Home Office Essentials of 2024

Putting together an effective workspace in your home has unique challenges, but it can also be a little adventure to indulge in. The home office is special because it’s all about you and your needs.

Your desk is a canvas of endless possibilities and inspiration that can help you take over the world, but world domination is a lot more difficult if you have random stuff all over the place. The top of your desk isn’t just the place where you put your work items; it's where you use your hands. And hands need space.

Desk mats are unique gadgets that reserve space on your desk for your hands by outlining a specific area and providing some much-needed comfort. The size you choose will largely depend on what your desk and accessories can accommodate, though.

The OrbitKey Desk Mat goes beyond a smooth surface to assume the role of a stylish storage solution. With this mat, there’s some space between the top and bottom layers for discreet storage of notes or private documents. This feature is the kind of thing that you’d rather have and not need than need and not have. It comes in two great colors that are perfect for any modern home office: Black and Stone.

Another item to help you keep those little things on your desk organized and within arms reach is the Desktop Organizer. It features a gorgeous wood tray carved out of a solid piece of white oak and a powder-coated pencil cup.

If you work from a monitor, it can take up a lot of valuable desk real estate, and a great way to free up that space and add some ergonomic flare is a quality Monitor Arm.

The triple-hinged monitor arm can help encourage better posture. As you maneuver the pitch, horizontal angle, and tension, you can keep the monitor at eye level (when your feet are planted firmly on the floor). With your monitor about 20 inches away and your back in a relaxed, upright position, you should feel reduced strain and discomfort after a long day.

With the right tools, you can keep your cables and power supplies neat and tidy so that they stay untangled and out of the way. Cable management used to be reserved for engineers and PC gamers, but this secret organization weapon has picked up steam over the past few years with the popularity of working from home.

There are dozens of methods and ways of keeping cables neat, but we’re going to cover just a few of our favorites. The Desk Mat has a magnetic cable holder that keeps your charging cable in place but is readily available. It’s fantastic for charging your Bluetooth earphones or iPhone.

Some of us need outlets readily available for plugging and unplugging things throughout the day, and the Freestanding Power strip does this efficiently thanks to three outlets. The stand comes in six colors that you can watch to either an ivory or graphite ten-foot cord.

These colorful combos will match and complement any home office decor you can dream up. If you want something with similar functionality but maybe a bit more hidden and discreet, In-Desk Power (which comes as an add-on to all our desks and tables) is still accessible and within reach so that you don’t have to reach underneath your desk.

It might be tempting to grab a chair from the dining room and call it a day, but you deserve better than that. Regular household chairs aren’t designed to be used for hours at a time while working. You need a dedicated desk chair that’s meant to support you all day.

If you find yourself needing to move around often and want something to scoot from desk to desk, the Saddle Chair could be your answer. Its Scandinavian design allows you to be more agile by not having armrests or a backrest which can inhibit those who need to move more dynamically.

The Saddle Chair actively encourages you to engage your core and open your hips. Its contoured design lowers your knees below your waist to ease the stress off of your lower back. The compact nature of the design makes it easier than other traditional desk chairs to stow away when not needed and pairs fantastically with Standing Desks to encourage more movement.

The Task Chair is a cost-effective way to bring home premium features without sacrificing style and functionality. This swivel model has a litany of useful adjustment points, quality materials, and outstanding support for most body types. It’s the type of ergonomic chair that will fit with any home office desk.

Creating a WFH home office is centered around one piece of furniture that will largely determine your capabilities and productivity — the desk. It’s a blank canvas full of possibilities, and we can help you pick the right desk for your style of work and needs.

Regular computer desks are tried and true, but it’s 2023, and it’s time for the home office to upgrade and evolve. Now that we are spending more time than ever in our homes, thanks to the popularity of remote work, we are more conscientious about being active.

The Standing Desk is deceptively simple. Its sleek appearance belies its incredible power. Its sturdy yet modern design can quietly lift up to 250 pounds and has an adjustable lift range of 25 to 52 inches. This range of adjustment allows you to find not just one custom height but a range of heights that can change with you throughout the workday.

The famous thinker Blaise Pascal from the 1600s once said, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” But Pascal never had a Standing Desk. Being able to comfortably stand while working helps keep us energized while still giving us the option to sit when we need to.

