I’ve never had an office in this house.
We built and moved in in 2005. Even though I worked from home, running Canines In Action, organizing and supporting my KPA workshops, writing seminars, and writing fiction, I never had a separate office. Mostly I worked on my bed or a couch, which was pretty bad for my posture and health, until I acquired my treadmill desk and set that up in a corner of the great room/kitchen, which was a dedicated workspace but not separated.
But everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked in 2020.
I’d always joked that on the days my husband worked from home I had to banish him from my work space, because I have different (more secluded) work habits, but now that was daily. With my computer next to the kitchen, interruption was regular. This meant noise during a Zoom meeting or webinar, or worse: Whenever he ran the microwave, I lost internet access, including during a webinar I was giving.
Either I had to banish him entirely, or I needed my own space out of the kitchen.
Fortunately there was a spare room, one originally designated as the husband’s office/gaming room. He’d never really used it, though, and by 2020 it was an over-sized closet, and not a particularly organized one. It was half-painted in a cavernous deep blue and unfinished and so very full of stuff.
For a couple of months I fantasized about taking it over, but then in July I actually got started. We cleared out about 12 large cases of books (no worries, plenty left!) for charity, recycled a decade or two of old electronics, and trashed what couldn’t be donated. I bought a better shade of deep blue to cover the half-done walls and planned for a fun video conferencing backdrop, given that video will be a major part of my life for the foreseeable future. And I got to arrange my furniture in the most convenient of ways, which I will now share with you.
This is a great new space for me to work, and I love it.
The room gear (some links are affiliate links):
- Ikea sit/stand desk
- walking treadmill (This one replaces my previous model and has lasted quite well so far.)
- turntable for monitor
- freaking huge whiteboard paper for wall (Note: I did not apply directly to my freshly-painted wall, as I have not had good experience with “removable” papers. I applied the whiteboard to poster board and then mounted with straight pins.) This comes with refillable(!) dry erase markers.
- Hyken mesh task chair (check multiple sites/stores, prices vary widely)
- Microsoft Sculpt ergonomic keyboard
- my mesh monitor stand with a drawer is no longer available at Target, but it looks like Amazon has one comparable
And my super-cheap video setup, which you see on Twitch or YouTube:
- cheap pop filter
- cheap mic arm stand
- cheap web cam mount
- nicer $159 Logitech C295e web cam
- generic $49.99 secondary web cam (I don’t need to be gorgeous at all angles) (Note: at the time of posting, this camera had an additional $10 off coupon for just $40 total cost)
- nice Samsung Meteor microphone
- brand new Dazzne Desk Mount LED Video Lights
Great tour.