Basically, corner rooms are best.
When we worked with a German company, I was impressed by their offices. They tended to have two engineers per office, with really large windows.
I was told there's actually a law that requires it.
I remember visiting the Facebook office, in New York, and was kind of aghast. It was this huge open-plan cavern, with the managers' offices around the edges (with the windows), and rows of desks, in a fairly dimly-lit pit, in the middle. Of course, the desks all faced each other, and the engineers' backs were to the aisles, with no real buffer between where people walked, and where they worked. It was also noisy.
The Japanese do something similar, but at the company I worked for, there was a lot of natural light in the open-plan offices. The managers don't get offices; just desks, nearer the windows, and the aisles were quite wide.
A VP, with a billion-dollar budget, would have a little desk in the corner that would embarrass a fifth-grade teacher.
And the offices were whisper-quiet, with hundreds of people working in the room.
Out of curiosity, I was trying to find a source for that, but didn't find much other than old Reddit threads and a 'viral TikTok trend.'
Maybe it's not so much of a joke....
For a while, I had one of those kneeling chairs that I kept in front of my desk, so if you wanted to sit down and chat, it was like you had to kneel in front of me. I only did it as a joke, but it was amusing. It didn't last very long because someone took it away and replaced it with a regular chair.
If you're concerned about the window's position, ancient Feng Shui advised the window should be located to your side, specifically on the side of the hand you don't use for writing. I think their reasoning was: this way, your head and the hand you use for writing won't cast shadows on the area where you're writing.
It is better for privacy and receiving clients, but a disadvantage is less physical space in the center/walking area. You can play with lego on the ground, too. I would also get rid of the bookshelf. Get an ereader. There is no way you need all those books physically in your vicinity (I am not arguing you should give up 100% on physical books).
Worse, if my desk wouldn't be at the wall (in corner) my cats wouldn't be able to hide in that corner under the desk, and they could play easier with cables which would also be way more in sight. Against the wall? Not so much. I do regret not getting a sit/stand desk, but the extra cost back then was too large. Oh, and I like Ikea. You can sell those refurbished for good price, too.
A dream setup.
I've got wooden IKEA shelves in my shed and they take serious abuse of big heavy tools, lawn mowers, car batteries, paint cans etc being non-carefully put/clattered away and they're holding up 100% after years. I can't imagine any normal shelves needing to be "well made" to support a few magazines and a toy model Porsche?
Or is this just a "because I am rich and want you to know how rich I am" type thing?
I would love a table that has uneven solid wood surface, with cracks and scratchers, burn marks, broken corners, worn-out edges, ink-marks everywhere, shaped out by the usage, not by design.
There are bits in here that are a little bit over-designed in my opinion. Do you really need two fountain pens at the ready? Must they be there on the desk at all times? I find I carry my single fountain pen with me when I need it. I also can't see myself always sitting at the desk to read. I have books scattered about the house wherever I was reading last. Also, it's great to have such a wide desk for both digital and analog, but how many of us have the space for that luxury? Anyway, just food for thought if you look at something like this and feel jealous and think whatever space you work in today is now poorer for seeing someone else's nicer setup.
To be fair, the huge window by the desk in the article makes it a naturally more appealing space than my own. But it’s enough to make me rethink the layout we have here so far. Especially since we want space for non digital projects too.
There's an area on the middle floor landing that could make an ideal little desk area.
It's something like 150cm wide (my existing desk is 140cm) and deep enough for my 70cm deep desk and existing chair. There is a window directly ahead. The only problem is isolation, there's no door to close things off (noise or distractions), but I may be able to make do with a heavy curtain and my existing noise cancelling headphones.
This would mean that the spare bedroom (which would usually be the home office) could be an alternative home office for myself or my wife, and more of a spare bedroom for visitors. Right now our existing spare bedroom is a dedicated office.
I'm going to use the article as inspiration for the spare bedroom and not just putting the desk up against the wall as I would usually do, but the planning depends on what size bed we can get in this room as well as a desk.
If I had a larger home, a dedicated den or study room would be a pretty high priority for me. I want my office to be a minimalist, businesslike space with no distractions that focuses me on the screen where my work happens. But the study is a place for clearing my head, thinking and reading, more about comfort, dimmer lighting, familiar objects, and no screens unless I bring in a small e-reader.
