Home-working is something that I’ve been used to since before the millennium, I started work in 1999 for British Telecom (BT) and for the majority of that time I was a contractural homeworker. It meant that BT considered my home office my ‘base’ and therefore they also provided me with a desk, chair, office equipment (like a printer etc) to be fully functional, I even had ISDN2 run to the house giving me an amazing 128k connection ! But even back in those days the reality was that rarely a week went by where I was in the office all the time.
Fast-forward to today and scrolling through my emails of February and March 2020 it reads of a world imploding – people trying to keep pace with the rate of change, restrictions coming into force and corporate policy (both for us and our customers) changing in real time. I was hearing stories of people flying to meetings on the other side of the planet, to find whilst they were in the air the customer had changed their policy and now no F2F meetings could take place.
After a year of nothing but home-working, it was time for #Upgrades and I wanted to write this as I’m sure others are also reflecting on what to do with their home offices.
Start with Craftsmanship and a great desktop
The ‘desk’ is the heart of the office, and it’s also the bit that you interact with the most, it’s the part that is tactile – and it was a bit that I wanted to get right. I knew that I wanted to change from a desk that I sat at all day to one I could stand and work at. Partially because I wanted something I could change position in, but also because I just don’t feel natural presenting to an audience sitting down.
I decided to go bespoke and get a custom Oak desk made. By going custom I could get something that fitted my space and that I could customise. I went for well rounded corners to give a modern feel and it allowed me to incorporate accessories where I wanted them – such as a Wireless charger in the exact place my hand would want to reach to grab my phone for example.
I also wanted craftsmanship, so turned to The Furniture Makers – a small family run company based in Cambridge who put the focus on quality and craftsmanship. I worked with them on the design, sending CAD models to and fro as we identified the shape, size and locations of accessories.
Working with Tom I was able to send him the charging pods and other elements that would go into the desk so that he could pre-test and assemble things removing the risk of getting something delivered that didn’t fit or work in the space that I had planned.
I can’t say enough how important the desk is to your home office, you can get in touch with Tom via [email protected] or visit them online here to discuss any designs. I am so so glad I didn’t just opt for a veneered ‘fake’ wooden desk – sitting with the texture and tactile feeling of a solid oak desk makes me feel more connected with nature every day when I’m sat in my office !
Sitting and or Standing ?
You could spend a year researching sitting/standing desks and the different manufacturers and designs, but if I’ve learnt anything in life; its that Scandinavians have a flair for design and reliability – and so after weeks of research and reading reviews I was drawn to the Flytta 2 (pronounced fyeetta I’m reliably informed by my Nordic colleagues)
I went for white as I wanted a clean feeling to the office and now I have it installed it’s clear where the money went, this desk is rock solid whether it’s in the lower or upper positions. I ordered it with a programmable keypad that allows me to pre-program 4 different height settings and the movement is silky smooth, I honestly marvel at the engineering involved in this desk frame. It also has a really sensitive collision detection system, at the slightest hint of a cable pulling or it coming into contact with someone, it will reverse back and stop. This was the single most expensive part of the desk, but having used standing desks that wobble around when raised, and having the added risk of monitors on arms that would only accentuate the wobble, this was totally the right choice and worth EVERY penny. You can pick one up for £900 online here. Tom at The Furniture Makers Cambridge ensured that the custom desktop was perfect for the desk including a couple of post-delivery tweaks.
Charging – For charging I knew that I wanted a wireless charger that would fit into a standard ‘Grommet’ size hole in the desk. With technology changing (and my last desk lasting 22 years) I didn’t want to be stuck with yesterday’s technology. Charging devices seemed to either be a £9.99 plastic puck that looked like it would fail inside a week, or very expensive commercial designs costing over £100 and designed to be sunk into a Coffee shop table.
In the end I came across this excellent model from Belkin that sat between the two for £39. It sits almost flush to the desk, with a high quality rubberised finish and a light to indicate power and charging. Since installing it, it’s been a godsend !
Laptop Stand – As well as my home desktop PC I also wanted somewhere for my work laptop to rest (it wasn’t going to be moving much over the coming months) so I needed something elegant that would look good on the desk. In the end I chose this awesome wooden ARC stand from Kalibri. At just £27.99 it comes with three different silicone inserts, perfect for everything from a MacBook Air through to a MacBook Pro and also looks great on the desk.
Alongside my laptop I also needed a way to hold my Desktop PC under the desk (with the desk going up and down you want to minimise the number of cables that have to move with the desk) so it makes sense to hang a desktop PC unit under. There are lots of options on the market, but in the end I went for a rather cheap option – a frame that uses a pair of straps to hold the CPU unit under the desk. This has a number of advantages not least of all the ability to easily adapt to accommodate a range of sizes, but also to flex and move so if I do turn and catch it – I’m not hitting a rigid object ! They’re a bargain at £12 on Amazon at the moment !
Monitors, Cameras and Mounting
So the next buying choice surprised me, as I’d expected to be buying a high-end dual monitor mount, however after doing far more research that is healthy I discovered that Amazon Basics Monitor mounts are actually exceptional, and thus I bought the previous generation version of this great mount – coming in at just under £60 for a really robust mount. I’ve not been brave enough to mount the stand through the top of my desk as yet, but the huge solid metal clamp does a great job of holding my 2 x 27″ monitors in place and comes well cushioned so there’s no risk of it damaging the beautiful surface of my desk.
