The home office (mine, not the Home Office…)

6 min readJun 5, 2021

I know how privileged I am to have space at home to make a home office (the back of a garage). But I thought I’d share what I’ve done (a) to maybe give some tips but more importantly (b) to see if anyone has done anything amazing I should adopt!

The thinking

I’ve had previous home offices, ranging from a kitchen table, to a corner of a large living room, to a spare bedroom to a converted garage. Based on this experience some of my guiding principles for 2021 were that it needed:

to not feel cramped
to have good light
to have enough power points
superfast connectivity (or as good as the main house)
separation from the mayhem of the household…
…which would also aid the feeling of ‘going to work’ and needing to change out of PJs even if it was for a 15’ walk across the garden
to be easy to ‘switch on’ i.e. no big setup/get stuff out of the backpack, and to switch off (pack up in 10 seconds and walk indoors)
to feel mine (selfish I know), but I want to feel good about going to work and the workplace I spend many hours in
to be affordable, or at least recoup the costs if we ever sell this place

So what I did

I’ve looked at garden offices, either in kit form or self-build (and of course I enjoyed Ben’s Twitter shed series) but the location of the garage and the size of the garden more easily lent us to the idea of converting the back third of the garage, which is what we did. So…

In terms of size it’s a 3m x 2m space (and 2.5m tall) which is ideal (I think) for a one person office
For connectivity I have a MESH network with the TP-Link Deco P9s — they also use the mains socket for Powerline networking. In the house I had 110MBps connection but in the garage I had less than 20MBps via the MESH Wi-Fi/the mains. So I ran a 20 metre outdoor ethernet cable from the router in the hallway out to the back of the garage. This now gives me the same speed in the garage as I have in the house.
The heating — it’s less than a 20m3 space so in theory 2KW’s of heat should be enough. I wondered about underfloor heating but thought that would lead to just warm toes and cold everything else. So I’ve settled on a neat little Russell Hobbs RHPH2001 500W Ceramic Plug Heater for spot heat, and will buy a Wi-Fi controlled electric radiator for the Autumn. You can get silica or oil filled versions and now many come with Wi-Fi controls so when you wake up you can put the heating on! I’m looking at things like the ADAX Neo Smart Wi-Fi Electric Panel Heater/Convector Radiator — if anyone has any experience of Wi-Fi controlled radiators and can recommend something please let me know! The space is massively insulated with thermal board and the doors are PVC double glazed and seal well
In terms of storage I’m keeping it minimal, the idea is I walk in with my backpack and away I go — but I am using some Ikea shoe storage items on the wall for some slimline storage

Doing the work….

3 photos showing the stages of the building work

I had plans to do the work myself, I really did. But it would have been the Autumn before I did it and it wouldn’t be as good as it is now. We were lucky to have some work done on the kitchen and it turns out Andy who did it was pretty much a one man building firm. So we asked him to do it. We needed carpentry skills, electrical and plastering, oh and door hanging. It could have been a DIY job (apart from the electrics) but actually I think the cost of the work was worth it, and it means I have a great space much sooner than if I’d done it myself (and the way the post-Covid world is re building supplies at the mo I’m glad I did it when we did)

The office kit…

3 pictures inside the office: a standing bike desk, the standing desk and monitor and a glass whiteboard

Standing desk– this is on the small size (100cm x 60cm) — it’s a Flexispot EG1 Height Adjustable Electric Standing Desk — it was reduced so I thought I’d go for it
Flexispot Standing Desk Anti-Fatigue Mat — I’m a recent convert to these and it’s great for the posture and to keep moving
Standing desk/bike! I got a lot of flack about this at home but it’s great. I used to cycle a moderate amount but I haven’t really for a few years now, and the WFH means we’re all sat at our desks for most of the day hopping from meeting to Teams meeting. So I thought I’d combine working with gentle exercise. This is a Flexispot Cycle Desk Bike V9 Pro — and again was reduced by £100. Keep an eye on their website as they seem to have regular offers. Am sure I’ll need a hierarchy of meetings I’ll feel comfortable cycling in, or maybe the dial on the flywheel will go up or down depending on how formal it is…
Nobo Glass Magnetic Whiteboard 1260 x 710 mm for full sketching (and I got a smaller one for ‘to do’ lists). I really miss workshops where we stand at a whiteboard and sketch stuff out. I thought of a scanning whiteboard but settled on a glass one (as opposed to enamel), mostly as it’s guaranteed to always clean perfectly. Whiteboarding is part of my Mojo, so now I’m properly equipped at home.
Herman Miller Aeron B chair — as I may be standing more I may not need this, but it’s been with me a while and it’s super comfortable…

The technology kit

I’ll soon publish a blog about my ‘Nomad working backpack kit’ (riveting I know) — but the below complements what I have with me every day

Dell docking station for the XPS13 (and many other Dell laptops). This is a neat bit of kit, powered USB slots and all the other connections and it means I just need to walk in with my laptop, switch the power on and plug one cable in to the laptop
Dell 24” monitor for second display– able to do vertical and portrait display
Jabra Evolve 40 headset — I may experiment with a microphone and headset setup later, and/or just plug the Jabra 510 kit in
Neweer light stand — I’m going to play with a second webcam focused on the whiteboard so I can switch between me and the whiteboard when I’m sketching in Teams meetings
Google mini — for the radio, music and stuff
Extension lead with enough cable to rise and fall with the desk and not just 3 pin plugs but USB-C and USB-A
Logitech MK470 Slim Wireless Keyboard & Mouse Combo — I’ve been so used to just using a laptop keyboard it’s taking a while to get back to a separate keyboard and mouse

And that’s it. I’ve worked from home mostly 2 days a week since about 2005 and I think this is a pattern that will continue for the rest of my career. It feels I’ve now got a useful space that means I can work remotely but contribute fully to any team I’m working with.

Will let you know how it feels in winter with an electric radiator but if you’ve got any top ‘shed’ (or converted garage) working tips would love to hear from you!