Home office equipment | Home Office Base

Maybe you just founded a company from your kitchen table or maybe you landed your dream job, which allows for telecommuting… Now, you need to set up your Home Office. I remember, when I was at that point, I was wondering if I had a list of everything I needed?

So, what do you need in a Home Office? Four types of “items” so to speak: locale, including natural lighting and enough space, furniture including filing cabinets and storage, stationary supplies and IT equipment including computer(s), telephone and Internet access.

Obviously, the exact list of what you need will depend on what you do specifically in your Home Office. The kind of work I do is probably very different from what another person does. However, I believe that below is a good list of items to check off your list when you set up your Home Office…

Proper Lighting

You need plenty of lighting to read efficiently. Assuming here that you read for work (which is a pretty safe assumption). This would be true as well if you were drawing or almost any other activity… Bottom line: you need proper lighting to perform virtually any task. Also, working in a poorly lit home office can lead to eye strain which is unhealthy. Ironically, too much artificial light is also unhealthy, especially if you’re working with computers. Artificial lighting emanating from light bulbs and computer screens is also known to cause eye dryness. Therefore, you need a good balance between artificial and natural lighting.

Setting up your office in a room or area with a strategically located window is the recommendation here. This seems obvious but many of us work (or have worked) in places where natural lighting is not that great: basements are popular areas where people set up Home Offices. And basements don’t always have nice size windows… If you’re not getting enough natural lighting, best is to supplement the lighting you do get by purchasing portable office desk light fixtures.

(Enough) Space

Setting up an office to your home will definitely ‘eat’ up space. Don’t squeeze your desk in a congested area next to your stove or right beneath the staircase. You need space to move around comfortably. A spacious working space is also likely to boost your productivity. How would feel comfortable in a crumpled environment? Studies show that a congested environment can affect your mood and motivation to work negatively.

The right space for you depends on your home of course. If possible, use a whole room for your home office. The best would be a spare bedroom. You can also make a home office in your living room or bedroom or on the kitchen table. The last option means that you have a “Home Office” that turns into dinner table, so you need to be able to set up shop and pack it up all the time. You can use a finished basement if you have one and if it is comfortable enough. Or even a garage. Again, if comfortable enough…

You may want to use dividers to separate your home office space from other parts of the house, say in your finished basement for ex.. One side for your Home Office, and the other for whatever else you use your finished basement for…

So, setup your Home Office in the right spot and as much as you can, ensure you have enough space.

Adjustable desk and a comfortable chair

This duo seems almost obvious but it’s important to touch on what kind of home office furniture you need. First, we are talking about an ideal scenario where you can setup a desk to work on in your home office, so we are not talking about a Home Office setup on the corner of a kitchen table.

Second, we are assuming you do not already have a desk or you are happy to replace it. If so, I cannot stress how life changing working with an adjustable desk is. Those desks allow you to change the height. You can work standing or sitting. Actually, most people alternate and that’s the magic of it all: much more comfortable than a regular desk! Give it a try: I never believed the publicity until I got an adjustable desk at work… Now I’m a believer! Your chair, on the other hand, should be kind to your back and neck. A bad chair can lead to serious back problems. Therefore, get a well-upholstered chair with a relatively suitable height. If your budget allows, invest in an adjustable chair with wheels to rotate and move from one end of the desk to another. Just more comfortable all around.

Filing cabinets

You will need good filing cabinets. For one: how you store your documents and files is important to work effectively. Also, you will most probably end up with many documents to file and there is no better way to store them then a filing cabinet. Also, keep in mind that some of those files may (or will) be used several years later.

So, in short, there is almost always a need for filing cabinet. Your question may be that you do not have space to put one in your home office because, well your home office is really a corner of your kitchen tale… If that’s the case, there are small portable filing cabinets you can use. When you are done with your file, just store the small portable filing cabinet somewhere. But a way of storing and retrieving files will be one of the most useful items for your Home Office.

Storage

Always good to have a means of storing files (we talked about portable filing cabinets), books, prospectus, other documents, magazines or even office supplies. I like to use a bookshelf: several shelves, very convenient to put in all my documents and other items related to my business.

Bottom shelf has portable filing cabinets (have several businesses). Shelf at eye level contains books that I use more frequently in the year. I do have a globe on one of the shelves, magazines on another one, old laptops that I did not throw away (side conversation: do not throw away your laptop without taking out the hard drive first and physical breaking it with a hammer if you want to avoid anyone from being able to pick up what ever info may still be residing on your laptop… This Social Security number if you ever wrote it down on a digital form on that laptop… But I digress…)

Depending on what your business is about (crafting small objects for example or jewelry..) you may need a specialized storage piece of furniture.

If you are constrained in terms of available space, you can use that bookshelf I suggested as a printing station: set up your printer and paper and ink storage on one shelf. That’s what I did for a long period of time.

Stationary supplies

The list of must have supplies ultimately depend on what you do but below is what I found to cover most needs. I’ve researched it on internet, combined with what I needed that was more on the generic side and compiled them:

Pens (different colors pack) – Highlighters – Pencils – Eraser – Pencil sharpener
Ruler – Post-it – Tape – Stapler and staples – Scissor
Calculator
Notebooks – Multipurpose Paper – File Folders – Binders
Shredder

Desk or Desktop organizer

You’ll probably be typing most of the time and even if you are not, but you may need to take short notes, highlight documents, write down some detail during phone conversations and write to-do lists on sticky notes. You not only need pens, notebooks and sticky notes, but you also need an organizer so that all your items have a place and you can find them in a pinch when you need them.

