[Closed] Help me design my new posh shed / home office

Mine is a 6 metre x 2.5 metre room with a dividing wall to make the office 4.5 m wide and a store room just under 1.5m wide. The store room has its own external door with no internal access.
As you look out , I have my desk tight to the left wall (dividing wall) . I have a run of kitchen base units down the right wall, which turn along front wall until they meet the French windows/doors . 32 inch telly up on the wall , with a PS4 (which will be wall mounted when I get a bracket). I have 2 comfy tub type chairs for relaxing 😎 whilst not working. The sun comes in all day and heats it nicely ( built from SIPs panels so holds the warmth in )
On a cold sunless day I whack the dyson fan on hot for half hour and it’s good for most of the day.

spending a couple of years perched in the corner of a bedroom.

On the basis that you've been squeezed into a small area for 22 months I'd replicate that and then dedicate as much space to the shed as possible and turn it into a man cave. The smaller your office, the less time for family, friends and colleagues to visit you!

And more shed space means n+1

On a serious note, have you bought a new desk for it? Work backwards from that.

It’s an unusual shape, fitting it into a corner of the garden ?

Re size, more is better, esp as you’re having it built to spec. And light, a light space makes a big difference to the office, either full height windows or a sky light would be my recommendation.

I’m sure you can work around a triangular workshop, but is there any way to square it off slightly and increase its footprint? IMVHO you always end up needing more space than you originally planned for. I know I did and there more space for bikes, smart trainer, etc.

Under floor heating is also good and decent flooring, wish I’d done the flooring in the office cabin, but I didn’t as I was busy and now I’ve got to rip up what’s there and redo it. My office cabin is 5mx5m and the space and light is excellent.

On a serious note, have you bought a new desk for it? Work backwards from that.

I'd started there. I fancy a sit stand one and looked at one of these from ikea. Went with the biggest they do; deep because it'll probably have a wide monitor or two on it (I review a lot of documents on screen). But width of 160 is scaring me as I currently have about 90cm!

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/bekant-desk-sit-stand-linoleum-blue-white-s49282197/#content

I think kick back space is important, which is why I'd gone wide too.

It’s an unusual shape, fitting it into a corner of the garden ?

Yes, two fences and an extension to surround it. Marked here
https://imgur.com/a/30xOasj

I deliver online training so I'm not desperate for tons of windows as they're a distraction, but good light is a consideration so good shout on skylights.

It's specced with a wood floor (insulated) but I am concerned about damage from rolling chair around. I was thinking of a rug?

I hope your employer is paying for this

It’s specced with a wood floor (insulated) but I am concerned about damage from rolling chair around. I was thinking of a rug?

I use a rug to preserve carpet. What about noise reflection for your online calls? lots of hard surfaces in a small room with odd angles? Will it sound like a box?

Does your current room have a window you look out of? I find viewpoint distance a thing and have a mirror to look into and down a corridor to reduce eye strain occasionally. In my previous office/bedroom, I just looked out the window and down the road, but that's harder in a loft with Velux!

I assume the desk will go into the corner if it's a triangle? Will the south facing opening let too much light onto a screen? Or is house shadow fine - or too dark? If it's in shade all day it might struggle to get warm!

North facing skylights. I visit a local art studio with skylights in this arrangement and no windows on any other aspect, it is a very consistently light room without glare or shadows.

Rubber floor? Too many hard surfaces may make it should like your teaching from a toilet.

I hope your employer is paying for this

Why would his employer pay for it ?

Some very good points there. Window and door currently planned North facing, but an extra one can be installed roughly NE. Don't really want a S facing window as it's too bright for training use.

Current plan is / was square room, with desk on west wall, but that's negotiable to east wall. Don't really want windows behind me due to reflections.

The rubber floor is making me wonder about amtico or similar. But again, it could sound a bit toilet-like in there. I have got a decent hifi to go in there too so acoustically it could be a mess.

A mirror is a very good idea indeed.

Why would his employer pay for it ?

Sadly, I'm self employed. So yes, I am kinda paying for it. 😜

Edit:
Found the right rug!

