
Ask HN: What does your home office look like? - vsergiu
Please share some ideas regarding style and design and maybe post some pics.
======
binarymax
I work from home full time, and live across the road from the English Channel
(St Leonards On Sea), in a Victorian Maisonette. My office is on the 3rd floor
with bay windows overlooking the sea.

The office room itself is largish, with 1.5 sofas, and a small table for tea.
I have two desks - one sitting and one standing. My sitting desk is for
writing code only. My standing desk is for everything else (meetings, email,
etc.) My code-desk faces the sea so I can look out at the blue for inspiration
if I need to. Above my standing desk is a whiteboard for notes/todo/etc. I
have a small closet with a printer and supplies. I have to shield my workhorse
machine from the sun sometimes so it does get too hot in the summer. In the
English winter (10 months out of the year), it makes for a nice natural
cooling system :)

\-- EDIT -- here is a very poor quality photo:
[https://twitter.com/binarymax/status/460012757317074944/phot...](https://twitter.com/binarymax/status/460012757317074944/photo/1)

~~~
GeneralMayhem
My envy knows no bounds.

~~~
hackerboos
Hastings isn't the best place to live...

------
jeffbarr
I use an Ikea Gallant desk. My main computer (home built Linux system running
Windows via VirtualBox) sits underneath, and a large-screen Asus monitor is on
top, as does my laptop. I try to keep the physical desktop devoid of non-
essential stuff, but this is a losing battle. I also have a video projector
directed at the wall in front of me.

My office is full of books, plants, my LEGO projects, and other miscellaneous
toys and distractions. The walls are decorated with classic covers from Byte
Magazine

I have one window with three bird feeders to my right. I can also look into my
backyard (through another room).

Here are some pictures:

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5815303/jeff_home_office...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5815303/jeff_home_office.jpg)

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5815303/jeff_barr_home_o...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5815303/jeff_barr_home_office.jpg)

~~~
bane
There's something really great about the Gallant desks. Cheap, roomy, well
built, no fuss. I have the version with T-Legs, but I can't honestly go back
to other kinds of desks.

~~~
sudont
I personally only buy the frame, and build a table-top for it. You can get
pre-glued boards like this, which are quite easy to finish:
[http://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/lumber-
boards...](http://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/lumber-
boards/boards/edge-glued/c-13146.htm)

If you're worried about the wood getting damaged by repeated disassembly-
reassembly cycles, you can use insert nuts to screw a machine bolt into:
[http://www.menards.com/main/tools-
hardware/fasteners/nuts/mi...](http://www.menards.com/main/tools-
hardware/fasteners/nuts/miscellaneous/1-4-20-wood-
insert-1-pcs/p-1445510-c-8921.htm)

The nice part is that an actual wood top not only looks and feels better, it's
a bit cheaper than the particle board tops that IKEA makes.

------
buro9
A single Ikea desk, beside a window that has good blinds, on the 19th floor of
a building with a view over North London.

Under the desk a UPS, NAS (18TB RAID6), the WiFi plus a single powerful
workstation (16-core, 192GB RAM, SSD for main drive, 6TB RAID0 scratch disks).

On the desk some books, a bottle of single malt whisky, a playstation (dusty
and not wired up) and a scanner. A single large monitor (high quality). A desk
lamp with halogen bulb.

My home office is just a corner of a room, with all the tools I need nearby.

It is slightly messy, I tend to have mail opened on the desk, and small things
around it.

It's comfortable, a place I enjoy being.

But it's also a work zone... my viewing of videos and entertainment is on a
television purposefully not visible from the desk. Meaning I must leave the
work environment to enjoy entertainment with others.

I'm not fortunate enough to be able to create a study room that could be an
office. Space is limited, but the ideal would be a comfortable library space,
lit well enough (but not enough to harm the books), and quiet.

~~~
asselinpaul
wow, what do you need the 192GB of RAM for?