What I like to do is think of the office less as a discrete space and more like a colonial, expansionist government - if I have sat in a chair for any amount of time, anything in a five-foot radius starts accruing stacks of books, paper pads, that kind of thing. My wife loves this! Sometimes it gets cold in a room and I leave it for a while and when I return months later it's like discovering an office from the past
Aside from the obvious advantage of more space it really helps put your mind in a different context when you are at a different location. In his example just moving over slightly would do nothing for me with the computer just arms length away and still in full view.
That's some lateral thinking[0] right there.
Maybe one day I could face my desk away from a wall.
I have considered that as a dual setup (a desk towards room and a desk behind you up against wall)
I think it would be better to have the analog side on the opposite side of the desk, so you wouldn't be able to peek at the screen so easily and get distracted.
- A sitting desk for coding
- A standing desk for thinking and working on paper
There is something magical about standing while working on paper.
I’ve also found that this separation became more important to follow since the arrival of LLMs.
> If I’m reading a book, once the kids are asleep, I have 3–4 hours each evening, and I also have free time on the weekends. So it’s possible to read a lot of books as a father of two kids. I could probably read even more if I stopped spending time on other things, like writing for my blog, learning piano, or doing industrial design.
Long story short, what kind of desk are you working with? I would consider my desk fairly small but it has lots of room for common things.
That was everywhere in my childhood.
For those not aware of them, Design Within Reach has a lot of nice famous designed furniture and shelving, but pricey. They often have 15% off season sales though. Good place to shop if you're into the stuff seen in this blog post.
[1] https://shop.noguchi.org/collections/akari-light-sculptures
I do not know how you live with yourself.
Michele De Lucchi & Giancarlo Fassina (1987)
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I still don't have a good solution for this, and curious what others are doing.
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I don't think people are too (d|n)umb to realize that it's a great setup, it just requires a fairly large room to pull it off.
I've also seen a few places (including IKEA?) sell bring-your-own-top adjustable desks, where they provide the legs and motor and skeleton and then you add some kind of slab of your choosing as the desktop. Haven't tried one myself, though.
I made a big U with desks for PC/music/electronics, I did actually prefer having the most used side (computer) next to the wall but aforementioned acoustics were absolutely ass so I moved it
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I don't know how those things are legal, like building a computer case out of recycled newspaper clippings.
You know literally nothing about this person and their reference needs.
Tables are really well made. So are the bookshelves. They are sturdy, high quality and withstand to abuse.
There are high quality items, and there are fine and high quality items. What he uses the latter.
Take an example. He uses fountain pens (so do I). Montblanc inks, a Lamy 2000. They are not expensive for what they are, yet they are fine instruments. They are made with care. I have tons of inks, yet Montblanc and a couple of brands really stand out in reliability, writing comfort and color quality. Same for L2000. It’s a very understated but a completely handmade thing, with great attention to detail. It’s even too much pen for that money.
The furniture he uses are the same. Understated, yet fine. It’s not there to make a statement, but to be enjoyed by their owner. I share the same sentiment. I do not buy anything to impress anyone, but to enjoy.
Nobody, sans my wife sees my most prized possessions. I got them to use and enjoy, that’s all.
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All valid, and that's the point.
For anyone else curious, I Googled about the LAMY 2000 Fountain Pen. It has a retail price over 250 USD. You can buy excellent Japanese single-use pens for less than 1 USD.
> Nobody, sans my wife sees my most prized possessions. I got them to use and enjoy, that’s all.
I have an Eames lounger. It was absurdly expensive and doesn’t even have a recline lever. But, it sparks joy. I like how it looks, I find it comfortable.
When I was a student I went to a furniture store with a friend and I sat in this chair, not knowing who Eames was or the price tag, and I loved immediately. It felt like sitting in a cloud. When I saw the price tag I said if I ever make it I’m buying this chair.
I worked a long time to buy it and it represents a non tangible journey to me.
But I also feel like an ass, because it was absurdly expensive and a total luxury and people are going hungry every day. My mom would slap my head if she knew what I paid.
