No one had thought that people would be working from home for such an extended period. Indian IT does not have Work from home culture. Due to pandemic companies were forced to adopt and it’s great to see how people manage things working remotely.
As we are not used to do work from home for say more then few days, usually there is no proper setup at our homes. In Mumbai you have such a small homes that you can not think of making one room as your study or work room 🙂
At our home we didn’t had any dedicated desk or chair where one can sit for longer duration and work . We use to work from Sofa or bed using a small bamboo laptop table.
Many a time we use to sit on floor due to posture issues as while sitting on bed or sofa you tend to curve down which leads to back pain.
It was kind of Ok for first few months as it was all new and any which ways we can not do much as there was complete lock down. So somehow we managed.
But in the mean time we were looking for some solution to this problem as this Work from Home is there to stay.
As per the space available on our home we were looking for modular table, by modular I mean which can be folded and kept aside when not required. Indian market is not that good for modular furniture as there were way less options.
What ever good options we had are way to costly as all the brands want to make money on this new opportunity.
After lot of search and reviews on different websites and considering the amount we would be paying for that piece of furniture we have decided on the design and size of the table.
For us it was a collapsible wall mounted table of size 80*50 cm. We came to this size based on the space available on the wall beside our sofa.
Also this was sufficient to keep my husbands 2 -22″ monitors, docking station & Laptop. Budget we had was Rs 3500 for this as this is what my husband can claim under work from home policy.
In this budget and table size we had limited options, one was this on Amazon or this & 1 or 2 more. Now we have a lot of options.
Still we were not getting the desired size and material. All of these were made in MDF which is not good for durability of furniture which is going to be folded and will be hanging on 4-6 screws.
So we contacted the sellers via Amazon and few said that they can make it in plywood but the cost will increase as plywood is costly then MDF.
Finally we agreed to pay more and bought the one from India Decor. But it was not that easy. We did placed the order and it was shipped and reached the nearest Amazon hub as well.
Then came another Lock down in Mumbai/Navi Mumbai area and that hub was closed and they could not deliver the product and it was returned to seller 🙁
Now our search started with local furniture vendors/manufacturers. We gave them the details and asked them if they can give us this particular piece and in how many days.
Only one said yes and he agreed to deliver only the top board as for the folding brackets there was no shop open. We asked him to give at least the board.
He took 2 days to give that to us, in the mean time we ordered folding brackets from Flipkart as some how they were delivering and Amazon was not.
We paid extra as it was costly on Flipkart then Amazon but it was a required so we ordered. We had Makita drill @home and this was another reason to order this kind of table.
This won’t require any carpenter service and one can easily fix it. Well it was not that easy as you need do proper measurement’s to make it align and to fix it at proper height.
For alignment our Stanley Level came very handy.
So finally we installed everything and the table was up and we were very happy as now we can work properly.
Setup is incomplete w/o a office chair with good lumber support.
Lumber support is required as one has to sit for long hours and proper lower back supper is must. Again we have to do a lot or search and go through lot or reviews for this.
For this we again contacted few local vendors/manufacturers to costing and quality and most of them were out of budget.
Our budget was Rs 4000 as this can be claimed under the policy, but we thought we can buy little costly as this is quite important for good sitting posture.
For this we looked @ all the furniture websites like Transteel, Pepperfry, Amazon, Flipkart etc. but everyone has more -ve reviews then positive.
Transteel has good chairs but the delivery time was more. Finally we finalized Da Urban and ordered it from Amazon, as usual cheapest as compared to other sites.
Reason to choose this was recent reviews were good and one major reason was it had Metal wheel frame. We didn’t want full plastic one as we have seen accidents in office when one leg breaks and person fell down.
It came in big box, packaging was kind of Ok, we were more concerned about the chair and it was intact. After thorough sanitization we installed it.
Installation was quite easy & in 5 min the chair was ready to sit. we even checked the level of seat to make sure it is not tilted on one side as mentioned in few reviews and it was perfectly fine and balanced.
The chair is comfortable and we can sit on it for long duration.
Along with this we did purchase a cable organizer and a good extension with spike guard. There are multiple cable organizers present on Amazon but we choose this as this will able to hide your cables and has enough space to store 4 socket extension.
We bought GM extension with spike guard.
Choosing Work from home furniture –
* One should choose as per space and requirement
* Place it near to fan if that room does not have AC else you will be sweating all the time 🙂
* It should serve multiple purpose, in our case we will be using it as small dining table
* Size should be adequate to fit multiple things as while working you might realize we could have ordered a bigger one
* Make sure the height is appropriate minimum is 30″ from floor
* Chair min seat height is 17-18″ and it can rise above it as as per your height adjust the table height
* If you can do DIY then look for solutions from local vendors as this will be cheap
* Opt for plywood as it is more durable and long lasting then MDF
* Decorate the wall behind else try to place the table near the open space
I too have a similar set up while I am working at home. The bed table is so nice and comfortable to work easily from bed.
That is a fabulous home decor solution done by you guys. In fact, it is functional and yet does not require too much of space. Loved it. The expenditure too is not so much.
Good pointers. I have also found a folding table to be a good option for working at home and saves so much space
I generally work on my dining table but yes folding table is a really cool idea. Thanks for sharing this great piece of information!!
Your post came in at the right time! I have been hunting for a good chair and I looked up at your recommendations. Great ideas and buying options. Love them!
A proper workstation surely increases productivity. For a short span bed and sofa is ok but as in current time its like no one knows till when we have to do wfh, getting a proper place is important.
I really think it is important to have a proper work station whether tiny or big for comfortable working and optimum productivity . I am alss borrowing your folding bracket idea !
I agree work from home is challenging and we need to make some modifications in our routine set up when all are working from home. Loved your set up and furniture options..so elegant. Feeling Inspired to try few of them for my home.
Folding brackets are boon to all situations. Must confess we also now have two study tables where all online work of family takes place.
Wow I love those screens and that wall sticker is so refreshing. I haven’t seen flooding brackets since I left Mumbai years ago. Love your set up.
Now if this is going to be the new normal than its is better to have proper work space which can help in greater productivity.. Great job and great post.
Nice ideas for work from home set up. Thanks for sharing.
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