~~~
q3k
I suppose virtual machines. Tons of virtual machines.

~~~
buro9
Firefox.

Nah, those days are gone... I bought the machine when working on my MSc
project as it worked out to be similar in price to renting AWS machines at the
time for the duration of the project and work.

I needed 20+ virtual machines to be running, for a long period of time (3-6
months), gathering and processing data, to perform various experiments during
the project.

The crux of it was that as AWS would cost me the same ballpark as 6 consumer
desktops or 1 professional workstation, that I might as well buy and own the
hardware.

Then the choice was between 6 consumer machines all using energy and producing
noise + heat, or the 1 workstation (idling most of the time). I chose the
workstation as it would be more flexible in the future (now).

The workstation has lasted years and is still a superb workhorse. I'd go this
route again as it's proved great value for money and still has years in it.

It's an older HP Z800, runs Linux now but used to run Windows.

------
noir_lord
[http://i.imgur.com/YlTn5cD.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/YlTn5cD.jpg)

That's my home office, I live on what used to be a working dock in the north
of England but was filled in and used for housing so it has a nice feel, I
love it because I'm 200ft from a massive river (great for thinking walks
[http://i.imgur.com/ibfcLn2.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/ibfcLn2.jpg), not so great
when a massive storm surge nearly topped it in Dec heh -
[http://i.imgur.com/P2DRT0h.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/P2DRT0h.jpg)).

I can't stand working in a mess, I have to tidy both offices before I can
settle down to do any real work and I've found as I get older I need more
quiet to work properly I don't seem to be able to tolerate distracts as well
as I could, I'm lucky in that while I'm starting a business and money is tight
the North East of England is very cheap to rent in so we still have a two bed
with a spare bedroom for an office :).

[http://i.imgur.com/yB0IN1e.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/yB0IN1e.jpg) is my work
office (which feels like home sometimes!) rented in an old Victorian building
the council run, high ceilings and lots of space and light which is nice.

~~~
voorloopnul
Nice setup, the monitors in vertical position are 19" or 21" inch?

~~~
noir_lord
24"'s

They are Dell 2412M's.

------
measure2xcut1x
My wife and I run what I would categorize as a micro-saas business and we both
work at home. She works part time at a standup desk that I made from furniture
parts, and she also uses a drafting style chair that I made from parts
purchased on the internet. LOL @ her clocks, looks like one needs a battery.
To her left is a small white board.

My desk is also somewhat home made and doubles as my hobby project studio for
song writing and recording. Behind my chair (not visible in the pic.) are a
10" sub woofer and a larger white board. I have a tiny bike mirror over my
right monitor to avoid a bad shock when someone stops by my desk while I'm
deep in a project. The tiny red button on the left corner of my desk is to
engage/disengage the sub woofer. Most days my dog sleeps on the rug by my
chair and amazingly I have never rolled over him.

My desk: [http://i.imgur.com/OfYjTgX.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/OfYjTgX.jpg) Her
desk: [http://i.imgur.com/vI4GR7H.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/vI4GR7H.jpg)

~~~
3solarmasses
You guys both work at home and you are still married? Congrats. That usually
strains a lot of relationships.

~~~
measure2xcut1x
Thanks, we have been working together for 17 years now and it's great. We
limit work hours to weekdays 9-5.

------
neals
Our house is part of an old 12th century church. The part of the house that
runs into this church is my home office. We work here with 2 (sometimes 3)
people.

The view is amazing, but I've crammed it with cheap functional desks and
chairs and shelfes/tables. The walls are painted a nice purple, but the rest
is all about "while we're not making a bunch of money, we can't have nice
things".

Do mind that our equipment ( Computers, screens, (3D-)printers etc) is all up
to date, no savings there, obviously.

------
moonlighter
I work from home full time and live on a Pier in the Hudson River right across
NYC. My home office has a large solid wood workbench and a Herman Miller Aeron
chair. There’s an iPad mounted on the wall running Status Board app showing
some vital stats.

All work is done on my 27” iMac, while watching the curious life of
liveaboards in the marina outside and looking at the Manhattan skyline…

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/nhjki7bpcpfpemw/HomeOffice1.jpg](https://www.dropbox.com/s/nhjki7bpcpfpemw/HomeOffice1.jpg)

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/0u7lbw9d1t0n7ek/HomeOffice2.jpg](https://www.dropbox.com/s/0u7lbw9d1t0n7ek/HomeOffice2.jpg)

[https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uzavsek2dz80qf/HomeOffice3.jpg](https://www.dropbox.com/s/5uzavsek2dz80qf/HomeOffice3.jpg)

(Sorry for the poor pics, had to shoot against the sunlight coming in)

~~~
noir_lord
I like your desk, it looks like something I've had in my head for a while done
using retired scaffolding boards :).

I also live on a river though my view is not as good as yours I do love been
able to take a walk when I need to think.

~~~
moonlighter
I bought that table in 1996 at Pottery Barn. It was ca. $800 then, but worth
every penny. It’s nice and large and easy to move since the tabletop can
simply be lifted off the wrought iron stands. Once a year I treat the wood
with orange oil which makes it look like new.

Likewise, whenever I have (code)writers block I go or bike along the Hudson
waterfront here. Love it.

~~~
nimasmi
What is the ipad on the wall doing?

~~~
moonlighter
Running [https://panic.com/statusboard/](https://panic.com/statusboard/) and
showing emails and Google Analytics data. Instant, always on, very convenient.

------
richbradshaw
I don't have an office, even though I work from home.

I alternate between:

1\. An amazing café on the beach - warm, sunny, coffee (and beer!) on tap 2\.
The garden - if it's the right time of year, Wifi is lacking so tend to stay
more focussed 3\. Barstool in Kitchen/Stood up working 4\. Dining room table -
white wall behind, good for video calls 5\. Lounge 6\. Trains

I'm fortunate enough to be able to work with just a laptop, no large
screens/mice/speakers/headphones/paper etc needed, so I don't feel that I'm
without stuff if I'm not at a desk.

