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Original poster

What's your home working set-up like?

67 replies

DolphinaPD · 28/04/2022 13:52

Just because I'm nosy 😆

I just started wfh this week. I've got a garden table with a table cloth over it for now 😂 and my laptop on a box. My chair is a bit high for the table 🙄

Hopefully I'll sort it out to a proper desk with extra monitors and a keyboard by the end of next week.

I'd also like some nice stationery and desk accessories so I'll check out the shops pound shop on the weekend I think.

OP posts:
Monkeybutt1 · 28/04/2022 13:55

Me and DH bothe WFH and have since the start of the pandemic. We have a great set up in the spare room, a full desk down one wall that we both sit at, 2 monitors each and our laptops. Proper office chairs and a cupboard behind us with a printer and pens etc

Original poster
DolphinaPD · 28/04/2022 13:56

Monkeybutt1 · 28/04/2022 13:55

Me and DH bothe WFH and have since the start of the pandemic. We have a great set up in the spare room, a full desk down one wall that we both sit at, 2 monitors each and our laptops. Proper office chairs and a cupboard behind us with a printer and pens etc

Nice, my spare room has a bed but I'm going to squash it against the wall and make a really nice area, eventually.

OP posts:
Fortbite · 28/04/2022 13:58

A small desk in the corner of the living room, I despise working from home and am really excited to have secured a job that is not able to be done from home so looking forward for getting rid of it though. Some places going forward with long term wfh have started to do DSE checks for home working to check you're compliant. Hope you sort something soon or your back will be in tatters.

Whadda · 28/04/2022 13:58

I love mine, I invested a lot of time and effort into it.

I have an L-shaped desk with two monitors, an iPad stand, and a ring light.

Lots of house plants.

A really good office chair.

The desk and chair are on a huge rug, and I’m right by the window so have a view of my garden and lots of birds.

I invested in good lighting.

I have a nice display cabinet that has cupboards for paperwork, and then I have candles and framed photos on it.

It’s all very cute and peaceful.

ImplementingTheDennisSystem · 28/04/2022 14:12

We are two people in a 4 bed house so I'm embarrassed to say we have an office each 🙈. I work from a nice plywood table that my husband hand made for me.
If I'm at home on a Friday I then 'hot desk' from the kitchen table to give me a chance of scene.

Monkeybutt1 · 28/04/2022 14:17

If you are going to be WFH for the foreseeable I recommend if you can having a room you can use as an office, and close the door on at the end of the day. It really helps.

iamsoreadyforbednow · 28/04/2022 14:19

When I first got my working from home job I invested in a lovely desk, lots of decor for my home office… then I migrated to the sofa😂

BrinksmansEntry · 28/04/2022 14:22

I desperately need an office or room of my own to work from. As it is i am in the kitchen with two big monitors and computer set up on the table. Big printer in a corner.

I really would love a room with an L shaped desk, possibly book shelves or kallax cabinet to put my books, folders, notes and assorted PPE on.

HalfShrunkMoreToGo · 28/04/2022 14:32

I have a metal locker desk I got in the Next sale for £33, it fits perfectly in the corner of my living room because it's a more compact size. I have a habitat desk chair which looks nicer than a standard computer chair which was important to me seeing as it's taking up space in my living room.

I keep the desk quite clear so just a monitor, a vertical stand for my laptop so I can use that at the right height as a second screen then I have a wireless mouse and keyboard that I can put away in the cupboard at the end of the day.

emmathedilemma · 28/04/2022 14:34

Monkeybutt1 · 28/04/2022 14:17

If you are going to be WFH for the foreseeable I recommend if you can having a room you can use as an office, and close the door on at the end of the day. It really helps.

This is great advice but it's not going to magic up the extra £100k+ i'd need to move to somewhere with an extra bedroom / study!!
I'm back on the dining table 1-2 days a week but it's wearing thin so I'll probably start going in the office more those day. I have a desk but I took it down as I wanted the spare bedroom back so that guests could actually sleep in it.

mylittleyumyum · 28/04/2022 15:49

I hotdesk between my couch, the breakfast bar and when the kids are off - my bed.

Sometimes I make forays to my outdoor desk (patio table) and I feel like networking, my patio set out the front (hello neighbours, nice weather we're having!)

I need regular changes of scenery during the day to help with the isolation, sitting in a room with a desk and office chair all day would be then end of me.

PandemelonFelon · 28/04/2022 15:53

There were days during the pandemic when furloughed where I was working frantically trying to find another job because they announced furlough the day after they announced redundancies were coming from the paddling pool. I had a shade over me and I put the picnic table in there with notebook and laptops. It was during the really hot spell.

Now I have a desk in the bedroom and a desk downstairs in an area that can be closed off.

Definitely invest in good seating - I think it's actually your employers responsibility to provide under HSE regulations. Good lighting and soundproof headphones a must too.

