way to the end of check out, and it wouldn’t be available. In the end, I had to ship to a store which took a few days. Target may also be a good choice, and it’s where I got a copy of Animal Crossing. The trick is to keep checking and trying to order.

    3. I bought a Switch Lite back in March when they were showing as sold out earlier. I found it by checking the electronics sections of Walmart/Target whenever I was there (my local Target had plenty of Switch Lites even though they showed as sold out online).

      Getting a Switch as opposed to a Lite is going to be tougher and you might have the best luck at getting one quickly by buying used online. AFAIK, full Switches have been sold out all over the world since at least March.

      1. I’m the poster above who found a regular Switch in KS. You’re correct that they have basically been sold-out worldwide since March, but my understanding is that the factories that produce the Switch are now back up and running. However, supply is still so limited that they’re nearly impossible to get. The woman in the store told my mom that they are “occasionally” getting deliveries of “two or three at a time.”

    4. Gamestop had a bundle recently where I paid like $550 (market value as I understand it) for the Switch, Animal Crossing, Minecraft and Zelda.

  2. I just posted in the morning thread that my work space is basically making me nuts. I don’t have a home office space (didn’t need one) so I’m using my dining room table, but it has become the everything room. I have long benches on the sides of my table, so I have used throw blankets to cushion the seat. It does have a back, but I’m sure it’s not any kind of ergonomically functional way to work. I do have lots of work space on either side of my laptop and can put two laptops on it, if need be. I just have my laptop, external batteries for my phone (to avoid having another charger plugged in behind me, and notebooks and pens. I use a wireless mouse, which helps because I HATE trackpads with a vengeance. I could bring home a monitor and a keyboard from work, but I haven’t. It’s just that my dining room looks junky and I can’t find my personal stuff and my cat sleeps on the bench next to me with all of her toys. The only way I could do it differently would be to bring my desk chair from work (or get another one) and put it at the end of the table. But then I would have to remove the beautiful obi that’s a table runner and that beauty makes me happy.

    1. Could you hang the obi over a door? That is where our table runners were living for a while when we didn’t have desks and every available flat space was an office. I’m sure it depends on how delicate it was but mine ended up in the background on calls, which made me happy.

  3. My home office was originally meant to be a breakfast nook, as it’s connected to the kitchen via the pantry (old house) but it’s a strange path to get there, and since we have a large dining room also connected to the kitchen, we didn’t feel like we needed another eating space.

    Pre-COVID, we lined the walls with bookshelves and made it a “library,” with a desk for the occasional work from home, but now that everyone works from home, it’s my full time office. My husband had long ago put a desk/table in a spare bedroom with the intention of using it as a makeshift music studio (he’s a musician with a “day job”) but since March has used it as his full time WFH space.

    Interestingly we both face a wall for working. It sounds awful, I guess, but having a backlit monitor in the window would give me a headache – my work office used to be like this and it drove me crazy. I also don’t like the look of a monitor blocking a window.

    Both of our offices are nice looking when tidy, but clutter like work papers, mail, etc tend to take over pretty quickly. His office can be hidden away behind a door. Mine is open to the house. At least no one’s coming over any time soon!

  4. Pre-COVID if I had to work from home I did so at my dining table, but after two months of that I went ahead and purchased a desk. Honestly, I should have done it sooner. Does it take up space? yes. Did I have to rearrange all of my furniture in a small one bedroom apartment multiple times? yes. Still worth it.

    I purchased an external keyboard, mouse, extra monitor, plastic risers, headphones with a speaker and two desk lamps. All in probably $800. I can’t make myself get an ugly desk chair that would take up even more space. But I generally stand (highly recommend standing desks) or use a dining chair when my feet need a break.

    I don’t see my team going back to the office before mid-2021 so might as well get comfortable.

    1. Oh, AND I had to upgrade my wifi modem/ router for better remote desktops and video calls. Another $120

    2. That’s really smart. I don’t know where I would put a desk, but I have a 3 bedroom house, so I should be able to figure this out, right? I did upgrade my wifi, but an actual work space would really help.

      1. You can do it! Not seeing the constant clutter where I eat was huge. It was worth the re-organizing

  5. Currently I alternate between the dining room table and my bedroom. It is not functional at all. I also have court records (I am an appellate attorney) in boxes all over my bedroom. I really need my second monitor and full size keyboard but haven’t brought those home yet. I was hoping this would be more temporary. But looks like my kids will be doing school online and so I will be home a while longer. I think I need to get set up better in my bedroom. Just really destroys the work/life balance I worked hard for 12 years at establishing.

    1. I’m currently working in my bedroom and it is a bummer. My husband “claimed” the office, and with kids in-and-out with a sitter, it’s easier to post up in my bedroom sitting area… even though it becomes depressing when I calculate how much time I spend in the same room every day. This post makes me think I need to upgrade if we’re going to be working from home further into the fall…

  6. I do have the printer pictured and I like it just fine. It does a great job for being so cheap.

  7. If you are buying a printer, I recommend a b&w laser printer (or color if you have a bigger budget, but I don’t find myself missing it). My inkjet nozzles would constantly get clogged and I’d waste a lot of ink and time trouble shooting. It’s particularly an issue if you rarely print
    My laser printer is far better behaved!

    1. I’m on my second Brother wireless laser printer. I don’t print all that much for work. It’s mostly recipes and mailing labels, but it’s great. My cat has figured out how to stand on it just right so that it loses its wireless settings, but I am now smart enough to reconfigure it by myself.

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