Shown plenty of times on here, but mine is 3x3. I put laminate flooring down in mine

[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50150998632_5779e24ccb_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50150998632_5779e24ccb_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://www.flickr.com/gp/85252658@N05/az5g5m ]2020-07-25_11-14-38[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/85252658@N05/ ]davetheblade[/url], on Flickr

Still haven't finished painting the ceiling....

For the love of all that is holy, if you deliver online training.

Acoustic treat the bloody thing! you want a absorber infront of you and one on the ceiling. one good thing is you don't have parrallel walls which is good. Then a window will be less of an issue.

That rug is ace

I do wear a headset/mic, if that makes a difference? I'd seen yours in another thread str and you gave me this idea for comfy seat. Not convinced about having a full sofa, as I think it'll attract "visitors" to my den.

We had built a triangular office in the garden. The chippies struggled with the shape; setting out, rubber membrane on the roof; under floor heating mats and the laminate flooring. Other than this it worked out great. We added a toilet and a fold up bed so it can be used for visitors. We went triangle shaped to save garden space and avoid a huge tree.

Any pics @jaminb?

I have to say, a couple of you have mentioned underfloor heating and it's tempting to get a mat put in. I've got an oil rad to use but it's not exactly aesthetically pleasing.

Here you go

https://imgur.com/gallery/Ig40lay

Very nice. Liking the high level windows too.

I've just been out for a layout pondering moment and might have found the I can't really fit a 3x3m office in! Turns out the right angle ain't a right angle (only just finished clearing it a couple of days back).

But I still think getting close to 3m internally is important. So now I'm pondering a longer office, with access to shed element next to it. Both accessed from the narrow end of a triangle.

Pic of site. Green shed is the neighbour's and there will be a fence just this side of it. View is SSW. The wood in the corner is 2.4m long, but the perspective doesn't show that 3m comes basically to the wall on the right.

https://imgur.com/a/hOGpeFV

Probably already thought of but, desk position within it is often overlooked.

In the good old days prior to teams and zoom etc, you could plonk a desk anywhere.
Now, with cameras it is important to make sure your backdrop is in order.

Desks flat against the wall with the camera looking into the space isn't very good imho, and leads to distractions and a slightly unprofessional feel.

Don't need to go full on silly corporate looking as we did when teams first came about but, the desk half way along a wall (at right angles, so a narrow side is along the wall) with the camera looking onto a wall or into a corner with a few pictures on the walls looks great.

Also have your desk looking out towards the door from your seating position - how many single offices have you seen where the desk is flat against a wall with the occupant not looking out of the door.

Does mean space is eaten up but the work environment it gives is much more pleasant.

For desks, we used relatively cheap electric bases from Amazon and sourced tops in the style and size needed. Works out much cheaper than the Ikea one and looks better.

Most things touched on, but with the floor, why not go for a 18mm ply base with a good thick lino, some of them are very good and cheap!

Edit that's what I did, then had some soft furnishings and rug that helped with acoustics.

Now, with cameras it is important to make sure your backdrop is in order.

Left click.

Apply Background filter

Select generic office looking filter

Suddenly not important at all and removes all distraction.

I bought office carpet tiles for mine, they are the only thing that office chairs with wheels roll on correctly. I've had them on laminate and they roll too much, on a long rug the wheels tie up, on normal carpet it's OK, but not quite the same. This bothered me a lot more than I thought it would so carpet tiles were a good shout, they are hard wearing, cheap, easy to fit, and I can replace high traffic areas if I need to later.

Teams backdrop consideration is essential. I sit in a corner of mine facing the glass doors so I have plenty of light in front of me so I'm nicely lit up and visible not a dark sith like silhouette figure. The backdrop then is the window next to me on one side, then the wall behind me with the mirror on it showing nothing non-corporate in view, the 32 inch tv and dartboard on the other wall remain out of shot.

I tend to sit at the desk mon-thur doing "real work" then on Friday I have a nice sofa set up with the TV on, and an ikea coffee table that opens up with one half raising up to put the laptop at a proper height - that's a nice option to have

Some very good ideas and pointers here folks! Dartboard is a genius one! 😁

I had a look for underfloor heating, and the "mat" stuff seems very cheap from the likes of Amazon etc. Hmmm, seeing as a spark is going to be here, I am wondering about putting that down ontop of the wood and covered by (?) something.