BlossomWind · 28/04/2022 16:02

I've been working from home, with DH, for 10 years now. Office at back of house, long bench under window with view of back garden, we sit side by side - he is currently tapping away on his laptop and I am on mine except glancing over I can see he is actually working unlike me. Landline phone in the middle of us. Shared set of headphones (they are his really, I nick them). Printer to the right. Filing cabinet. Heater as it gets really cold in here. I have a good chair and he has a rubbish chair - I keep telling him to get a better one.

The room is very messy and I really need to sort it out - as well as our work stuff there are musical instruments, pet supplies and piles of paper work, and my side of the desk in particular is a disgrace. I'd like to make it nice but it really is at the bottom of the pile when it comes to redecorating as nobody else sees it and the rest of the house has plenty to do.

BlossomWind · 28/04/2022 16:02

I mean desk, not bench!

Original poster
DolphinaPD · 28/04/2022 16:03

Monkeybutt1 · 28/04/2022 14:17

If you are going to be WFH for the foreseeable I recommend if you can having a room you can use as an office, and close the door on at the end of the day. It really helps.

It's fully remote, they don't have offices.

OP posts:
Original poster
DolphinaPD · 28/04/2022 16:03

iamsoreadyforbednow · 28/04/2022 14:19

When I first got my working from home job I invested in a lovely desk, lots of decor for my home office… then I migrated to the sofa😂

I'd do this to bed but we have lots of video calls.

OP posts:
Original poster
DolphinaPD · 28/04/2022 16:06

Oh my quotes didn't work.

OP posts:
JoeGoldberg · 28/04/2022 16:10

I move between the sofa, the kitchen table, and my bed. No room for desk or an office. I've made it work for 7 years so I'm happy.

SAB10 · 28/04/2022 16:12

I have a small desk with an ok office chair and my laptop facing the bed. It'd be great to have a separate space as it feels quite depressing to spend so much of my life in this one room! Unfortunately we're in a small one bed flat and the living room is already cramped, so this is it for the foreseeable...

Despite that I do love that WFH is an option! I work in a very London-centric industry but live in a regional city, and before COVID my options were to travel down to London and stay in a cheap hotel Mon-Fri, or accept a more boring and poorly paid job in my home city. Now I get the London job and salary but only have to walk two steps from my bed to do it!

DockOTheBay · 28/04/2022 16:12

For the first 18 months of the pandemic we had a tiny desk in my baby's nursery. Desk on one side, cot on the other side.

Once she was old enough to share with her sister, we did a bit ikea shop. Put in laminate flooring, sit-stand desk and proper chair and cable ties to oblivion. Its so much better

Figstar4eva · 28/04/2022 16:32

I've been working from home for 8 years now. My office is set up in the spare room. Nice oak desk with 3 drawers, 2 monitors on stands, proper desk chair. I hate clutter so only have notebook, working papers and desk calender on my desk. I have a 2 cabinet filing unit with a printer on top and a bar fridge on the other side with waters and snacks. A few pictures in the wall. My office is productive space.

purpledagger · 28/04/2022 16:38

I have a laptop, laptop stand, keyboard, mouse and mobile. All can be quickly and easily folded down at the end of the day. I cleaned some space in a cupboard for my work stuff.

I normally work from my dining room table, but if I have a call/online meeting, I sometimes move to the sofa/bedroom/anywhere else I fancy, to have a change of scenery and change my position.

I don't need a separate monitor and I'm pretty much paperless, so I don't need lots of stuff. I'm pretty happy with my set up, as it is. But, we are having an extension built and I'll end up with a home office. It's as a consequence of that works we are having done - we didn't extend with an office in mind.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 28/04/2022 16:44

One of the reasons we moved here pre-pandemic was the layout leant itself to working at home. We've done hybrid working for a long time.
I have a small study with a big desk and an ancient but very comfortable office chair. I don't really want a big monitor so I just have a laptop, keyboard and mouse.

ithoughtisawapuddycat · 28/04/2022 16:46

We are 2 people on a 3 bedroom house. I have my office in the spare room but only WFH 2 days a week. I shuttle my laptop between home and work and just plug it into my DH's dual screens. I have the same keyboard and mouse at home as I do at work so switching is easy. We have a proper desk and chair as DH has his personal computer in that office as well (thankfully his job isn't one he can do from home).

DameHelena · 28/04/2022 16:48

I already worked at home pre-pandemic (freelance), so am quite well set up. I'm lucky that I have a small box room as a dedicated office. I've got a decent desk and office chair (although am always half-thinking of getting one of those ££££ super-ergonomic chairs), a laptop and a separate screen so I'm not looking down at my screen (I'm on it a lot).
I have fairy lights, music or the radio on, am surrounded by nice images (artworks, posters, cards and postcards) and always have a large basket of snacks on the go.
I like my tiny office.