I keep myself busy with a bunch of personal projects. Some of them take up a few short hours of work a week on a laptop. The beauty of a laptop is being able to work from anywhere around the house, be it the couch, dining room table or on the floor of the lounge. Ideally, the best-case scenario would be to have a dedicated workspace for increased productivity. To add to that, my other half has a 9 to 5 which offers some flexibility and the ability to work from home.
Both to these situations (more so the latter) necessitated the need for a home office space for a desk and everything else that comes along with it.
Finding office space
After deciding to set up a home office, the next step was settling on a space. We had a spare room that wasn’t getting much use apart from being storage. It’s at times like these where you amaze yourself at how much stuff that you don’t use (some may call it junk) you have accumulated.
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Zealand Desk Coastal Elm (1500w 600d x 725h) – good quality desk with a good amount of space and legroom
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Jasper J Advance Chair Black – comfortable AFRDI Level 6 certified adjustable office chair with good lumbar support
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Logitech K780 Multi-Device Wireless Keyboard (also available on Amazon)- a perfect solution to easily connect to 3 devices
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Other accessories such wireless mouse
This setup worked okay for a little while. But, as you can see, to get the ergonomics to work better, the monitor sat on a stack of books. This wasn’t ideal for a couple of reasons, with the monitor not being height adjustable the ergonomics were off. Secondly, the space felt a little cluttered with the stack of books that acted as a temporary riser.
Brateck monitor arm
With a suitable and permanent solution to the temporary riser fix needed, the quest began. It was a toss-up between a riser and monitor arm. After doing a bit of research and looking at the pros and cons of both, we settled on a monitor arm. One of the main reasons for choosing an arm was its versatility with adjustments not only being able to made to height but angle and depth too. After searching for locally available options, we ended up getting a Brateck counterbalance single monitor desk mount.
The monitor arm, a Brateck Aluminum Interactive Counterbalance Single Monitor Desk Mount Bracket for 13-32 Inch Curved & Flat Panel TVs or Monitors with USB Hub – 1 to 9kg, was the perfect solution for our needs because of its features which include:
- height adjustability
- tilt, swivel & rotation of +90°~ -90°
- 75×75/100×100 VESA
- cable management
To top it all off, we got it for a steal ($57.10) from Elive.co.nz where at the time of writing this is on sale for $124.10 ($44.90 off RRP).
Improved ergonomics and increased productivity
The end result was a solution with greatly improved ergonomics. The versatility of positioning thanks to the adjustable chair and monitor arm brought better posture which aid in increasing productivity
The monitor arm with its cable management feature made the space less cluttered. Having less clutter makes the space feel more organised, effective and efficient.
To add to that, we also did a bit of decluttering and got rid of the desk file sorters. Most of what was in them was stuff we hardly used or looked it. We either got rid of it or filed it away.
If you do a lot of work from home and haven’t set up a home office, you should consider it. It’s well worth the investment.
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