~~~
thejosh
Curious what you do? I do web development & programming and feel that when
using a laptop my productivity can nosedive unless I have a full size
keyboard.

~~~
petercooper
Different strokes and all that but I have a reasonably big desktop setup (4
large monitors, multiple machines, etc.) but my main keyboard is an Apple
Bluetooth one which feels no bigger than the one on my MacBook Pro.. :-)

~~~
thejosh
I tried those for a couple of days, I must be use to very cumbersome keyboards
because I felt myself pushing it all over the desk with my heavy strokes.

------
bichiliad
Student here, so I guess my office is less mission-critical than others.

I took an old door, nailed an edge around it, and varnished it. Got two
trusses from Ikea for pretty cheap (~$30 each), and two "night stands" that
work really well as shelves.

I have an absurd amount of desk space and I find it great for working. My desk
is messy, but I'll get a picture up in a sec.

Edit: Heres that photo
[http://i.imgur.com/eAY7xZC.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/eAY7xZC.jpg)

~~~
bane
Door/desks are some of the best. My old desk in High School was a door and
some concrete blocks. All the cords ran through the hole the handle was
supposed to occupy.

~~~
bichiliad
I actually really wanted to do that, but I got the door before it had the
handle hole cut through it (there's a place not far from me that sells unused
things like that). There's still time, I suppose.

------
Void_
For inspiration:

[http://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations](http://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations)

[http://www.reddit.com/r/macsetups](http://www.reddit.com/r/macsetups)

~~~
swah
Its a great idea to use an Apple keyboard... for taking a picture of your
workspace. Then back to the real keyboard.

More seriously, I really wish any USB keyboard could be "converted" into a
Apple Bluetooth keyboard (as far as the Mac knows) - they have great
connectivity, battery life.

~~~
w1ntermute
For the ultimate keyboard experience, get a mechanical keyboard.

[http://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalkeyboards](http://www.reddit.com/r/mechanicalkeyboards)

~~~
Void_
I'm using both mechanical and MacBook built-in, and I'm not sure if I like
mechanical better.

It's kinda cool to type on it, but the keys are just so huge, it feels like
I'm using a typewriter. Using the Apple keyboard is the opposite, it's like
I'm just slightly brushing the surface.

~~~
w1ntermute
If you're pressing the keys on a mechanical keyboard all the way down, then
you're not using it correctly. One big advantage of (most) mechanical
keyboards is that there's a clear tactile and/or audible indication of
actuation, at which point you can release the key.

~~~
Void_
Ha, that's actually a great tip. I think I was just too used to regular
keyboard, where you have to press until the key touches the bottom -- but with
mechanical keyboard it's enough to press until I can feel the feedback.

I takes some getting used to, I have to consciously try to press the keys
lightly, but it kinda feels nice! I'm definitely enjoying my mechanical
keyboard much more this way.

Also, 10 keys typing is a must with a mechanical keyboard.

------
mcgwiz
Nothing special about my current home office (which consists of a desk in my
bedroom), but back when I lived in Brooklyn, I had a makeshift standing desk
with a nice view of Manhattan.

[http://www.scrambledbrains.net/2011/02/20/standing-desk-
conf...](http://www.scrambledbrains.net/2011/02/20/standing-desk-
configuration-2/)

~~~
leemac
Incredible view for sure. I find that I'm most productive when I can see lots
going on around me.

------
braveheart1723
Please don't be offended, I'm a hacker/geek too but I've generally found
designers to have much more aesthetically pleasing home offices.

Not that they write better code, they're just prettier :D

[https://news.layervault.com/stories/8613-ask-dn-your-
workspa...](https://news.layervault.com/stories/8613-ask-dn-your-workspace)

~~~
yen223
I don't think it's too controversial to think that people who work with
aesthetics have more aesthetically-pleasing workplaces.

------
mark_l_watson
We moved to the mountains in Central Arizona about 14 years ago and my wife
helped setup my home office: large book cases, a huge teak desk, and an
ergonomic chair. I have a view of the red rocks/mountains, which is nice.

So, I have a nice home office but I don't much use it because I prefer working
in different places around our house and outside, weather and available shade
permitting. I use my office mainly when I need to plug my laptop into a large
monitor. Otherwise I like to use a light weight lap desk and roam. About once
a month I will work out of a coffee shop.

