My New Office Space and Standing Desk

There’s one room in our house I’ve never shared on the blog before. And it’s a shame because it’s the first room you see when you enter our home. But we were never happy with it. We usually kept the French doors shut and ushered people past it as fast as we could.

That room is our home office.

But now I’m excited to share it with you.

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This room has gone through a pretty big transformation. First of all, it didn’t even used to be a space I used at all. It was my husband’s space. With a wall to wall desk unit, there wasn’t enough space for me in there.

When we finished our basement a few years ago, I was so excited to get an office space of my own (because we certainly didn’t need a fifth bedroom). Before that point I was using a corner of our laundry room for my office, but I shared the space with my kids arts and crafts supplies and piles of laundry.

At first my new secluded office in our daylight basement was a dream come true. But it started to feel a little too secluded when my kids started school and my dogs preferred to hang out upstairs. I kept finding excuses to work upstairs “for the day,” especially in the winter when the basement is always 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house.

Then 2016 turned out to be a very hard year for me. I suffered from chronic back pain the entire year that doctors told me was from five herniated discs. I wasn’t working much at all, I couldn’t even sit comfortably anywhere, and so I never went to my office for an entire year. Thankfully after a lot of physical therapy and mindset work, I’m doing much better now.

When I did start working again, I preferred to stand at my computer. I went through several makeshift standing desks before deciding to invest in an adjustable height desk earlier this year.

One thing I knew: I didn’t want my new desk in my old office.

So we started the process to transform my husband’s office into a shared space. He only works from home 1-2 days per week on a good week, so he doesn’t need a dedicated space.

For most of 2016, I used one of his bookcases as a standing desk for my laptop. I realized I loved working in his office. It’s at the front of the house, so I can see what’s going on in the neighborhood (which is also why my dogs love his office too).

The one thing that wasn’t working for me (or my husband) in this space was the big, dark desk unit. It went wall to wall under the three square windows. We both hated sitting or standing there with our back to the door and big window. (Apparently we despised the old version of our office so much that neither one of us has a before picture to show you. Sorry.)

We didn’t even use the computer in the desk unit. It’s our family computer. We each used our own laptops. So the very first thing we did was move the family computer to our living room (I’ll share that space soon), where our boys can have better, supervised access to the computer.

Our goal was to simplify our office. To have less furniture and more space to move around. Our new office is very minimal on purpose.

We donated the old desk unit and bookcases to Salvation Army, leaving us with just one short bookcase and my new standing desk in the room.

To take full advantage of the windows in this room, I decided to center the desk under the high windows jutting out into the room so when I work I can see out the big window.

The other advantage to this arrangement is my husband can share my desk from the other side when he’s home. The desk is 28″ deep and 60″ wide, so plenty of room for both of us.

When I got my new desk (more details on that below), I also upgraded to a new computer. For years I worked on a tiny 11″ MacBook Air. I was ready for something bigger. I don’t think I’ll ever go back to working on a tiny screen again!

My New Sit/Stand Desk

The most important thing in this room is the desk. I researched standing desks for months before finally picking this one. There are a lot of standing desk options and most of them have “sticker shock” prices. I was *this* close to settling for the IKEA standing desk solely based on price, when I found this desk with far more design options for not much more.

My desk is by Uplift Desk. I chose the white base and bamboo top. One of the things I love about Uplift desks is they come standard with the motorized keypad with memory for four different height settings. Most other manufacturers charge a huge markup to add this feature.

Three more reasons I love my Uplift desk:

• It was manufactured in the USA (Austin, TX) and shipped to me for free
• It’s height adjustable from 24.5″ to 50.5″. Many standing desks do not go this high. I am 5’10” and regularly have my standing desk height is 43.5″. I love that I can bump it up to 47″+ to get a more flattering angle when I’m using my webcam.
• You get to design your own desk choosing the frame finish, desktop, shape (rectangular or L-shape), and size.
• Bonus: You can also get just the base with the digital keypad for under $500 and add your own desktop or tabletop. A great option if you want to DIY the top or already have a desktop you want to convert.

