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Before you buy

Home office layout mistakes

Five mistakes that turn a spare room into an awkward place to work: a shallow desk, no room behind the chair, a loud wall in front of the desk, glare and a floor full of cables.

A spare room becomes a home office in an afternoon, and the mistakes come from the same haste: the desk goes where it fits, and nobody checks the space around it.

The desk faces the old nursery wall: the monitors and the task board sit on a field of rainbows and smiling suns.
A small home office with two monitors, an office chair and a filing cabinet, every wall covered in pale blue wallpaper with clouds, rainbows and smiling suns.

The desk is too shallow

With a monitor and a keyboard on a 60 cm desk, the screen sits closer than arm’s length. For monitors, depth matters more than width.

No room behind the chair

A chair needs about 90 cm between the desk edge and the wall to roll back. With a bed or a cabinet behind it, you squeeze out sideways.

A loud wall in front of the desk

The wall behind the monitors is the one you look at all day. A bright pattern there pulls the eye off the screen, and notes on a board hung over it get lost. Face the desk to the calmest wall.

The window is in front or behind

A window behind the screen makes the eyes adjust between bright glass and the monitor; a window behind you puts glare on the screen. Keep it to the side.

Cables cross the floor

The desk goes where the room looks best, and the extension lead runs to the far socket. Place it near a socket first.

The numbers that decide it

  • 70–80 cmdesk depth that keeps a 24–27 inch monitor at arm’s length
  • 90 cmfrom the desk edge to the wall or bed behind you, so the chair rolls back and you can stand
  • 120 cmdesk width for two 24 inch monitors side by side
  • 50–70 cmfrom your eyes to the screen

What to measure

The wall for the desk
Wall to wall, then subtract the window, the radiator and the swing of the door.
The room depth behind it
From that wall to whatever stands behind the chair. Take away the desk depth: what is left has to be at least 90 cm.
The distance to the sockets
From the desk position to the nearest socket along the skirting, so one extension lead is enough.

Before you buy

  • Desk depth, not only width, checked against the monitors
  • 90 cm left between the desk edge and the wall behind
  • The window to the side of the desk, not in front or behind
  • A plain wall behind the monitors, the one you look at all day
  • A socket within reach of the desk

Questions

Is a 60 cm desk deep enough for a monitor?
For a laptop, yes. With a 24 inch monitor and a keyboard in front of it, the screen ends up 40 to 45 cm from your eyes. A monitor arm that clamps to the back edge wins back 15 to 20 cm.
Can the desk face the wall?
Yes, and in a small room it usually has to. The problem is not the wall in front, it is the window: sideways light is the only kind that does not end up as glare or as a bright square behind the screen.
Does the whole room need new wallpaper?
No. Only the wall in front of the desk is in view all day: paint that one, or cover the part behind the monitors with a large pinboard or a bookcase. In a rental, a freestanding bookcase does the job without touching the walls.