IKEA doesn't actually make any modular wall shelves like that anymore, after discontinuing the SVALNÄS. For a wall mounted shelf on a budget you could go for the Elfa system or the Fasttrack one.
It was a genuine question about what makes these any better (...or not). Like do they have some amazing non-obvious feature? Something that no other shelf has? Something that IKEA shelves fail to do?
Of course it could be a performative thing (as I was suggesting) in the same way that someone pays $150 for a t-shirt because it has a logo on it and they want people to know. There is a sucker born every minute as they say.
This is in stark contrast to many of the cheaper options. I know a lot of people who throw their IKEA stuff away when they move and buy new stuff for every place they live. IKEA stuff doesn’t always old up will to moves (depending on what it is) and when it’s cheap, people treat it like fast fashion and want a change.
Over the course of a life, this could mean something like Vitsoe shelves could be the more economical option and lead to significantly less waste.
I’m actually in need of some shelves. I’ve been debating going the 606 route, but have been struggling to decide where they’d go. I don’t have an obvious solution. I saw they have a service to help people design their layout. Did you use that, and is there already an expectation that you have some idea what you want?
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Now when I checked his website in little bit more detail I get that feeling more and more. Looks like someone who brags about a lot of things he owns and cannot shut up about it.
while true:
optimize life
I think it reflects on the current state of things. I wonder if people look at this kind of fancy stuff and associate with a life that is ever more out of reach, instead of something to aspire to.
Between IVAR and now this 606, I actually don’t know any other non-garage-oriented “universal” shelving systems where you can like mix and match drawers, shelves, tables, etc.
I have IVAR in my office and it’s great.
The shelving isn't that attention grabbing (looks like double-track wall shelving)
but the cabinet with drawers, that is cool.
I think we should have lots more office cabinets with drawers so things can be in plain sight. super-functional shallow metal ball-bearing drawers like tool chest drawers. I think it would be organized and productive.
I very much prefer adjustable height desks.
The chairs in front of the desk might be a pair of Vitsoe 620 Chair Programme.
Using the photo under the "Rethinking the desk" heading we see an Apple Studio monitor on one side.
On my monitor/browser/resolution/etc the desk is 157mm wide in that image and the monitor is 48mm wide.
The Apple specs say that monitor is 623mm wide.
So that would make the desk roughly 623*157/48 = 2037mm long.
That makes sense, his computer setup is relatively small compared to the analog side.
Much above that and you might as well get custom-made stuff.
A designer couch made entirely of foam can cost you 10k just because there is a name on it.
You're paying for the distinctive style and to show others your wealth or taste.
So buy a table and start using it.
It can also be too bright for some types of work during sunny days — especially if facing East or West and the sun is low. All of this depends on the orientation too, and facing north it is probably perfect.
They are otherwise beautiful and have many pros: but I wanted to warn of some practical drawbacks too.
I'm lucky enough that there is a large window in the room, and I also only use one monitor. While I think my room is not as large as his, I can still make it work.
The one thing that was stopping me was cable management - but with clever furniture placement, I think the cables can mostly be hidden.
The non digital side makes total sense and I would love to mimic this
I've worked in a variety of setups in both offices and at home.
Working for a startup I spent 18 months with 3 of us crammed into 2 normal desk widths. I think I had not much more than 60cm of desk for the whole of this time. The front portion of my desk was the keyboard and mouse and the back part of the desk was the desktop PC with monitor on top of it and a desk phone (2-4 hours a day spent on the phone to customers) to the right of that. Just enough space for a water bottle and/or coffee mug between the mouse and desk phone. I was disproportionately happy for the times when one or both of my colleagues either side of me went on PTO.
At some points I had a 90 minute commute (each way) by train and used that time to bash away at things on a Linux laptop. No chance of network connectivity on the move, this was the late 90s, the huge laptop (Toshiba Satellite things that were 50mm thick) could barely last the 90 minutes anyway. You made sure it was fully charged and that you'd downloaded everything you needed for the journey before you left home or the office. And you still took a book (or pen/paper) for the inevitable times you hadn't.
Other than this necessity it takes a lot for me to get into any kind of a flow if I'm not sat at a desk. I can't take my laptop and just sit on the sofa and do things, it just doesn't feel like "work". I'm hoping to get better at this though as I do envy people who are happy doing this.