~~~
gdubs
Sounds beautiful. Love that area. How's the community? Is it totally isolated,
or do you know some people nearby, etc?

~~~
mark_l_watson
We live in a small town, lots of friends and things to do. Flaggstaff and
Cottonwood are in the area for major shopping. We moved from the beach in
California and I substitute kayaking for the ocean. Shoot me an email if you
are in the area.

------
jmandzik
Here's where the magic happens:

[https://twitter.com/Justin_Mandzik/status/460080620329508864](https://twitter.com/Justin_Mandzik/status/460080620329508864)

[https://twitter.com/Justin_Mandzik/status/460082804827881472](https://twitter.com/Justin_Mandzik/status/460082804827881472)

Edit: I do a few days a week from home, with a fair amount of video
conferencing. White board is critical to get me out of my chair to draw out
what's in my head.

------
anotherevan
I just recently (i.e., last week) finally splurged and bought a motorised
sit/stand desk. I've been wanting one for some time as I work from home full
time and want to stand for part of the day.

Here is the new setup (in standing position):
[http://imgur.com/cgRoSUu](http://imgur.com/cgRoSUu)

I just bought the frame and reused the desktop from my old desk. I was tired
of using plastic boxes and phone books as monitor stands, and couldn't find
good stands that had the height I wanted, so made my own using some wall-mount
monitor/tv brackets: [http://imgur.com/YwyRwVl](http://imgur.com/YwyRwVl)

The window on the right looks out on the cat-run in the back yard (when the
curtain isn't drawn) and that's a hermit crab tank on the left (which is
currently unpopulated until I automate the humidity controls.)

Speakers and lots of kids photos are on a shelf that is currently behind the
monitors, but can be seen when sitting. My back is to the door, so there is
also a little rear-view mirror glued to that shelf to make it harder for the
kids to sneak up on me. (Tying bells to collars worked okay with the cats, but
not so well with the children for some reason which is strange as the cats are
much more cunning.)

------
cpbotha
Here's part of my current home office:
[http://imgur.com/ERUHALo](http://imgur.com/ERUHALo)

* Motorized adjustable standing desk from the Ikea (Linak legs; whole thing was under €600), in standing mode. Yes, fixed standing desks are not going to work, you need to be able to alternate between standing and sitting throughout the day.

* On the left, Synology DS213j, TP-Link TD-W8970 ADSL2+ Modem router and Meissner 750VA UPS to keep my internet connection going during Eskom (South African electricity supplier) power outages / load shedding (tested, works a treat! with laptops charged, I can continue accessing internet for a few hours of no power. Telkom exchanges have their own power supplies)

* Cheap laptop with IPS display (see [http://wp.me/p1dVx9-6k](http://wp.me/p1dVx9-6k) ) connected to Samsung external LCD. You're seeing Emacs on the left with Zenburn theme, and Intellij IDEA 13 on the right with Darcula IDE + Solarized Dark editor themes, everything still on Ubuntu 12.04.

* My corner is indeed quite cluttered, but comfortable to work in. :)

------
ux-app
I recently set up a new home office:
[http://i.imgur.com/mSTllTC.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/mSTllTC.jpg)

it's nice to finally have a decent space to work in. Having a comfortable spot
that I enjoy being in has definitely improved my productivity.

My goal is to eventually work from home.. maybe 2014 will be my year :)

~~~
capitalisthakr
I like the idea of a fish bowl on the desk! Where did you get that one from?

~~~
ux-app
It's actually just a big vase :)

------
rdl
I have a pretty horrible office room (1BR condo with the living room/kitchen
combination turned into basically an office with a couple desks), but what I
do like is my desk itself -- it's one of the IKEA glass-top galants, and I
have 2 dual-monitor ergotron arms with 3 x 24" U2410 dell monitors and a
laptop stand for a mac. I have a PC (win7 or ubuntu, dual boot) with lots of
RAM, SSD, etc.) connected to all 3 monitors, but one of the monitors switches
with the macbook pro 17" left on the desk, and another is used for any "guest"
system I'm working on via vga, dp, or hdmi. I have 2 keyboards always on the
desk and sometimes a third.

When I move, I might switch to retina displays on arms for my primary systems,
but 32 is more tempting than 24. Standard-definition displays still work great
as big consoles, too.

------
arscan
My wife and I share a room on the brightest corner of our house. It's mainly
furnished with Ikea, which is cheap, functional and has a clean style that is
well suited for an office environment. I have a workstation with a couple of
24" monitors mounted to the wall. I was concerned that the desk wouldn't be
large enough, but having the monitors off the desk surface frees up more than
enough space for me. My mechanical keyboard makes typing at my desk a bit more
fun. And I can take my laptop over to a surprisingly comfortable chair in the
corner of the room when I get tired of sitting at my desk.

We also have a puppy that likes hanging out in the room and is a great source
of distraction.

[http://imgur.com/a/vj3mt](http://imgur.com/a/vj3mt)

------
chops
I cycle between working in my basement "office", my living room with a
convertible standing desk, and when the weather is permitting, out on the back
yard semi-patio-thing.

Relevant pictures:

[https://twitter.com/jessegumm/status/460019341355143168](https://twitter.com/jessegumm/status/460019341355143168)

[https://twitter.com/jessegumm/status/460020285786578944](https://twitter.com/jessegumm/status/460020285786578944)

[https://twitter.com/jessegumm/status/460019950338727936](https://twitter.com/jessegumm/status/460019950338727936)

------
sprite
Here is mine [http://imgur.com/a/5KRiL](http://imgur.com/a/5KRiL)

