I’ve just spent a lot of the last few days shopping for new office furniture and building it with the help of my buddy PM. Since I’m now fully self-employed and work 95% of my time at home, I decided to blow a bundle of (tax deductible) cash and refurbish my old office so I’d have the perfect lair to hatch my evil 2011 plans.
I’ve spent many hours cleaning, building, sorting, throwing trash out, fighting wires, tie-wrapping and what not. Now I’m exhausted but too damn excited to go to bed yet… so I decided to share some pics of what my new abode looks like (click images to embiggify).
It started with a simple, glass desk that takes 1/2 the space of my old “L-shaped” press-wood monstrosity.
My new desk... with a tamed snarl of wires.
Then since I’m stuck with the house’s electrical box on the wall to my left, I improvised to recuperate the dead space.
Complete with Jared Von Hindman originals!
Then I built one of those friends-in-a-box from Ikea, name of Billy and filled him in on my latest projects and blog subjects…
That Gnome sure isn't as happy as in the initial 4e commercials huh?
Then, I really needed to find a place to store all those dice, minis and dungeon tiles. Ikea once again rescued me!
A cascade of geekiness in cheap red metal called Helmer
Of course, an at-home office would not be complete without a Kids’ art corner. Witness the talent of 7 y.o. Rory, the house’s graphic artist.
That's our family up right, with age labels...
Finally, I (well, my wife Alex) added a white shelf over the monitors and I nerdified the whole place with some of my favourites toys…
...including an autographed pic of a certain net famous actress
Now I’m ready to take on a CRAPTON of new challenges.
Bring ’em!
Happy belated New Year.
Nice digs, Phil! Good job. I like the black dragon. Way to nerdify!
Far too clean and well-lit. How can anyone get any gaming done in a place like that?!
J’en suis jaloux. Will you come do MY office?
@Yax: Thanks man, there’s something to be said about motivation when the first thing you see when you look away from the screen are either the stern looks of a gargantuan black dragon or Felicia Day smiling at you, gently nudging you to keep at it…
…or so I like to tell myself.
@Swordgleam: I can always turn the fluorescent globes off… 🙂
Very snazzy
Place is looking pretty nice. Lets see a picture three months from now,when its been “broken in” a bit and covered with papers and such.
What I’m not showing is the absolute mess on my gaming table right behind the desk. I still need to clean after myself. But I’ve got paid work to finish first. 🙂
Awesome space! I see that one thing we have in common with our home offices is that there is a ton of Jared’s artwork around the walls. 😀
My office has progressed over the last 6 months, as DNAPhil mentioned, to being much less clean and organized, but I’m slowly fighting that back to a state of cleanliness. I suggest at leas tone good file cabinet to keep things even more organized!
Oh man, I love simple glass and metal desks… That is a most excellent setup.
@Bartoneus: Yeah, I know the whole setup will be buried in paper come next month or so, but at least I can still enjoy the Zen tranquility of such ordeliness and have a heartfelt resolution to keep it as such for some time.
I’ll buy a filing cabinet very soon as I’ll need to keep my paperwork organized. The only thing is that I don’t have any space left for it… but I’m thinking of converting my gaming/recycling closet to expand my office space.
@James: Sure, but the thing is, can you afford my rates? 🙂
@Micheal: Thanks! I loved it as soon as I saw it at Staples. And it’s not that expensive, less than 200$.
Chanceux ! j’en veux un aussi ! Manque juste la maison, le nouveau pc , le bureau.. ouin… 🙁
Oh well, i’m getting a new tv at least !
Very nice space 🙂
Love the drawers with dices 🙂
Very nice, love the organization.
Though I wonder, was this a blog or an Ikea commercial? 😉
@François: Ça m’a pris un bon bout me rendre là… Mais dis-toi que j’ai toujours pas de TV LCD 🙂
@Fabio: Thanks, I strongly believe there’s no such thing as a drawer with too many dice.
@Patrick: Thanks… I hope it stays organized. Yeah… call this post a love letter to Sweedish design and Chinese manufacturing.
Looks great! Slightly jealous. 🙂
I do see one problem though. I think the Ninja Assassin Handbook specifies something about keeping more cords handy for use as garottes. You’re significantly under spec there.
@Lanir: Oh there are plenty of cords… that you failed to spot them (and the 3 service ninjas) is a tribute to my mad skillz. 🙂
Seriously, I’ve gone all out to try to master the cord snarl because I was working with a glass desk. The whole back of the desk is covered with tie-wrapped cords (all black, thankfully) and I used one of those Cord covers for those on the floor.
But if you look under the space where the computer lies… well, there’s only so much you can do with a ton of wires. 🙂
@Chatty: The ninja code enforcement squad acknowledges your feng shui cord mastery and approves. Also, they’re possibly distracted by your Felicia poster.
I LOVE the Helmer drawers- so classy looking. Hope some day soon I’ll be working from home soon, so I can do my own tax-deductible office makeover!
Also loved the look of the Helmer drawers, and went across to IKEA tonight. Was a bit concerned that they’d be overly big, but they are a great size! Just a shame that Australia is so backwards, that we haven’t alerted folks to how well our dollar is doing. IKEA Australia wants to charge $129.99 for the Helmer drawers (FYI, that’s $127.84 Canadian dollars). So again – great set-up, silly Australian IKEA….
-hvg3