Luxury Housing Trends & Home Improvement Ideas

Crown molding floating shelves can make a home office less cluttered and more functional, because they provide an area for you to showcase a variety of objects.

For example, if you have a handful of important books that you refer to often, they can be placed on the shelf near your desk for better accessibility. Or you can arrange your plaques, certifications, pictures, plants, etc. along with other knick-knacks that you have acquired over time. Sometimes these small items can take over your desk and limit your workspace.

These particular shelves from Pottery Barn have rich details and clean lines, which can give your home office a more professional and dramatic touch. Plus, you can rearrange the display to better suit your needs or for aesthetic purposes when you get bored. So if you don’t have enough desk or drawer space, these shelves could be a solution to your problem.

If you bought your home office desk from a big box store, it probably came with a couple of grommets (those little plastic holes designed to let computer cables through to the back or bottom of the desk). Chances are they’re nothing special. They allow a cord or two through but that’s it.

Well, if you’re willing to spend a few bucks, you can get something that does that and more.

“This grommet has four handy compartments that provide space for sticky notes, pencils, scissors, and other office supplies. This completely practical option has an opening large enough to fit the cords from all of your basic office and computer equipment and keep your supplies close at hand.”

If your desk already has a grommet hole, this should pop right into that space.

$5 at CableOrganizer.com.

I’m not sure how ergonomically correct it is to sit in bed or on the couch or floor to work on your laptop, but I do it all the time, so I guess I can’t point fingers. It’d probably find it a little easier if I used something like this laptop desk.

“Our computer desk will hold your laptop at the perfect angle while lying in bed so you can write letters and surf the net for longer periods of time without getting fatigued.”

The 20.25″ wide and 11.5″ deep desk has two height adjustments (8 or 11 inches) and the top adjusts to whatever angle you want to work at (just turn the knob). There’s a little lip to keep the laptop from sliding off, and I imagine you could use the desk for writing or reading or whatever other home office tasks you’ve decided to do from bed today.

The laptop desks are made by an Etsy seller, Rdesign, and cost $45.

A knee chair or “kneeling chair” is an alternative to your typical herman miller type chair. Instead of sitting with your feet on the floor and your back against a backrest, your shins share some of the burden, and you work in a somewhat different position.

While these are often called knee chairs, you’re not really resting against your knees against anything (which wouldn’t be that comfortable for most of us). Rather your shins share the weight with your rump, altering the usual sitting position.

I have a hard time imaging this chair being that comfortable for extended periods of time, but I know some people like them. A knee chair has some ergonomic benefits as well in that it’s supposed to encourage a more correct postural position in the lower back.

You can pick up knee chairs for $100-$200 at Amazon:

Ergonomic Kneeling Posture Office Chairs

If you work from home and you’re tired of those metal filing cabinets that dent, jam, and just aren’t that attractive (especially for a home office), then wood is another option.  And if you take a peek at the picture below, you’ll see I’m not talking about some cheap plywood thing from the local office store (you know, the kind that takes several hours and a lot of angst to assemble).

This handcrafted wooden filing cabinet bench is designed to hold four feet of files (as much as a two-drawer filing cabinet) laterally, and it gives you a little extra seating in a pinch too.

(Of course, if you’re a clutter bug–not that I’d know anything about this–and you’d end up stacking books and other items high on the top of the bench lid then this setup might not be that convenient).

The solid wood cabinet benches are made by a Las Vegas woodworker with a shop on Etsy, and the cost is $2,200.

It sounds like you can have the benches customized and choose your preferred wood too.

If you’re like me and you spend a lot of time working from home (or playing World or Warcraft… whatever, we don’t judge!), then you can get some cricks in your back, legs, neck, etc. from sitting at a computer desk for hours at a time. Even with a good ergonomic chair, sitting gets old after a while.

Here’s an idea for a home office computing alternative:

An adjustable stand-up desk.

The keyboard tray/mouse area can be raised or lowered, so you can type in a standing position or in a seated position.

“To go from sitting to standing, simply slide the keyboarding surface out, and reposition it in the standing position. This takes about 15 seconds, and requires no tools. A wireless keyboard and mouse make moving the keyboarding surface between sitting and standing desk positions quick & easy.”

Of course, you’ll have to pick up a second monitor (PCs today can be set to handle two displays without too much trouble), so the screen will always be at the correct eye level for you, but the ergonomic benefits a desk like this offers may make the added investment worth it for someone who works from home.

These stand-up/sit-down desks are made from solid hardwood (no crummy veneers and plywood, thank you very much) by Wood Craft of Michigan.

Want to add a little whimsy to your home office? Or just get a child-safe stapler that the kids can reload without dropping sticks of staples all over the floor?

This staple free stapler doesn’t need to be reloaded at all, since the “staples” are made with paper. “The Staple Free Stapler cuts out tiny strips of paper and uses the strips to stitch up to 5 pieces of paper together.” This makes the device eco-friendly and completely safe for children (and us adults with fumble fingers!).

You can get the cute cat-shaped stapler shown here, and there’s also an equally cute dog version. Under $10:

Child-safe Staple-free Stapler

I broke my computer desk during my move, so I’m on the look out for something new for the home office. I’m not sure the V1 computer workstation is it, but it sure is interesting to consider.

“The Vision One Computer Desk offers ergonomic comfort and outstanding quality at an affordable price.” It’s “dynamically designed to be the best computer desk system on Earth…The V1 computer desk can be used as a computer gaming chair, flight simulator, racing simulator, cad workstation, video editing workstation, sound editing workstation, personal movie theater, surround sound music environment and more.”

Each desk is handmade in the U.S., and there are several models you can choose from (pick your own seat, colors, etc.), depending on your budget and needs, although, as you might guess, none of them are inexpensive. Still, it looks like it’d last a lot longer (and be a lot more fun) than those $100 you-assemble-it-yourself desks from the office stores.

I’m not sure I could feel like a serious internet professional blogging in this thing, but I could so see playing World of Warcraft in it. Geek on, folks.

http://www.thev1chair.com/

When you work in a corporate setting, you’re often restricted to what sorts of furniture and even desk decor you can keep in your office or cubicle. Fortunately, if you work from home part or all of the time, there won’t be anyone making silly rules about what you can and can’t have in your home office. Why not have a little fun with the necessities?

For instance, you could get a filing cabinet that makes use of vibrant colors.

This lime green cabinet might not be for everyone, but I bet it’d cheer you up when you walk in the office in the morning. The “mechanic-shop chic powder-coated” piece has a simple, industrial feel and looks to be made to last.

It sports two drawers on top and a letter/legal file below. For those who just can’t stomach the green, the cute rolling cabinet is available in white and titanium too.

$149 from CB2

The whole point of having a home office is not for work but so you have a place to fill with all your favorite productivity gadgets. Tape is a necessity, but if you’re still using a tape dispenser designed in the 20th century, you are so behind the times. Surely you need an electronic tape dispenser.

Okay, it’s one more thing around the house that has the potential to break, but think of the convenience! Why measure and slice your own tape when you can have an automated dispenser do it for you? That’s right: delegate the tape cutting task to a machine and save at least two seconds every time you need a piece of tape. Now that’s productivity efficiency.

The “Incredible Electronic Tape Dispenser” is appropriate for wrapping gifts and all tape-requiring home office needs.

$28.50 from Delight