~~~
epsylon
This one is my favorite of this thread by far!

~~~
sprite
Thanks!

------
chrisan
I'm lucky to work from home full time. My wife does a bunch of drug research
when she get's home so it's nice to be in the same room. We are in the process
of moving so here is a photograph from our listing:
[http://i.imgur.com/aziRyhv.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/aziRyhv.jpg)

The desk was custom built for the office so not sure if we will take it with
us. I love wood working and would love even more to create this myself
someday, but my skills aren't there yet :)

~~~
icpmacdo
WOW, that is a really nice desk!

------
jeroen
The most notable not work related items in my office: a guitar, a Cromemco
Z-2D computer, a writing desk that I inherited from my grandmother, an old
square milk churn, a rusty leg vice that was my grandfathers and a Vroling
wood-burning stove (
[http://www.vroling.nl/afbeeldingen/vroling%20kachel.jpg](http://www.vroling.nl/afbeeldingen/vroling%20kachel.jpg)
, but mine is nicer).

And then there are the boxes in the corner, because we only moved here 3 years
ago. Oops.

------
ghaff
When I was having some renovations done a while back, I had a desk built into
a spare bedroom (that I was already using as a dedicated office). Basically,
its' about 10' long and wraps around one of the corners. The corner is where
my 2 monitors live as well as an articulated keyboard tray with a mechanical
switch keyboard and mouse + trackpad. And an old Aeron chair (which HM
replaced at no charge about 7 years into its warranty when a part broke!).

One of the nice things about this arrangement is that the corner is really
deep. At one time this let me use a big CRT. Now it just lets me shove lots of
USB drives and so forth out of the way. I have a few computers but I really
only use my Mac Mini most of the time.

Most of the remaining wall area is file cabinets and bookcases. Truth be told
a lot of the paper volume in the office is essentially "legacy" paper though I
have cleared a fair bit of that over the years. If I were starting today, I'd
probably make more of an effort to have as much digitized as possible. As it
is, a lot of the older material just isn't worth the effort.

I used to do most of my computer work in my office. Truth be told these days,
I often just work on my laptop in some other room. Not sure why I changed but
I find I like moving around unless I'm doing some task that's a lot better on
my desktop setup.

------
leemac
[http://i.imgur.com/KyNniKN.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/KyNniKN.jpg)

Mine is in one of the smaller rooms of my house that I work out of once in a
while. I belive the table top is the Ikea Gerton
([http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50106773/](http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50106773/))
that I bought a few years ago. Such a simple desk and loads of room. Pretty
heavy too.

~~~
r0m4n0
What's the make and model on your chair? Nice setup

~~~
leemac
It's a Herman Miller Embody. Very expensive, but my fiancee got a great
discount through work. Great investment if you sit all day.

[http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/performance-
wor...](http://www.hermanmiller.com/products/seating/performance-work-
chairs/embody-chairs.html)

Plenty of color options. We were told the white back wasn't possible for some
reason, but somehow the woman we worked with managed to sneak it in. Very
happy when it was delivered!

------
bananas
I don't have one really. I have a T400 thinkpad and work wherever I feel
comfortable. I avoid a specific place to work as I find that terribly
demotivating.

------
arfliw
My living room consists of my desk, TV and a small sofa. The desk is
positioned in the middle of the room, so I can see the TV. It's a terrible
setup for entertaining guests but it's nirvana for working from home. I'd hate
to be cramped up in a small office or next to my bed. Being able to watch TV
while I work allows me to be able to work for 12+ hours with no problem. And I
really like the extra space.

------
FireBeyond
[https://whatimg.com/i/Rk8suJ.jpg](https://whatimg.com/i/Rk8suJ.jpg)
[https://whatimg.com/i/mISJVr.jpg](https://whatimg.com/i/mISJVr.jpg)
[https://whatimg.com/i/rdhPMY.jpg](https://whatimg.com/i/rdhPMY.jpg) \- this
picture gives a better overall view.

Gallant corner desks - I've updated, since, to an iMac and Thunderbolt
Display. I want to go to a more simpler set up with a better quality desk.
Galant desks are nice, but I'm really wanting something with more texture,
sturdier.

Take the time and invest in cable management. It makes everything so much
better. On the other side of my office, what works awesome is an Ikea Expedit
turned on its side - [http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/images/products/expedit-
shelving-u...](http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/images/products/expedit-shelving-
unit__0092710_PE229408_S4.JPG) \- fits my two printers, Airport and a little
rock fountain just perfectly. I've worked at home for coming up on seven years
now.

