At the last estimate, over four million people choose to regularly work from home. For some, the home office is the place from which they run their own freelance empire, from the comfort of a leather office chair. Like other rooms in the home, when it has a function, it means there is a main player just crying out for reclaimed wood furniture.
For the home office, it is the desk. It is the table at which you will spend many, many hours. It needs to be comfortable and large enough for everything you use as part of your working day, as well as offering storage, but you also want it to be stylish. So, where do you start when it comes to choosing a home office desk?
What size should an office desk be?
The dimensions of the desk are important. Not only does it need to offer ample working space for you, but it also needs to fit in the room itself.
Measure the space where you are considering sitting your desk – remember to consider the lighting and never work in shade or bright sun glare – and then consider how large you need the desk to be.
If you need minimal equipment, you could opt for a slimline desk and even with IT equipment, you’ll find that their streamlined nature means you won’t need a gargantuan desk. How about a reclaimed wood desk with two small drawers on either side for your pens and notepads?
How deep should my desk be?
A deep home office desk allows you to complete various tasks without necessarily putting equipment away each time. For example, when you want to handwrite or draw something, by pushing your keyboard or laptop aside you have plenty of desktop space.
If you don’t need a huge amount of space, why not opt for a slimmer desk? If you are really struggling for space, a foldaway desk is another great option. Situated next to your reading chair and an oak bookcase, you’ll have created the perfect home office come snug.
How much space do you need for a desk?
Try to be practical. You need plenty of space to push back your office chair and to move around the room. The issue with most home offices is that they are jam-packed and have no real storage solutions. That means keeping it tidy and a place that is productive is even harder.
A slimline desk with accessible storage is perfect, especially if it gives you the tabletop space you need. Home office furniture needs to ‘fit’ just as much as it needs to be stylish and offer storage.
Where should a desk be placed in an office?
We touched on this in an earlier point but when it comes to position, it is the light that is your most important consideration. Working with some natural light on your desk is good and natural light should be maximised but watch for glare. Of course, if you can position your industrial desk in a position where you have a view that’s perfect for those daydreamy moments we all have in our working day…