Office FurnitureChoosing the best office furniture is about finding pieces that meet the demands of the kind of work you do. For some types of work, a small desk, printer stand and desk chair will be adequate, but if you often deal with papers, books and other materials, you'll probably need organizational furniture such as a file cabinet and bookshelves. Make sure that the furniture you buy contains enough drawers for your office supplies and that your desk is large enough to accommodate your papers, stapler and anything else you may be working with regularly.Before buying office furniture, measure your available space and make sure that you can accommodate the pieces you're considering. If you're shopping for furniture for a home office, consider the aesthetics of the rest of your home and choose a style that you find attractive. If you have children at home, or if your office furniture will get lots of use, it's especially important to look for furniture that's sturdy and durable.Setting up a small or home office can be very expensive – but it doesn’t have to be.
Office design on a budget is possible. An office furnished with cheap office furniture can be just as functional and attractive as a work space filled with top-of-the-line gear.There are two rules to office design on a budget: You have to follow these two rules scrupulously if you want to achieve an affordable, workable office design. To help you accomplish the goal, however, here's a list of the office furniture and equipment you actually need to set up a small or home office with tips on how you can get what you need without spending much.Wrap around corner office desk units are nice in terms of office design, but can be pricey. Look first at auctions, surplus stores or your local newspaper or online listings for office desks at a discount. The advantage is not just price, but often a larger usable work surface.For instance, I have dual 24 inch monitors on my desktop and need a lot of desk space - for this I have a 66 by 36 inch rectangular steel office desk that cost me about $75 at a government surplus store.
Not pretty, but functional and it has two drawers on each side which is a great storage advantage. How to Save Money - Can’t find an office desk at a reasonable price? Buy a plain rectangular pine kitchen table instead. These can be found at lower-end furniture stores or even used quite cheaply. You’ll end up with a fairly large good-looking work surface and can compensate for the lack of drawers by placing a single or two drawer filing cabinet (buy from Amazon) under one side. Stay away from those computer desks or workstations proliferating at many lower-end furniture stores and retail chains; they’re often inexpensive, but they’re also pint-sized and flimsy.Want an even cheaper option? Go to a resale/thrift outlet such as Habitat for Humanity (a registered charity) and pick up a used interior door. Refinish it if you like and prop it over two filing cabinets of the right height for you to sit and work comfortably. While we would all love to have a paperless office, the reality is that most businesses still have to deal with printed documents.
A usable office design demands places to store files, but even small filing cabinets, such as two drawer units, are hundreds of dollars new. Stretch your office furniture dollar by buying used filing cabinets at places such as surplus stores, auctions, through the classifieds in your local paper or online.How to Save Money - Go cardboard. Office supply stores such as Staples offer storage boxes designed to store hanging files for less than ten dollars each. Or choose a “Bankers Box”(buy from Amazon), made of corrugated fibreboard and steel. They’re strong and stackable and a two pack costs less than $100.3) Office ChairRemember rule two of budget office design? This is one of the places to spend the money. If you spend a lot of time in your office chair (buy from Amazon) you want to get the one you can afford, best being defined as an office chair with excellent back support and the ergonomic features that will allow you to sit in it for hours on end comfortably. This will cost you hundreds of dollars - or more.
How to Save Money - It is possible to find good used office chairs. Sometimes businesses go out of business and auction off all their office furniture, for instance, and surplus stores often have used chairs for sale. You may be able to find one through your local online classifieds. And websites such as Amazon and eBay sell used as well as new items. Check out any used office chair carefully for wear and damage.4) ComputerDefinitely not the lowest priced item on your needs list, but it doesn’t have to be the most expensive, either. Keep rule one of office design in mind, and buy the computer you need rather than the expensive model the salesperson wants you to buy. You can get a good laptop or desktop PC with all the power and features necessary to run business applications for under $500 online or at any chain store that sells electronic equipment. A decent android tablet can be had at a reasonable price. The better equipped (and much more expensive) units such as the iPad or the Microsoft Surface can run the Microsoft Office Suite.
If you spend all day in front of a computer, don't skimp on the monitor - your eyes will thank you. Get a quality 24" or larger unit. If you have a laptop or Microsoft Surface (buy from Amazon) for mobile use you can plug it into the larger monitor when in your office. If you save documents locally make sure you have a backup system in place - either to cloud storage or to an external disk or usb flash drive.How to Save Money - Know the features and configuration you want and shop around. Stores often have sales. You may also find the computer or mobile device you’re looking for at a cheaper price online.5) Computer SoftwareWith the growth of cloud applications it is no longer necessary to spend hundreds of dollars on an office suite that needs to be upgraded every few years; instead you can pay a yearly subscription fee.Read more about Why Cloud Computing Is Ideal for Small Businesses.Google Apps for Work, Microsoft Office 365, and Zoho Office are examples of such. Online storage (with various levels of pricing depending on the space required) is included with each suite.
See also:Using Google Sites for Google Business AppsHow to Set Up GmailHow to Save Money - There are some free or nearly free office suites available, but these tend to have fewer features and integrate poorly with mainstream ones.6) Multifunction PrinterMultifunction printers (combining printer, scanner, copier and fax machine in one) are a great way to save money and space in your small or home office design. If you plan to do a lot of printing or copying see my primer article on printer technologies and printers, Before You Buy a Multifunction Printer. A "cheap" printer may cost you more in ink/toner costs in the long run.How to Save Money - Decide what features you want, and look for the multifunction printer that does exactly what you want it to do. Why pay for a multifunction printer with a built-in fax when you rarely fax anything, for example? new models come out regularly and older models are sometimes heavily discounted.7) Printer/Multifunction Device StandIncorporating a printer stand (buy from Amazon) in your office design gets your printer/multifunction device off your desk, creating more usable desk space, and gives you some extra storage space.
Inexpensive printer stands of the standard design with non-enclosed shelves are available from office supply chain stores for less than $50. (Fancier versions with enclosed shelves and/or drawers cost more.)How to Save Money - It doesn’t have to be called a printer stand to be a printer stand. You could use a microwave cart, an end table or just about any drawer unit that’s the right height. Measure to get the dimensions you need for your printer and your office design and then take your creative eye to garage sales and surplus stores.8) Desk StorageAssuming you’ve taken my advice and not bought one of those puny computer workstation desks, you’ll need some type of desktop storage unit. I like open shelves because they make it easy to find things visually. Retail chain stores such as Staples and Ikea offer all kinds of small shelving units at reasonable prices.How to Save Money - Go for the cube. Look for storage cubes in the department store chain retailers. They’re often in the kitchen storage section.