Though this is not an urgent home office item, it will help you stay organized and have your desk organized as well.

Computer(s)

The best is to have two laptops: a primary one and a backup. Why a backup? Well, wait until you have an important work to do and your laptop dies on you or worse, it breaks or you lose it (yes: happened to me…). Without a backup, you can find yourself completely cut off from your business (unless you have everything saved on paper but who does that?).

In any event, get two laptops: they are as powerful as regular PCs, not much more expensive and you will have peace of mind (provide your work is on the cloud). Also, If you’re working on multiple projects or you expect to “hire” help from friends or relatives from time to time, two computers will come in handy.

Only thing to keep in mind: ensure the laptop you buy for your home office can handle the demands of a modern work environment. The most important is probably the ability to make conf call. That means built-in microphone and camera. I know, most new laptops (or PC) offer those as standard equipment. Just a friendly reminder.

Two items that I would recommend to go with your laptops: Dual monitor and a monitor riser/organizer. Dual monitor because it’s so much more comfortable to work on a larger (dual really) screen that allows you to bring more documents side by side. It really is a productivity booster. I used to have up to 5 screens when I was working in corporate America. In my Home Office I have a dual monitor and it beats the laptop screen (especially the one I have as it is really small – 13’’).

Monitor riser/organizer is also such a great idea: helps bring you monitor a few inches higher while cleverly creating some space under the monitor. The best ones will have a small shelf so you can hide your laptop under it.

Power Surge Protector and Uninterruptible Power Supply

Ensure you have an appropriate power surge protector. For one you will need additional outlets as you will be charging phones, tables, you need to power your light, laptops… Also, most of the electronic items don’t really like spikes in voltage so, why not simply protect all that with a proper (but not expensive) surge protector?

Also, if you do have and want to use a desktop computer, invest in an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) backup. Desktop computers tend to go off immediately after a power blackout, without a warning or without saving your work. A UPS backup will, however, buy you time to save your documents and possibly get them on the cloud (assuming your internet connection is still operational).

Professional phone

While you could use your personal mobile phone to make and receive calls, it may not be ideal in the long run. Best practice is very much to have a separate, business phone. An additional line is usually not that expensive. Also, best is to have a professional phone that does NOT look like your personal one so you can never mix them up (particularly when you respond: you know you need to bring your professional voice and demeanor when you have the professional phone in hand.

We also need to mention unlimited data: I do have to connect from the train or when I’m on the road sometimes. When that does happen, it can be very useful to be able to use my “professional” phone as a hotspot and connect my phone to it. Obviously, I could use free wifi at Starbuck or in the train (when it works) or in the hotel but… I’d rather not for security reasons and also because those connections are not always reliable.

Internet connection

High-speed internet is really what you need. You’ll have to shop around for the best deal but there is no way around having an internet connection at home with a high-speed internet access. You’ll need it for almost everything and anything: emails, video conference, internet calls, downloading media…

Your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will set up a router in your house. That’s the entry point to the web / Internet world. From there, you will need a wifi router as well. That’s the piece that is generally not provided by the ISP. There are many routers out there and the prices vary from $ 100 (budget) to $800 (gaming wifi router).

They all satisfy the basic requirements that you need for your Home Office and the most important thing to keep in mind is that you need a wifi router that accepts as many devices as possible. The two next criteria would be speed and range: routers that handles the highest bandwidth and can provide connectivity from the whole house, where ever it is setup.

The list of best wifi routers change every year as you can imagine but whatever you pick does last and once it is setup (correctly), you usually do not need to touch it again. For a wifi router of good quality (but not gaming level), I would expect to pay around $ 200.

All-in-one Printer

You will need a printer (most likely anyway) and a scanner and also possibly a fax machine and a copier… my recommendation so to take a simple machine that does everything. All-in-one printers are actually of a very good quality. You cannot do some of the very advanced work a printing station would allow you to but, for your Home Office, you’ll have all your basic needs covered.

If you time your purchase well (Black Friday…?) you can get something very decent for mot expensive at all. One of my better all-in-one printers was just $ 80 at Wallmart (around Black Friday…). If you can, go for laser printer as well. In the long run, the ink is actually less expensive and the quality is better to start with.

Last recommendation: wireless printer please. Just like with everything else, wireless is better for cable management and allows you the freedom to set your printer away from the desk where you work because you need a wire to be able to print. Not to mention that anyone on the network (and the right permission) is free to print.

A place outside of your Home Office

Sounds counter-intuitive but (if it makes sense for your business) you need a spot outside of your home for two reasons. Most important is if/when you need to meet with clients. You don’t want to bring them to your home. You need a place that reflects the level of professionalism the rest of your documents and interactions over the phone or internet (email, website) suggests. I like Weework. Not expensive ($ 45 for the most basic level) and the amenities are really good and professional.

Also, you may want to get out of your habitual Home Office and be mobile for a moment, even if it’s just to change scenery. Many people (if it works with their business) do get out to the nearest café (or Starbuck or any other place with a wifi connection). I know I did it a few times, particularly when it’s a nice day outside.

What do you need in a Home Office?