As for the monitors themselves, I wanted something that would work at about an 80cm distance from me, and ideally a second monitor that would go alongside my gorgeous DELL 27″ 4K P2715Qt monitor that I’d been using as my main day to day screen. In the end I went for another DELL screen, the Dell U2719D 27″ Ultrasharp which at just over £300 is a bargain, has USB-C connectivity for my MacBook Pro as well as USB 3 ports on the side as a hub. I have this connected to both my MacBook Pro AND my home PC meaning when work ends, I can extend the display of my home PC across both 27″ screens easily by using the HDMI input3 for the screen.
Camera
Lots of people will swear by using a Digital SLR camera with a feed out into their computer, but I’ve found that the Logitech Brio is actually a fantastic camera with great output and seems to work well in my office. Choosing a webcam is a really personal thing and whilst you don’t get much chance to ‘try them out’ these days – picking what works for the colour temperature of light in your office, and the field of view that works for you is what matters most. Having said that, the Brio does seem a great all-rounder and you can get them online still which is more than can be said for some cameras. As for mounting, it just lives on top of my monitor – nothing more complex than that.
Making and Hearing Sound
If you are going to be on Zoom Calls a LOT then you want to do your best to hear great sound, and not rely on tinny cheap speakers for your setup. Likewise if you decide you want to stick on some music as you work, you want to be able to enjoy the sound.
Hearing Sound – For me there was only one choice, and that is the amazing Bose Companion 50 Multimedia Speakers. This awesome sounding speaker set focusses on doing 2.1 stereo sound really well – as well as looking fabulous. They were a bit of an indulgence as coming in at £250 they’re quite an investment for a some speakers on a desk, but I thank myself every time I open up a Zoom session and hear crisp clear sound.
Making Sound – On that subject of sound on Zoom calls, relying on the built in mic in a webcam (or even worse the mic in your laptop) won’t do the quality of your presentation any favours. I spent a few weeks noting down the people who sounded really clear on their Zoom calls, particularly when they were presenting and took the time to ask them what they were using and how they had stuff set up. Almost all of them were using a Yeti Blue – a really sturdy microphone that offers great pick-up and range alongside simplicity of operation. You can pick them up for about £120 online and they’ll make a huge difference to how you sound on a Zoom call.
I have mine mounted on a movable arm so I can ensure it’s in the right place for me when I’m sitting or standing at the desk, and it also helps keep the level of clutter down on the desk. I spent a while looking around at various options ranging from the expensive to the budget – and in the end I went for a mid-range option which has worked perfectly in the office space and was just £37 – click here for a link and details.
Zoom Control
Are you even doing Zoom’ing correctly if you don’t have a Stream Deck to make your life easier ? I first picked up on this via @JoeBeda who wrote this great post on using it and I was lucky enough to be gifted one by VMware – I’ve got the 15 key one which offers me just the right amount of flexibility.
If you’ve not come across one of these before, they’re a revelation -and you can pick the 15 key one up for about £150 online. Each of the keys is a little display screen which you can program using the easy Stream Deck software including of course creating a custom button (that can even change image if you toggle things like mute on and off), it’s dead simple to program !
I’ve now made myself profiles for my Stream Deck to help with Zoom and another one for AutoDesk Inventor the CAD package that I use when I’m busy designing parts for 100kg Combat Robots (a whole different story)
Putting it all together
I resisted the temptation to throw everything together at once, instead I worked with the desk and slowly introduced more elements as time went by. This allowed me to work out what kit I wanted where, and where to run cables.
One…More…Thing [Update]
Eagle eyed readers have spotted a strange looking device hiding on the desk at the back of the top picture and have asked what it is. It is in fact a 3D Mouse called a “Space Mouse’ and made by 3Dconnexion. At allows me to interact seamlessly with 3D models in CAD packages when I’m doing design work, zooming, twisting, spinning a model using one hand. A little hard at first they soon become a totally intuitive way to interact with objects on your screen in 3D. You can find out more about them here, and buy them here.
So that’s about it, here’s the full Bill of Materials
- Desk – Bespoke Oak – £700
- Sit/Stand Desk Frame – Flytta 2 – £800
- Integrated Charger – Belkin – £39.00
- Laptop Stand – Kalibri Wood Laptop Stand – £27.99
- Dual Screen Monitor Arm – Eono by Amazon – £59.99
- 2 x 27″ Monitors – DELL 27″ Ultrasharp U2719D – £332.00 each
- Webcam – Logitech Brio 4K – £189.00
- Speakers – Bose Companion 50 – £257.00
- Microphone – Yeti Blue – £120
- Microphone Boom Arm – Inno Gear – £38.99
- Zoom Control – Elgato Stream Deck – £149.99
*Amazon links generate affiliate payments
If you’ve any questions, comments, suggestions or recommendations then please don’t hesitate to get in touch, moving to a properly thought through desk has really changed my home working experience and I hope some of this is food for thought for you too.