It has taken me over three years, but I finally have a working from home desk setup that I’m happy with! I don’t have a dedicated “office,” just a space that I’ve kind of taken over, so it took me a bit to figure out the right way to configure everything that works for the space and my needs. But I think (fingers crossed!) I’ve settled on something that really works for me.
I started working from home unexpectedly in 2020, like many people, but have been lucky enough to keep working from home permanently since then. (I have a post about how working from home is really great for me from a disabled perspective, if you’re interested!) At first, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be working from home, so I didn’t want to invest too much money into things if I’d be headed back to the office soon. But once it became clear I’d be able to keep working from home, I started to try to figure out how to create an office-like space in a room that needed to be able to be used for other things, too. The room I work from also has our pull out sofa, and is typically where guests stay, so I needed to make sure I didn’t take up too much room. I started out with a fold-up desk, and it was working well enough, but it became clear that I just needed a little more space than that desk offered.
So what I ended up with is actually a “faux” L-shaped desk – two rectangular desks that I pushed together to create an L shape! Why not a real L shape, you may ask? This way (at least in theory), I can undo the L-shape and push them both flat against the wall if we have a guest staying for any extended period of time, or if we’re hosting a gathering and want to use more of this space. And the best part about these desks? They come fully assembled! All you have to do is unfold the legs and you’re good to go.
The biggest change that I made recently was (again, finally!) getting a big monitor. I worked solely off my laptop screen for over two years, and now I seriously can’t believe I did it for that long. I keep my laptop open to use the camera for Zoom meetings, but use the big monitor as my only screen otherwise. I have this laptop stand, which is a great, simple, adjustable stand – nothing fancy, but helps get the right angle and height for virtual meetings! I have a matching stand for my phone too, which actually is big enough to hold my iPad mini securely. And behind the laptop I have this great cable box, which is big enough to hold my power strip plus all the various charging cables I need.
With the bigger monitor and the laptop up on a stand, I needed a keyboard and trackpad. I got the Apple bluetooth versions of each, and wow, I love them so much. I’m able to position them anywhere I need them to make them easy to use and accessible for me, which is great. Sometimes I’ll even set the trackpad on my lap, with the keyboard in front of it on the desk, to kind of mimic a laptop setup. It’s just so easy to use and to configure different ways on different days to meet my needs.
I have a few decor things in this corner of the desk, too. This USB rechargeable lamp is so cute! I love that it doesn’t need to be plugged in (so it doesn’t need to be near an outlet), and it’s touch on/off, so I don’t have to worry about having the strength to turn a knob or flip a switch. I also have this very cute little A Court of Thorns and Roses inspired dresser as a fun little decoration.
When it comes to storage and organization, my needs are kind of specific! I can’t really use drawers – either I can’t reach them, or they get in the way of my wheelchair actually being able to reach the desk itself. So when I look for desk organization things, I look for things I can set on the desk, that are pretty easy to reach and open. This letter tray with a drawer underneath is great for exactly that reason – the top is open, so I can set things on top that I want to grab easily, but there’s also an easily accessible drawer underneath that I can use to keep my desk surface from getting too cluttered.
I picked up these modular desk organizers from Amazon, and they’re really great. I have them stacked on top of each other right now, but you can arrange them whatever way works best for your space – which is ideal in case I decide to do any rearranging in the future! I also love that this file sorter keeps things organized, but I can still easily reach everything. The drawers are really easy to pull open, which is key for me. While I’m mostly a digital person, I still love to have some notebooks lying around, and these from Appointed are my absolute favorite.
And the miscellaneous things – I picked up this “vault” storage box a few years ago, and it’s a perfect option if you don’t have room for filing cabinets. It won’t hold quite that much, but it has space for multiple file folders and other important keepsakes and documents that you don’t necessarily need to reference, but you do need to keep safe. This little Rifle Paper Co. catchall is so pretty, and is the perfect size for my Apple TV remote and anything else random laying around. And then this faux-leather tissue box cover is not something that’s at all necessary, but it does look super cute and just brings me joy.
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