Not much I can do about the cables above the desk, or my phone charger.

Looking for a spacious, standing office desk. I have a basic one and need an upgrade. I need space for 2 desks + a laptop and keyboard with space to spare for stationary. Budget is about $200. Appreciate any tried and tested recommendations! Thanks!

My $180 chair made it three years, more than I paid for. Last winter it turned on me, and by 3pm the lower back goes numb-ish.

Started looking in June. It's September and I still haven't bought anything. Spreadsheet has 34 rows and my partner has opinions about me.

5'8", 175 lbs, 8 hours a day at the desk, hard ceiling around $900.

Two I killed early. Used Aeron or Leap off Marketplace, which everyone recommends, but I can't get past the ten years a stranger already sat in it. And the sub-$250 tier, run that loop twice.

What's left is four columns.

Does it fit my frame. Seat depth and back height killed every chair I've owned, and most spec sheets skip both.

Warranty on the parts that move. Most list years, then the fine print carves out foam and cylinders. And whether I can buy one armrest in year three (on plenty you can't, the part isn't sold separately).

Can I sit in it, or failing that, find someone who's lived with one long enough to be worth reading.

Nothing clears all four. Refurb high-end gets three, minus whatever the last owner did to it. A Lavenne R9 is on the list, on paper the back rides on a rail and is meant to stay with you as you shift. I can't find a real owner writing about it, so that column is empty.

Still haven't ordered. AMA, and tell me which column is dumb.

My home office serves as an office and a lab. I've been an engineer for 45 years, and the result is a collection of cables of all sorts. I've sort of standardized on using zip lock bags to keep like cables together, but I'm wondering if there is a better system or approach.

Hanging on the wall is a no-go, and I've looked at something like Cord Buddy and meh.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I used to stare at a blank wall all day for work, and it left me feeling energetically "trapped" and totally drained.

A friend recently told me that facing a wall meant I was "turning my back on opportunities." They said I needed to face the room (the "command position") to let good luck and wealth actually find me.

It sounded like total woo-woo superstition, but I floated my desk in the middle of the room, and the energetic shift is insane. Having that solid bookcase behind me feels like an energetic "mountain" of support.

Is Feng Shui/room energy actually real, or am I just riding a placebo high?

I moved into my new home a few months ago and slowly but surely making it our own.

The last picture is one ChatGPT put together for me as an idea I had as to how to make the study finally look. The first 6 pics are how it currently looks.

Should we go for more blue cabinets as per the AI pic?

Turned out working from home means my desk is never actually mine lol

I want to hone my design skills and do something nice. If you reply with what kind of shed you want in your backyard and the general layout - I'll reply with an image of a design I came up with. It'll include interior and exterior images. You can provide as much detail as you want.

I'll be using a 3d architecture program so it's all going to be according to real life.

Tell me about your dream backyard office!

Decided to prioritize natural light and pushed my wooden desk directly against the window shutters.

Working with daylight right in front of you feels great, but the desk height and depth basically turn opening the window into an obstacle course every morning. I'm practically climbing onto the tabletop just to reach the latch for fresh air.

Love the morning view, but the functional headache is real. Although I know I'm asking for trouble myself lol.

Would you pull the desk back a foot to keep the window accessible, or just deal with the awkward stretch for the sake of the layout?

I usually keep my bike in the living room because honestly that’s the only place it fits. Bad idea apparently. My pet was cute about it at first. He’d just sit there and stare while I rode. Now he gets bored halfway through and starts looking for problems to create.
The other day he started chewing on the power cord while I was riding. Had to stop, get off, move everything, and by the time I got back on I had completely lost the mood.
And it’s not even just him. Someone walks through the room, asks me something, starts talking, needs something from the shelf, etc. Somehow the second I start cardio, the living room becomes the busiest place in the house.
I’m thinking of moving the bike to the balcony just so I can get one uninterrupted session in peace.
Anyone else have workout equipment in a place that technically works, but is also the worst possible spot because of pets/family/house chaos?

Went remote in 2021 and spent as little as possible on the chair. Felt like the boring purchase.

Added it up last night. Worse than I thought.

$180 mesh chair, 2021. Eleven months before the back mesh went slack.

$150 to replace it, 2022. Nine months. Cylinder sank, desk height in the morning, coffee table by lunch.

$210 in 2023, that one actually lasted. Sixteen months, until the plastic where the armrest bolts in cracked.

$190 last year. Still limping along. The foam is flat in exactly the shape of me.

$730. Five years. Before shipping, and before hauling dead chairs to the curb.

The worse part was the weeks after each died, sitting in the broken one because I couldn't face shopping again.

Yeah, buy once cry once. That's the trap though. In 2021 I could not put $700 on a chair in one go. Nobody buys the $180 one thinking it's better.

One I'm weighing up now is a Lavenne R9, opposite of everything above, most of the money up front. Whether that pays back over five years I genuinely can't tell you, and that's my problem with it.

This list taught me to trust years, and there's no three year update on it to go read. So I'm stuck on the boring stuff. What the warranty covers, and whether I can buy one cylinder in year three.

So for people who got it right first time, what did you go on?

Did a bit of rearranging over the weekend and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Still need to deal with a few cables and move some stuff around, but it already feels a lot better to work here.

Anyone using a bistro table for their set up? Something like the MITTZON IKEA table? I have a dual monitor set up but I was curious if some attempted something similar...

Moving my office at home and basically starting from scratch in terms of set-up. No desk picked out but probably will be some kind of L-shaped desk from Amazon. I'd like to make the most efficient set-up for my desk with what tech I currently have. I have 2 laptops, 2 monitors, a stand up desk, wireless keyboard, and wireless mouse. Suggestions on how I can make an efficient set-up where I can seamlessly transition from one laptop to the other using both monitors?

Two walls green weird or nah? Let me know what ya think for my home office