------
Lennie
Linux.com has articles on what the Linux kernel developers do:

[https://www.linux.com/news/special-feature/linux-
developers](https://www.linux.com/news/special-feature/linux-developers)
[http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/search?query=...](http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLinuxFoundation/search?query=workspace)

------
bane
Spare bedroom my wife and I both use. We each bought two cheap IKEA desks
(they look like Galants, but with T-Legs, very basic) -- one desk for our
computers and monitors and such (sooo much space) and another for other
sundry. I have a 4 color laser all-in-one and the guts of a MAME machine I'm
working on on my second disk, my wife has mostly paperwork spread out. A pair
of comfortable, relatively cheap ($200) chairs from Costco. That's about it,
when it's organized better than it is right now, it's semi-minimal with tons
of surface space to work off of. Right now I have too many old computers in
there I need to dispose of or do something with and lots of other junk I need
to organize. I keep my photography equipment in there as well and we're
preparing for an overseas trip so all that junk is in there as well.

I try not to keep lots of books or anything in there. I have a separate
library room for books and various curio (the actual home office designed for
the home, but is just a hair too small for my current setup plus my wife's
plus my books).

------
micro_cam
In the middle of a move (out of a rental into a place we are buying) so no
pics but I work full time remote from the bitterroot mountains of Montana.

I use a costco wire shelving unit + a couple of boards as a standing desk with
a monoprice 27" ips monitor and a macbook pro. I have one shelf set up to keep
the monitor and macbook at eye height and another lower one with boards for
keyboards and mouse plus a drafting chair for when I want to sit. Also there
is one shelf on top and another a couple of inches bellow the keyboard shelf
for stability and storage and the whole thing needs to be against a wall to
work well.

It works pretty well but I find myself missing a sitting desk for days when
i'm too exhausted (from climbing and skiing mountains) to stand all day. Not
sure if I will purchase an adjustable or just set up two works stations once
we've moved. Either an arm to move my main monitor or a second monoprice is
cheaper then any adjustable desk i've seen.

Also a comfortable chair usually with a cat curled up in it, view of the
mountains and a closet full of climbing and skiing gear.

------
rukugu
A custom made desk by the window with an obscured Indian Ocean view (Mombasa).
Three monitors on the desk. Under the desk a build server and what was my main
computer stacked one over the other. I work from home, and all this is just at
the corner of what is supposed to be a bedroom. Nice curtains to have just
enough light in the room and a nasty array of various cables all over the
place.

------
mariocesar
I live in an apartment, first floor. I Work from home full time in Bolivia. I
accommodate a room with two desks, most of the time I use both and in
occasions I share one.

I don't like to have anything else in the room, when I want to rest I just get
out of my desk, for a coffe, a nap or answer my cellphone.

No TV in my apartment.

[http://i.imgur.com/O5myrqn.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/O5myrqn.jpg)

------
hermitcrab
I did a blog post a few years back with a compilation of pictures of offices
of independent programmers: [http://successfulsoftware.net/2009/07/27/where-i-
program/](http://successfulsoftware.net/2009/07/27/where-i-program/)

Check out the 'breaking bad' style office.

------
kingofspain
My (hopefully!) temporary setup consists of a table over the freezer in the
corner of the kitchen. Flanked by enormo-pepper grinder and box-radio. On the
plus side, I'm never far away from snacks...

[http://i.imgur.com/uBotECk.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/uBotECk.jpg)

------
graeme
I work from my apartment in the Plateau Mont-Royal neighborhood in Montreal.
It's a small prewar apartment, and the living room has its original stucco
walls.

I work sometimes from my desk, sometimes from a standing standing at the other
side of the room by the window, and sometimes from neighborhood cafes.

I posted pictures of my setup to /r/minimalism a while ago. Note that I have
since failed to keep up this system perfectly, but often my desk does look
like this. Seeing what I posted has inspired me to deal with loose paper
better, which is my main cause of clutter.

[http://www.reddit.com/r/minimalism/comments/1hi0i7/my_new_mi...](http://www.reddit.com/r/minimalism/comments/1hi0i7/my_new_minimal_desk_setup_pics_explanations/)

~~~
todsul
Hi Graeme, we're in Le Plateau too, moved here from SF (previously Berlin and
Sydney).

We have a nice office on Blvd Saint Laurent looking directly out onto Mont
Royal: high ceilings, 11 inch MBAs, 27in screens, Ikea trestle tables, etc.
It's not a home office per se, but home for us nonetheless.

You should drop by if you ever walk past. We're just above Code Black Coffee.

~~~
graeme
Oh cool, I actually spotted your office on a late night walk home a few weeks
ago. I'll drop by when I'm in the area during the day.

