Home Office Design For The Tech Industry
Home Office Design For The Tech Industry
Since work-from-home and hybrid work models are seemingly here to stay, many of our clients have reached out wanting to level up their Zoom-backgrounds. In particular, our friends in the tech industry have embraced this flexible work style. Here’s a few guiding principles that have made for successful home office design in our recent experience.
MANAGE THE MESS
Our computer-based workplaces can quickly become a jumble of black spaghetti if we don’t plan for cord management in advance. When designing custom desks we like to include a concealed cord chase at the back edge of the worksurface that strategically conceals all outlets, chargers, and cords. Providing power inside these chases minimizes visible cord-management on the desk exterior, so we can keep things nice and tidy in the office landscape.
Some off-the shelf desks also come with handy cord management solutions that include power outlets at the worksurface, cord clamps, chases, and troughs just below the desk top and attached to legs.
Custom cord management chase in a solid walnut executive desk. Fabrication & Photography: Chadhaus
EMBRACE ERGONOMICS
Sit-to-stand desks have become more sleek and easier to operate, and now they can be easily sourced and install-ready in no time flat. We have been impressed by products we have sourced from Uplift Desk and appreciate options for customization like monitor arms, worksurface power, and programmable controls.
When it comes to chairs, we always recommend a sit test because personal preferences vary wildly and all bodies are unique. We have received positive client feedback on the Herman Miller Embody chair, and the more minimalist Cosm.
The Herman Miller Embody chair in a tech executive home office. Design: Counterbalance Studio | Photography: Jacob Snavely
MAKE IT PERSONAL
Nothing makes turning up for work more pleasant than being greeted by special touches like beautiful art, personal keepsakes, and family photos. Including these elements in the workspace is humanizing and can give your clients and coworkers some small but meaningful insight into who you are a whole person (not just the programming whiz they see on Slack each day). We loved incorporating these “me&him&you” cityscape screen prints into our Boss Office project – a small nod to this owner’s the bi-coastal residences. Other artists we’ve been crushing hard on lately include Joy Kinna, Jeff Wenzel, Rubeena Ratcliff, and Heather Chontos.
Home office design with a custom wallpaper mural and a personalized gallery wall. Design: Counterbalance Studio
PUT A LAMP ON IT
Lighting is the crown jewel that can make or break a space. We like to tell our clients that decorative lighting is the jewelry that completes the perfect outfit. Adding a sculptural lamp to your desk, bookshelf, or a nearby credenza adds illumination (obviously), visual interest, and creates a softening effect within the overall room. Using a desk or floor lamp in lieu of the overhead lighting in your space lowers the plane of intimacy and creates a sense of warmth and coziness. We’re big fans of dimmer switches, and we recommend a color temperature between 2700 – 3000 Kelvin, with a color rendering index of 90. As for Lumens (aka: the amount of light emitted), 450LM will produce a soft ambient glow, and 800LM is typically suitable for reading, writing, and other desktop tasks. Some of our recent favorites have come from the artisans at Stone & Sawyer, Porta Romana, and Danny Kaplan – check ‘em out!
Custom framed screen prints paired with a champagne anodized aluminum table lamp by Ross Gardam. Design: Counterbalance Studio | Photography: Jacob Snavely
We’d love to know if you have used any of these strategies to outfit your home office!