For 18 months I worked in a classic cube farm in a corporate HQ in the US. Reasonably big cube with 6' high walls and U-shaped desk, so there was an easy way to have different zones for "laptop work", "paper work", and "other" (usually lunch _al desko_). It was nice having a little locker for hanging coats/etc, and a place for the internal/external mail to be delivered. The nearest window was probably 30 yards away from me and even then you really couldn't tell whether it was night or day. Sometimes I wasn't sure whether I was alone on our part of the floor or whether the other ~150 people were there.
My favourite office setup was back in the UK with a big L-shaped desk in an area with lots of glass partitions and windows. There were about 5 of us in the space that would usually be occupied by about 40 if they were trying to pack them in, but we were left to get on with things. It was deathly quiet too, which I loved. I had a view across South London and could see plenty of sky, buildings, trees and people.
My home offices have been OK but far from perfect. Too warm in the summer months given no aircon (I've got the sun beating down on my back right now), never too cold though. But never enough space. They've also always been a work in progress and never "right, that's all sorted" but I hope to get a bit closer to that with the next move.
I reckon I'll get it right just before I retire.
The ultra wide above was mainly dedicated to various chat programs (teams, telegram, iMessage, etc).
The laptop's screen to the left was my mail screen (both home and work).
To the right was a 4k on its side, for documentation reference or output work.
And above the laptop was a "scratch" monitor for whatever was needed (often a music player, etc).
You quickly get used to glancing at what you need and moving on; if something needs more attention it's easy to bring it front and center or turn your chair.
Power fluctuations took out the ultrawides and one of the 4ks so now I just have one supermegaultrawide with a 4k above it (still laptop for mail, "above" for chat, and main for main things).
I had to the wooden top cut at a home center and then I sanded it and applied a finish myself because I couldn't find anywhere local that sold a desk top that size. Combined with a dual motor standing desk set of legs, it turned out great!
I also 3D printed brackets for all the power bricks of various devices I have and mounted them on the underside.
Just skip it if it’s not for you.
If I had the space I'd love to have a writing area as wide as OP's, which looks wider than either of our entire desks.
<https://duckduckgo.com/?q=round+paper+lamp&iar=images&t=ftsa>
Overall, power and data management dominate this entire arrangement. I have far too many devices each of which draw very little power but demand their own massive power connections. In the end, I will likely just rack most of them to make room for the second child we plan to have.
The "classic" answer is an L-shaped desk, or a desk with credenza.
E.g., https://www.borofkasfurniture.com/desk-2/bbgavioffice2-p207/... or https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/H-9731/Office-Desks/Ind...
My wife only comes in to get printouts and supplies if I'm working, and if she's working (we share the "battle station" by switching out whose laptop is connected to the dock) I basically only go in there to quickly chat and walk around to the other side.
I just live with it. I'm on the good side. The few times a day my wife needs to talk to me she just comes around to my side of the desk anyways.
I really disliked the bamboo desk fwiw and much prefer the thicker 1" laminate "wood" one. I wish I'd gotten the extended range legs, though.
I like:
- the way the wood looks and feels. - it has been fairly tough. I managed to stain it with an overnight pen leak, but it's mostly easy to clean, and stands up to minor impacts from computers and cups. Also, no water marks so far.
I dislike:
- the curved front, which looked cute in the pictures but makes it a PITA to fit a keyboard tray. That was a mistake. I wish I'd gone for the straight edged desk.
The tiny halogen lamps weren't that way, and there were reports of "torchiere" lamps causing fires, or at least smoke, when peoples draperies dangled into them, resulting in a ban IIRC.
Would you like to buy a fire insurance policy against the specific casualty of that lamp igniting from its light source and burning OP’s flat down? I’ll sell you one for a great price.
You're literally arguing that rice paper is an acceptable material for electrical safety.
Frayed cord, damaged/defective socket, the list of potential ignition sources goes on but hey let's wrap it all in dry grass and kindling.
They pair it with a 2.8W bulb: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/solhetta-led-bulb-e26-450-lumen...
Less than an ancient phone charger. OP’s flat will be fine.