------
techaddict009
I am currently having a very simple one. But I admired this one
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/paladin27/3217388885/](https://www.flickr.com/photos/paladin27/3217388885/)
a lot. Will soon make out something like it.

------
pa7
I work from home part time (living in a small apartment) and built a standing
desk out of a shelf, a piece of wood and a black glass plate. I specifically
designed it as small and simple as possible so my work space has no physical
distractions and there is no space left for piling paperwork.

I also created a physical Kanban board to manage day-to-day tasks, it's right
next to the standing desk and I enjoy its omnipresence because I can always
see the big picture of my work. (also the mere exposure effect kicks in :) )

Here's a picture, it's small, it's simple, I love it: [http://www.patrick-
wied.at/misc/img/standing_table.jpg](http://www.patrick-
wied.at/misc/img/standing_table.jpg)

------
nemof
Funnily enough, MKBHD recently did a long video showing a variety of his
viewers setups recently. I've linked to the unique setups section as these are
possibly more interesting (there are quite a lot)
[http://youtu.be/pmnLca3FneU?t=1h53m23s](http://youtu.be/pmnLca3FneU?t=1h53m23s)

also worth checking out lifehacker which features a lot of setups too:

[http://lifehacker.com/most-popular-featured-workspaces-
of-20...](http://lifehacker.com/most-popular-featured-workspaces-
of-2013-1482839620)

[https://www.flickr.com/groups/lifehacker-workspace-
showandte...](https://www.flickr.com/groups/lifehacker-workspace-showandtell/)

------
re1ser
I work from home as a freelancer.

I use a flat desk, which I extended on both sides so its more wide. Under left
side of it is chassis & UPS, under right are routers and subwoofer. On far
left side on the desk you can see laptop, and on right one various stuff that
form one mess :) Also there is a white light lamp that forms nice soft
backlight in the background (it's not that strong as it is in picture). This
summer I plan to move, so I plan to get a new setup, a better desk and a
better cable management.

[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68877713/IMG_20140426_19...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/68877713/IMG_20140426_194809.jpg)

------
timmaah
I live full-time in an Airstream travel trailer with my wife.

This is my corner..
[http://www.watsonswander.com/assets/2014/02/TAW55485.jpg](http://www.watsonswander.com/assets/2014/02/TAW55485.jpg)

~~~
isuraed
Love it! What a simple life. I tried to convince my wife to live on a boat but
it was a no go with a new baby.

------
ja27
After kids ate up our spare bedrooms, my home office is a desk in the corner
of the master bedroom with my MacBook Pro. I mounted a monitor on the wall
with a swivel arm to clear a little desk space. A few hard drives for backups
in the corner. Too much clutter on the top of the desk.

I often work from a chair in the living room or the dining room table as well.
Or I go out to libraries, a hackerspace, McDonalds, sports bar, Barnes and
Noble, etc. to work.

I do have a low-power, mini server stack out in the family room, next to the
big TV. A Raspberry Pi, two Pogoplugs, a DDWRT router, a pile of hard drives.

------
ckeck
Darn, missed this thread yesterday. Here is mine. It's gone through some
changes...it's never perfect.

[http://imgur.com/a/3R5kP](http://imgur.com/a/3R5kP)

------
Rabidgremlin
Like this: [http://youtu.be/GAJSnJE8Fu4](http://youtu.be/GAJSnJE8Fu4) :) full
of junk and clutter. It is not a good example to follow

------
cool-RR
[https://ram.rachum.com/cv/images/workstation.jpg](https://ram.rachum.com/cv/images/workstation.jpg)

------
NAFV_P
I use either my coffee or dining table, both made of solid oak. If neither are
available, I use the floor. Being a big music fan, I often drag a pair of
portable speakers and a broken ipod around (currently hardcore, breakcore and
Scott Joplin).

Although I use a laptop, I stick to a mouse, touchpads drive me up the wall.
Generally speaking, I prefer my hardware ugly and robust, as opposed to sleek
and fragile.

------
spydum
Converted day 6'x6' walk in closet into my office.. Hung a 40" on the center
of the wall, with 20" panel.. Kneeling chair, and storage for books and stuff
around the top.. [http://imgur.com/PgLEaO3](http://imgur.com/PgLEaO3)

I thought it would feel cramped at first, but it doesn't.. Allows me much
greater focus, and everything is in arms reach.

------
patcheudor
Equipment. Equipment everywhere. You can't go wrong with scopes, frequency
generators, logic analyzers, power supplies, and good ol' t-slot. This isn't
quite my entire office but this should give you an idea:

[https://www.defaultstore.com/?q=node/42](https://www.defaultstore.com/?q=node/42)

It's only slightly less insane than my work office.

------
linxdeb
If you need an idea, pls take a look here :
[http://desk.cmiscm.com/](http://desk.cmiscm.com/)

~~~
frik
Thanks for the link to desk photos.

