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Furniture Design Dilemma home office

Three desks or two desks and a chair?

2 years ago

Hello everyone,

My name is James, and I am new to the Houzz forum. I am just finishing up my office setup and have a bit of a dilemma. I currently have three desks set up in there and am waiting to deliver an OE1 table to replace a Costco sit/stand desk that I have in the left corner toward the window. I use one desk for work (I work from home most days), a gaming/primary computer desk, and one for misc—writing and laptop use. I am contemplating canceling the OE1 table and just using two desks and having a sitting area instead. I think the sitting space might be a little cozier and more practical than having three desks. I wanted to see if anyone else had a similar dilemma or suggestions that might help me. I

appreciate any help you can provide.

Best,

James

Featured Answer

James Maichel
Original Author

2 years ago

Thank you, everyone, for the comments/feedback. I decided to cancel the OE1 table and go with a two-desk setup. I moved one of my chairs to the corner. I turned the Airia desk into my main work from a home desk. I think there is plenty of space on this desk to work from. This is close to my dream WFH setup. Thank you again for all the feedback!

Comments (8)

Jennifer Hogan
2 years ago
I think a cozy chair would be better than the third desk.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
2 years ago
I think I need a lot more info . First a to scale plan of the space all windows , doorways and closet marked all meaurements clearly marked . IMO a gaming space does not work in a working office . I think one long desk with 2 chairs might work so you have space for all the things you want but I have no idea if a chair will fit since no idea the size of the room. I need a floor plan please
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I've also been in similar situation--needing to choose two chairs for my home office. Like most things, I turned to Craigslist. With the economy as it is and all the layoffs there are numerous office chairs to have had for a song--many ergonomic, leather, upholstery with or without arms. I ended up buying two black leather ergonomic office chairs, buth then felt they were too bulky. The other option I like is the swivel chairs from Pottery Barn. I was able to procure one of them used and it is just the look I like, but alas not as comfortable. DH prefers an ergonomic chair that has a lower profile than the leather ones so we are still debating, though I use the office more than he does as he just takes his laptop and sits wherever. As for our kids, they have nice desks and ergonomic chairs, but still sit on the beds with their laptops for homework. Here is the Pottery Barn one that I like (and am still looking for another one used as the price tag is way too high for me). Here is a link that might be useful: Pottery Barn Swivel Chairs
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This is a long shot, but my office chair that I spend MANY hours a day in, is a Hancock Moore Berwind office chair that I got from Craigslist. It is by far the most comfy chair that I have ever had. If you could find any of theirs or Bradington Young in your area, I'd go see it for sure. I found a different style on the Boston CL - Computer Chair Leather Executive Hamilton Swivel Tilt Hancock Moore - $550 (Wakefield) This is the style I lucked out on, in burgundy leather. I think it'll last as long as I do.
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What kind of chair do I pair with this desk?
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Comments (31)
A comfortable one. Not a pro. More interested in comfort and function than "style". Suggest you sit in any chair you're considering buying and at least consider a chair w/short armrests (short horizontally) for resting your elbows but not necessarily the full length of your arms -- arm rests that will not interfere w/placing the chair as far beneath the desk as possible. Allergy noted. If not a chair with casters/wheels, choose one with or add glider feet so you could move it around easily w/o scratching the floor so you can be sitting where you need to be to use the desk. Do measure the height of the table from floor to the top of the table -- the total table height. Do measure the vertical knee space -- the height between the floor and the bottom of the table at its center point. Make sure the chair you choose has you sitting high enough to actually be comfortable using the chair with the desk. Unless you're wanting to add your favorite bold color to the room, choose black because it will be neutral and because the desk appears to be either very dark gray or black. If you're actually planning to use this desk as a desk, then limiting yourself to something akin to a formal dining room chair makes no sense at all unless you're more interested in appearance than function. You might even consider an upscale swivel bar stool in lieu of a traditional chair. https://alfabarstools.com/shop/comfortable-custom-height-captains-bar-stool-arms/ https://shopping.diamondbackbilliards.com/product/s6225-swivel-bar-stool/
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yes, a faux eames chair like the one JudyG posted will look good. keep in mind though, do you need to worry about back pain or anything? I tried using a chair exactly like that for my desk, and it hurt my back. I don't have a problem sitting at it at my dining room table playing board games for hours, but for some reason when it was my office chair, it was uncomfortable. now I use this chair from Ikea. it's not fancy, and the seat is firm. but I like it because it's small, cute, height adjustable, and the firm seat "reminds" me that I need to get up and walk around every now and then. this is a 1-2 hour desk chair, not an all day one. but my lower back never hurts in this!
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Lyn Nielson
2 years ago
I would declutter the room, get rid of all the desks and and decide what you HAVE to keep.

buy one 'Partners Desk" (two desks facing each other with a single top to cover both.) put it in the center of the room.
JT7abcz
2 years ago
If you cancel the OE1 table, which desk would you keep? Your work desk looks very small, maybe keeping the writing desk would help stretch functionality.

A seating area would make it more cozy. Without measurements it’s guesstimating of course, but one possible layout would be to run your desks on the same wall and place either a small sofa or set of chairs on the opposite wall along with the aquarium.
CNH 320
2 years ago
Visually you have too many desks and too many chairs. Having one big desk unit and only one or two chairs would look better. Maybe something like these pictures. You could move the 3 you have around similar to the photos below and see how it works and looks in the room, even if you don't get one big unit, putting them together would help I think.

Chen Home Office Renovation · More Info

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PRO
Norwood Architects
last year
Can you post photos of your office with your finalized layout?
J C
last year
This sounds like a Design Delimma or Home Decorating topic. Seems like our forum mods are lax on proper use of topics, in sub catagories. I could very well ask what type of fire place insert should I get, and place it in furniture.

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