For all things that can’t fit on your desk organizers, the Credenza can help keep office necessities and desk accessories neat and even displayed. Accent pieces can be highly functional if utilized correctly, and our Credenza is designed in such a way that makes the process of organization easy.

The spacious shelving is the right size for easy access and a way to beautifully display personal items or office comforts like magazines or books. The lockable drawer is essential for those who handle private or proprietary documents and need a secure place for them.

Paired with a Standing Desk or Office desk, your productivity will skyrocket in style by creating an L-Desk that is ideal for executive spaces and home spaces that are a little more compact and require some space-saving.

For more conventional file storage with a modern edge, our Small Filing Cabinet stores files and papers with its standardized file sizing and has a sleek design suitable for the modern home office. The Small Filing Cabinet features a locking drawer (like the Credenza) for convenient security.

The ideal home office has as much natural lighting as possible. If you can, position your workstation in such a way that you can always see outside. Preferably, your desk is right in front of a window. This lighting arrangement makes video calls on Zoom or Google Meet look immensely better, even if you don’t have the best webcam.

If your window is not a suitable place for your desk, try hanging a mirror nearby to reflect ambient light. This placement can get you more light without a glare on your computer screen.

Not all of us have the luxury of having a dedicated home office space with a window. In these cases, bright desk lamps with warm bulbs (between 2000k to 3000k) are decent surrogates for the sun's natural glow. Generally, colder blue lights don’t give that comfortable feeling that warmer-toned bulbs cast off.

Light placement and control are pivotal when designing an aesthetically pleasing and comfortable environment. To control an excess of light, install two distinct layers to your window shades: blackout curtains and a thinner shade that allows roughly half the normal amount of light into the room.

You don’t have to be an expert botanist to maintain beautiful greenery in your workspace that keeps the room vibrant and oxygenated. The best office plants have low requirements for light and water because you never know if you will be away from your office on a trip for long periods.

Philodendron Atoms are great for smaller office spaces because they don’t take up much room on a desk, but it does need a space that receives some natural light but not directly. If you want foliage with a more streamlined design that fits into a modern aesthetic, Sansevieria plants feature a green tubular design.

They require very little water and only need to be watered about once a month. They almost look like cucumbers sticking right out of the soil, but it is actually one singular organism. This species thrives in low-light environments like home offices that have very minimal, if any, natural light at all.

If you’re not used to taking care of plants and are getting your feet wet in horticulture, ZZ plants are a safe bet. Like the other options mentioned, these plants require little light and water but have the distinction of not being very sensitive to overwatering.

There are two main things to look for in a laptop bag: protection and ease of access. Streamlined access means you won’t be fumbling to get your laptop out of the bag while in the airport security line.

The inner lining should be padded to protect the laptop from not only the outside world but also any other objects in the other compartments of the bag, such as your noise-canceling headphones, mouse pad, and the Bluetooth speaker you use to play tunes while you work.

Battery banks will save the day when you need them the most; sometimes, power outlets and wireless charging stations aren’t available. Make sure to pick one with sufficient capacity that can output enough power to charge your laptop.

Some battery banks have a lot of capacity but don’t have ports that support the watts your laptop needs. Check your laptop’s power supply requirements and go from there. A quick tip: Only charge your laptop with a battery bank while the laptop is not in use. If you power up your computer while using it, the battery bank will lose its charge much faster.

If you use a MacBook for work and also own an iPad, double your screen real estate by using the Sidecar functionality on your iPad. This makes your iPad effectively act as a second monitor you can use on the fly.

If your workflow allows for it, try out Apple's Universal Control feature that enables you to seamlessly use your Bluetooth keyboard, wireless mouse, and trackpad across your Mac and iPad. After enabling the feature, simply place your iPad next to your Mac. Now, you can bounce back and forth from your devices.

Your home office is a sanctuary that you can customize to your heart's content without as many rules or boundaries as you would find in a regular office. This is your opportunity to get creative and tailor your work environment to your needs. To get started, take our Design My Office Quiz to find your next stroke of inspiration.

Sources:

Standing desks can improve well-being, reduce stress among office workers | Study Finds

Tree Philodendron (Thaumatophyllum bipinnatifidum 'Super Atom') | The National Gardening Association

Shining Light on What Natural Light Does For Your Body | NC State University

Computer Monitor - Office Ergonomics | Grand Valley State University

All About ZZ Plants: Sunlight, Care, & Growing Tips | The Spruce