cjwood23
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 03:20 PM |
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Refurbing my Home Office - thoughts please!
My home office needs a major re-work.
Currently it has an old pine desk and book shelf in there that we had with us when we moved in.
As work are being kind and improving the fleixble working hours and working from home side of our conditions I need to sort out a nice working
space.
Problem is the room is only 1700mm W x 1400mm D - so more of a large cupboard than an office - no natural daylight....
I have looked at second hand office furniture but the desks/workstations are all too deep at 850mm.
As the room is so compact I need to make as much use of the space as I can with maximum workspace and maximum storeage.
I've decided to go down the 'make it myself' route - which could be fun as my DIY skills aren't world class.
Inspired by something I saw on the Ikea site I've come up with this so far (I love Google Sketchup!):
Plan is for the cupboard under the desk to house the PC tower, wall mount my 20" monitor and have a small shelf on the LHS above the desk for
the printer - that should give me a large enough workspace for laptop, folders and an A1 drawing.
Will also have a desk grommet for keyboard, mouse etc. from the desktop and one on the other side for phone charger, laptop power etc.
Will also be looking at some wall shelves in addittion to the book case to display my model collection.
Another thought I had was ditch the one drawer unit and extend the workingspace round one side - problem is the door return limits this to about 400mm
D.
The roof is flat above, so I could potentially get a roof light put in.
Any suggestions on how I could improve this?
______________________
Chris
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loggyboy
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 03:38 PM |
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I much prefer a corner workspace, but it depends on what sort of work you do.
If you do want corne then put the PC in the corner this allows you to make a small bend of the body to reach the workspaces on either side of the PC.
IE for me, working on architectural drawings, I may have a large A1 drawing on onside of my PC, and selection of A3s on the other side to allow me to
(re)view the drawings, comment on the others and change things on the PC and only move/rotate me my chair/body a small distance.
Also clear the floor space for chair movement, use the walls for storage (or a tall unit on one side as you show)
If you tend work in one place (ie always on the PC) then this isnt (as) relevant!
Mistral Motorsport
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CNHSS1
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 04:00 PM |
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This is what I do for a living! our premises are in Telford, 15mins from you, and we do new and used.
reasons for depths are that 800mm deep is the H&S recommended standard for an 8hr working day workstation, so almost all commercial office
furniture is based on that depth. The other industry standard is 600mm deep, which is far more use for Home offices, and we do a lot of furniture
based on this depth too.
other standards you'll need to know, is that desk top surface height is mandated at 725-740mm, so all pedestals (drawer units) and chairs will
be aimed at this height.
the Ikea stuff is easily accessible but not, how shall I put this, the greatest in terms of quality or fit.
they tend to make things like drawer sizes fit the space available so normal files, Lever Arch/Box and suspension files rarely fit 
as has been suggested you need to plan whats going in the room and how you work. If your work is predominantly PC based (accounts/web based etc) theb
you wont need oodles of surface area, but if you were say a builder/architect, and read plans all day long, then surface area is critical.
given the compact dimensions of the space, height for storage is key.
below are what we do for people to plan rooms for new furniture to give some ideas
] [/URL]
] [/URL]
we supply all the 'gubbins' if you want to fit out yourself, the cable ports, USB/data/power blocks that can be hidden/sunk into vertical
or horizontal surfaces.
much of the storage we do is multi-user, in that the carcass will take inserts for shelves, pullout filing cradles (acts like a filing cabinet) data
storage racks, trays with drawers, etc etc. This is good where you need a filing cabinet, some shelves, an odds and sods drawer etc, and also future
proofs as you can change the internal fittings to suit or even turn into a wardrobe!
if you want to pop in and have a chat, or email me the layout you have in DWG format along with a 'wish-list' of what you need to get in
there, I will take a look for you :-)
Craig
[Edited on 23/10/13 by CNHSS1]
"Racing is life, everything else, before or after, is just waiting"---Steve McQueen
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nick205
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 04:10 PM |
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Is there a window in the room?
If not, you also need to think carefully about lighting, particularly if you're working for several hours at s stretch. Others may disagree,
but I actually find the latest LED lighting (GU10 type bulbs) very comfortable to work with.
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scimjim
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 04:41 PM |
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how much storage do you need for reference material etc? overhead cupboards will have the added advantage of being able to mount downlighters as you
have no natural light.