I may romanticize the idea of making my own stuff from time to time, but realistically, I’m never going to spend my time sourcing wood slabs, finding ways to transport said slab to my workshop, building a workshop, letting the wood dry (if not already done), learning all the details about how to best adapt the slab to a desk, building the actual desk, trying to fix the imperfections, then after installing the desk in my office… knowing those imperfections exist and the things I learn along the way, I’d be unsatisfied and thinking about how I could build another desk without those issues/compromises. Rinse and repeat forever. This sounds like a nightmare, and much more expensive than just buying a desk.
I sometimes go through phases watching woodworkers on YouTube and it’s never just—-varnish a slab and bolt on some legs. In some cases, even moving the slab around requires specialized skills and equipment.
All that to say, you might surprise yourself what you can do without a monster boomer wood workshop full of Festool and other unobtanium, and feel pretty good about it.
However, the difference in writing feel, line quality, &c between a lamy 2k and the new Chinese producers like Majohn or PenBBS is not so big. They do require a bit more maintenance, and the looks and feels are subpar. Whether that's worth the $230 price difference is questionable.
I own the lamy, and love it dearly. I bought it 10 years ago, when I felt easier with spending money. I wouldn't have bought one now.
Yes, I all the things you have listed up there, sans the Porsche, and while I enjoy them immensely, let me tell you that they are not "needs" for me, and I don't become someone better "just because I have them".
See, I have the audacity to listen to the music intently, make mine and even record it with an audio interface. Oh the horrors, oh the horrors!
I got some of these items with luck, bought some of them with my money, but more importantly, these are not excuses to look down on people just because I have, use and enjoy them.
Maybe it's kinda rude to look down on people just because they have different choices than you. Or maybe it's a prejudice that you think someone is a snob just because they happen to have a record player or a fancy watch and you assume that they don't enjoy a Casio F-91W or a simple YouTube bootleg record over a Bluetooth speaker the same.
...and yes, iammjm's reply is correct. Fountain pens are comfortable for long writing sessions, and you can get a Lamy Safari and be done with it. It's such an excellent pen.
Anyway, back to my folding chair, Vision Pro, and Mac Studio 512GB. ;)
RAM or disk?
That’s fine if you buy exactly what you want and need and know your needs will never change, but if you later want to expand, you’re out of luck. At best, you might get lucky and find parts of Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree, but you’re usually just stuck. (I’d kill for some more 200cm wall rails but I doubt I’ll ever find any.)
The 606 Vitsoe system is heinously overpriced but has the advantage of having been around for 50+ years and is so established you’ll likely always be able to buy more parts if you want to expand it.
Putting them anywhere else in the house would either be more "showoff" or just less practical. It's true that I rarely ever pick them up but the few times I do I'm glad they're right next to my work desk.
Why can’t he make music, read music history or biographies, or do other things?
Do all “software engineers” need to interface with a computer 7/24, Matrix style?
It's also fair game to critique these photos from an artistic perspective. Some are clearly intentionally staged and I argue that the messaging is a little clumsy. Sure, it's hard to avoid if you've filled your space with expensive design objects. Another comparison is cooking blogs where the photographers add visual clutter that looks good on instagram, but is impractical and unrelated to the food being cooked. The space itself is very nice, though you've got to be absolutely anal about keeping clutter down.
(Though the fetishisation of this shelving seems weird. Maybe as I grew up in the UK, but I associate it with every single public and office building. Every library, every office, every school. It's not what I'd choose for home.)
Wouldn’t recommend it, but I already had it.
And in OP’s pictures, I totally believe that’s the bulb they’re using. Notice they have a desk lamp for up close work, and a freaking enormous window to let in sunlight. No need to flood the space with light with the hanging pendant thing.
The amount of experience behind that analysis is pretty high. You have a lot of knowledge that you got somehow. Maybe by growing up around it, maybe by taking a class or something else.
Lots of people don’t have that knowledge or the experience to do it well. And don’t really want it. None of it is all that hard, and about anyone could learn the basics pretty fast.
But lots of people prefer doing other things instead of working up that knowledge. Or, even more, figuring out that this knowledge is available and not that hard to learn.
Some projects are hard for beginners and just figuring out if their idea of a desk qualifies is even more work.