The beautiful thing about a height adjustable desk is flexibility. Now I’m not locked into one position. Throughout the day I switch between standing and perching on a stool. Occasionally, I sit. So I keep a few seating options behind my desk (more on those below).

Have questions about using a standing desk?
Check out how I transitioned to a standing desk and see my answers to common questions, like, “Don’t you get tired of standing all day?” or “Do your legs get sore?” Spoiler alert: No. If you do it right, no part of your body should get sore.

When I Don’t Want to Stand…

For sitting, I alternate between the Eames Eiffel arm chair that we used at our old desk and an IKEA Nilserik standing support stool. It’s an active stool, meaning it tilts when you sit on it so your weight is distributed between your feet and the stool. It’s better for your posture. It’s also a steal at $49.99. I knew I wanted to try an active stool, but most are $200+. I was so happy to find this one.

The only downside to the IKEA stool (and most other active stools) is the color options. IKEAs comes in white or black. I always choose white when it’s an option, except when it’s white plastic. The showroom stool did not look white anymore. I’d much rather have a black stool, then one that constantly looks dirty.

To lessen the harshness of the black (sorry, black is my least favorite color), I recovered the cushion in this fun gray and cream geometric fabric. I also gave my mousepad a matching makeover using fusible web to iron on the fabric.

Simple Wall Decor and Storage for Workout Gear

Instead of fighting the black on the stool and my computer monitor and printer, I decided to go with it…in small doses.

I used mostly white frames on the picture ledges, but added a few black frames for contrast.

You’ll notice the picture ledges and flag are off to one side of the long wall. That’s because I didn’t want anything directly behind the desk, so I could move freely without bumping stuff on the walls but also so there is nothing distracting behind me when I use my web cam.

The picture ledges used to be a gallery of our Air Force memorabilia, which is a little too personal when selling a home. I removed the military stuff as part of my early prep to get our home on the market. When we do officially put the house up for sale, I will swap out the pictures in these frames for generic art prints.

Underneath the picture ledges I added baskets to hold some workout gear.

For the past nine months I’ve been taking a martial arts class with my husband (while our kids take a class together). It’s been a HUGE part of my recovery from back pain. We do a lot of stick work with bamboo sticks. We only go to class on the weekends, so the rest of the week I like having our gear in the office for when I need a mental break. I can step out from behind my desk and practice my stick movements or my foot work. When my husbands home, we use the Thai pads and focus mitts for impromptu kicking and punching practice.

Minimal Office Storage

One of the reasons it took so long for us to redo this space was decluttering the old desk. It had a ton of storage. We spent weeks clearing it out, donating boxes of books, getting rid of old electronics, and getting our remaining paper files in order.

The big desk unit was an excuse to hold onto and store a bunch of junk we didn’t need, instead of dealing with it.

Now that that is all taken care of, we hardly need any storage in here at all.

Our small dark bamboo bookcase turned out to be the perfect size to hold our printer and a tray for paper. I already had the pair of jute and bamboo baskets that match the new desk. We’re using them to hold small electronics like our scanner and computer cords.

I finished styling this bookcase with a couple of teal vases (because I can’d do a room without a little teal or turquoise), books, and a wooden sphere. I like the slightly masculine vibe for this minimal space.

I won’t be doing anymore decorating in this room. One thing I’ve learned is that I work better in a streamlined, clutter-free space. In my old office, I love the style wall shelves and decorated space…it looks great, but it’s not the type of environment I work best in.

What do you think? Could you work in a minimal space like this?

P.S. Wondering what it’s like to use a standing desk?
Check out how I transitioned to a standing desk and see my answers to common questions, like, “Don’t you get tired of standing all day?” or “Do your legs get sore?” Spoiler alert: No. If you do it right, no part of your body should get sore.