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[tergem]

I finally have enough resources to actually go ahead and work part-time on my projects  .

However my current home office is horrible, a single desk with all my equipment on it in a semi-usable fashion. I have no other desks/shelves to put my supplies/books/my server/ etc...

So what would be a good way to go about making my home office space better?

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

you might want to check out this thread for some ideas:

http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=19.0

[twistedjoe]

Shower wall brought from any hardware store can make great white board for a fraction of the price.

For desk and furniture, check on craiglist or similare local site. Many people give their old furniture, even when they are in great shape.

Example of whiteboard made from a shower wall :
 

[bateleur]

However my current home office is horrible, a single desk with all my equipment on it in a semi-usable fashion.

Hey, that sounds like my office! The difference being, I love that.

(Also, it's possible my desk is quite a bit bigger than yours.)

[cliffski]

For not much money you can get custom-screen-printing on a chalk board:

[Klaim]

Haha awesome 

I have a board too but it's not chalk, it's pen. I don't know if you can get a customized version...

[Uykered]

Chalk boards bring back painful memories of screeching and dust getting all over you.

I've thought about getting a white board, but I'm undecicded if it will bring any benefit? I tend to mainly just brainstorm/designdoc on Workflowy or Notepad.

[Klaim]

Well, to give you my experience with using a really big whiteboard in my home office :

It is awesome.

Before I had a middle size white board, but it felt like only useful to explain things to others...but I'm working alone. The thing is it was not big enough to on a foot so I put it on my drawing desktop.

But after some thinking I bought a really big white board and put it on a wood foot.

That way, I have to stand up to use it and as it is wide I can use all the place to spread my thinking around. I also got a lot of magnets to attach documents, paper with quick drawings on it mostly, on the board.

It is intensely awesome to feel like a mad scientist when I work on it. When my roommate enter the room, he sees my mad eyes and face of crazyness and often say "omg he is mad again...".

Also, thinking standing up is really efficient. I put the board in my back, meaning I have to totally turn off from the computer to think. That's a good way to make sure I'll not let my reflex open some web pages without me even noticing.

So, if you can get a big board, get it, use it and stand up.

[grayfox88]

I second the stand while you work motion. see this:

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/17/2011/05/sitting-is-killing-you-450x3105.jpg

Putting your whiteboard where its just out of your reach is a great way to motivate you to get up and draw some ideas on the board, its healthier - too. I have 3 mid-sized white boards on the wall behind me where I work.

[mikejkelley]

My home office. That's my Capcom Mini-Cute restoration in the bubble-wrap!



I recommend wall mounting everything. Your monitors, writing surfaces (clipboards in the first pic), power strips, wireless routers, etc.,. If you use certain wires enough that you want them always out and still out of the way, clip them to the sides of stuff. Having lived and worked in the far east in places Korben Dallas would've considered roomy, I learned to make as much use of surface area as I could.

Also, get ergonomic wrist pads for your keyboard and mouse. You'll thank me.


And my home office away from home at the incubator!

Finally, I recommend a laptop cart or other surface for your laptop alone. Ikea has an interesting solution that is in keeping with the standing-up theme...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10139134/

[kukouri]

Suggestion for a home office, put it well away from distractions. Working from home I always end up playing a game or something else when I should be doing something else. Some reason an actual office out of the house I do work, even tho I have a more powerful machine there than at home.

[Ninja Dodo]

I highly recommend getting a Wacom tablet (I'm partial to the A5 Intuos 3 personally) even if you're not using it for digital painting. I use it for everything from 3D animation to web browsing. Switched to a tablet in college and it's no exaggeration to say it saved my wrists. I almost never use a mouse anymore, except for games.

Something I've found useful when lacking space is to get a small (A3-size) wooden board that fits on my lap so I can do non-sketchbook drawing without needing a desk, which can be practical if your computer takes up most of your desk space. Back in college I also bought a large piece of semi-transparent perspex for much the same purpose, except it doubled as a poor man's lightbox if you put a desk lamp under it.