My office isn't much bigger but luckily has a large window on the LH wall and I've got wall to wall, floor to ceiling bookcases on the RH
wall for reference material and under-desk cabinets for filing. The door is also a problem and I'm considering removing it (there's no
need for it in my case but if you have ankle snappers at home etc it may be vital  )
as Craig suggests, have a chat with the professional, he will ask the right questions and advise on what's best for you.
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steve m
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 04:53 PM |
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I can only advise in one area,
personly I would not want my back to the door, as I had that in my spare room, and while playing a flying game with ear phones on, and loud, wifey
came in and tapped me on the shoulder, as she was going to bed, and frightened the f *****g daylights out of me
I believe yours is an office, but I would still prefer to have some sideways vision to the door
or a mirror !!
Steve
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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Daddylonglegs
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 05:11 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by steve m
.... and while playing a flying game with ear phones on, and loud, wifey came in and tapped me on the shoulder, as she was going to bed, and
frightened the f *****g daylights out of me
Never heard those sort of sites called flying games before 
It looks like the Midget is winning at the moment......
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steve m
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 05:32 PM |
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"Never heard those sort of sites called flying games before "
hahaha
Thats was probably spelt wrong, or had some grammer, that the "grammer police have to have a moan at
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cjwood23
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 06:58 PM |
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Thanks for the advice so far guys - much appreciated.
I'm an Electrical Engineer so computer and drawings (A1) are used on the desk.
Ideally want my home PC tower under the desk to free up as much work space as I can.
Had considered some wall cupboards but was concerned it would feel claustrophobic.
As previously mentioned a shelf at high level for my model collection would be good too.
Criag - thanks for the offer. I can knock up a DWG if you don't mind having a look. U2U me your email address and will sort one out.
______________________
Chris
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nick205
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 07:56 PM |
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The other comment I'd make would be how much storage do you really need?
Flat surfaces, cupboards and drawers always seem to attract "stuff", much of which ends up staying there for a long time and gathering
dust.
Would a 2nd large screen help with viewing drawings rather than lots of paper?
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tul214
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 08:09 PM |
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some good ideas on this site.
just search 'office'
1.6 Raw Super6 sold
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Barkalarr
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| posted on 23/10/13 at 09:13 PM |
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My mate has just dropped round (last night) 13 call centre desks for me to sell.
I'll take some pictures tomorrow but they are small approx 1.2m wide with a scalloped front.
any good?
photos to come.
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Ivan
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| posted on 24/10/13 at 07:47 AM |
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As an engineer I find two screens essential - one to view plans and the other to view and work on documents, spreadsheets and data bases. Leave room
for that in the future. Also I would want at least 23" screens.
I also find a slide out keyboard and mouse tray useful as it enables me to have working papers on the desk without interference from the keyboard.
[Edited on 24/10/13 by Ivan]
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cjwood23
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| posted on 24/10/13 at 08:05 AM |
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Once again guys, thanks for the input.
Ideally I need storage for my photography equipment and a few other bits and bobs.
Also need shelving/storage for books, box files etc.
The 20" should be fine to start off with (trying to do this to a bit of a budget) as for work stuff I'll use my laptop and the monitor to
give an extended desktop - just as I do when I'm in the office (and I only have a 17" at work!!).
I appreciate that if I have too much flat space it'll get covered in crap - but trying to get disciplined in not dumping stuff in there, which
is happening at the moment because it's not a very user friendy space.
______________________
Chris
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matt_gsxr
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| posted on 24/10/13 at 09:52 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by cjwood23
The 20" should be fine to start off with (trying to do this to a bit of a budget) as for work stuff I'll use my laptop and the monitor to
give an extended desktop - just as I do when I'm in the office (and I only have a 17" at work!!).
Big screens have fallen massively in price. 24inch are less than £150 and make work so much easier.
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cjwood23
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| posted on 24/10/13 at 11:02 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by matt_gsxr
quote:
Originally posted by cjwood23
The 20" should be fine to start off with (trying to do this to a bit of a budget) as for work stuff I'll use my laptop and the monitor to
give an extended desktop - just as I do when I'm in the office (and I only have a 17" at work!!).
Big screens have fallen massively in price. 24inch are less than £150 and make work so much easier.
Just checked - they're cheaper than I thought!
I suppose I could possibly stretch to a bigger monitor.
______________________
Chris
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