But, sorry to say so, that's one of the worst websites I have seen in 2014 - a
slow flash page with long animations, annoying sounds effects and bad UX (even
for year 2011).

------
BryanB55
Photo: [http://bryan.cx/ptRk/3k1S0VoL](http://bryan.cx/ptRk/3k1S0VoL)

I usually try to keep my office pretty simple and clean. White parsons desks,
aeron chair, cinema display and retina MBP.

I also have two Lifx bulbs in the lamps that I'm hoping to use for visual
notifications when they open their API.

~~~
matt_trentini
The API, providing iOS, Android and Ruby bindings, was released a few weeks
ago:

    
    
      http://blog.lifx.co/2014/03/24/announcing-the-lifx-api/
    

I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

------
lucio
Desk: two sawhorses tables, + view on the left, + view on the right. Shared
via G+ because we hipsters love dead technologies ;)

[https://plus.google.com/photos/118392785163397399948/albums/...](https://plus.google.com/photos/118392785163397399948/albums/6006614910159831297)

------
jseliger
Like this: [http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/the-geekdesk-
writin...](http://jseliger.wordpress.com/2012/09/23/the-geekdesk-writing-
space-post/) . The most notable part is the sit-stand desk. It would be very
hard to go back to sitting desks only.

------
BinaryAcid
I just moved my work setup back home.
[https://mobile.twitter.com/singularityhack/media/grid?idx=7&...](https://mobile.twitter.com/singularityhack/media/grid?idx=7&tid=403274315568652288)

------
hashtag
I have a standing desk (adjustable but not automatic to sitting desk) but I'm
on and off of it. My work setup anywhere is pretty much just my laptop
majority of the time regardless of where I'm using it.

------
mverwijs
I've created a standing desk by using wallshelves.

[https://secure.verwijs.org/tmp/standing_desk.jpg](https://secure.verwijs.org/tmp/standing_desk.jpg)

------
marcfowler
Nice and clean:
[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BlWngueCYAAQnl5.jpg:large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BlWngueCYAAQnl5.jpg:large)

------
iki23
Zenbook, cottage veranda or garden, between two rivers 15km from Prague (1h on
bike) ... just now, many birds are singing here from March to July

------
michaelmior
Desk, chair, laptop. That's really it for me and I find it's all I need.
Although I am interested in trying a standing desk.

~~~
frou_dh
A 1.25m tall chest of drawers full of clothes and stuff doubles as a standing
desk, so my inventory is "laptop" :)

~~~
michaelmior
I think I might try out this option next time I happen to drop by IKEA.
[http://iamnotaprogrammer.com/Ikea-Standing-desk-
for-22-dolla...](http://iamnotaprogrammer.com/Ikea-Standing-desk-
for-22-dollars.html)

------
vpj
Anyone tried deskless workstations (sitting on floor)?

~~~
culturestate
I work from home full time, and worked almost exclusively from my sofa for
about six months thanks to moving/space considerations. I don't recommend
typing a lot in any environment where you don't have arm or elbow support,
it's painful.

------
jzf
Like Tony Stark's basement.

------
swframe
I moved out of the US a year ago to travel around the world but never left the
first city I visited in asia. I work from home. My split level condo is on the
40th floor with a view of the sunset, ocean, and the city skyline. My office
moves from living room to bedroom depending on houseguests. I have 2 27" apple
cinema displays; each on its own aidata laptop desk that can be raised so I
can stand or sit. I have a chair that can recline from sitting position to
laying flat. I have a vibrating exercise machine that I stand on when I'm
tired of sitting. I have a surround system and a projector so I can watch hd
movies across from where I work. The projector screen is about 8 feet wide (I
wish I had the space to project a larger image). The projector is hooked up to
a macbook pro with a 4TB disk with about 1200 movies.

Despite all that, I think the best part is that my gf (who is half my age)
hangs out on the couch next to me.

~~~
imjustsaying
> Despite all that, I think the best part is that my gf (who is half my age)
> hangs out on the couch next to me.

Sexpat?

~~~
romanovcode
Nah, just your typical LBH.

~~~
imjustsaying
Just giving you a hard time. I'm in the same boat ;)

------
zhte415
Question: How does your office look like [Microsoft's] Answer: Because we
[employed the same interior decorator].

Question: How does your office look? Answer: It looks nice.

Question: What does your office look like? Answer: It uses XYZ colour scheme
and has lots of tables and chairs.

Question: What does your [ideal] office look like? Answer: I wish it had....

[For background: I am not big into being pedantic about 'correct' grammar, but
areas where small mistakes do create hours worth of confusion, sometimes
magnitudes of effect more (particularly within global collaborative
environments).]

~~~
maccard
Looks like most other people in this thread got the picture. This is overly
pedantic.