Dunno whether that's going to be laminate, carpet, carpet tiles or a lino or amtico type thing yet. I do get the point about the carpet tiles and rolling wheels though.

I'm trying to not get mission creep here!

@trail_rat Depends what you are doing I suppose but, background effects just look like that - effects. I use teams a lot for work and nobody ever likes the effects.

They don't work 100% and are always obvious. In a bedroom or makeshift office they have a place for sure, but much prefer a clean uncluttered proper background - especially if creating an office space from scratch.

Flooring, we have two spare rooms for office space. The wife has laminate and I got discounted office carpet tiles. Her room is a lot more resonant than mine and I feel like I'm in an office space with the door shut.

Beauty of the tiles is they are so easy to put down and can be replaced easy if they get damaged. Not the sort of thing to be rolling around on as you may a nice plush home carpet, as it is hard heavy duty and nasty stuff to walk bare foot on. But copes with a heavy me wheeling around in my chair 8 or 9 hours a day.

For a multi purpose room, maybe laminate, with a square section of office tiles around the desk, or home type carpet with laminate around the office space. Personal preference I suppose.

I am concerned about damage from rolling chair around.

Get your chair fitted with laminate flooring wheels, these have a soft surface 'tyre' overlaying the plastic/metal castor. No need for rug unless you really want it, noise reduction and no need for a vacuum cleaner for floor cleaning.

Things have been progressing and thanks to the advice on this thread, I've now gone with a 4 x 2.5m office and orientated it completely differently. Still got a triangular shed attached, which isn't massive, but a more sensible location to where I started.

The builders are currently building it and I'm popping over to sign off the window layout soon.

I'm intending to run an underfloor heating mat under carpet tiles. Any thoughts on this? I've got carpet tiles down in the garage and know how thin they are (they are commercial high footfall ones used in an amusement arcade) so will the heating mat be noticeably lumpy under foot/wheel?

Will the heat be able to come through the tiles?

The office bit is specced as plasterboard but I've always liked the look of pallet boarding like this.

I can get pallets gratis. Would anyone suggest attaching it over the plasterboard? Or instead of it?

Good shout on the larger office space. My home office is 2m x 2m and while perfectly adequate does feel a little cramped sometimes.

The floor is carpeted which is nice underfoot, but my chair doesn’t really roll. I’d probably give laminate a go, but the commercial carpet tiles might be a good idea. I’d be a little worried that rolling a chair around on an underfloor heating mesh might break the mesh, especially if it’s under a thin carpet tile.

Mmmmmm, didn't think of that. I wonder if laminate plus rug (or those special roller feet) might be the way forward.

Have you thought about putting solar panels on the roof of the shed? If you design it so you get total coverage (with a layer of felt underneath), it would also serve as a robust roofing material which should last 25 years or more. If you are putting in electrics at the same time, then that would make life easier too. No scaffolding required, which is normally a significant cost with a solar installation.

Yeah, chair wheels will damage the electric underfloor if all that's protecting it is thin carper tiles.

Re the pallet boarding I'd fit it straight to the shed frame (with insulation behind)

Desk-wise, use a big table.

I find 'normal' desks are never deep enough, consequently my 'desk' is our old dining room table. No drawers underneath either so I can move left/right too etc.

My screen is straight in front, and just below eye level, so I can also sit my laptop and use it's screen as the 2nd 'screen'. And because I've the depth, a proper keyboard in front of me.

Also ensure you've multiple power sockets, rather than relying on extensions.

I find ‘normal’ desks are never deep enough, consequently my ‘desk’ is our old dining room table. No drawers underneath either so I can move left/right too etc.

I used Ikea table tops and legs for the 4 desks in my office (this was 19 years ago.... they may not even do them now!) - nice and big but can be cut to fit also if required. But the OP may not have the luxury of that much room for a big desk.

Left click.

Apply Background filter

Select generic office looking filte

Last time i was in "the office", i used my webcam to take a picture of what it sees behind me. (took my wireless mouse and stood out of shot)
I now can put myself "in the office" whenever i like.
Doesnt fool everone, but you sometimes see knowing smirks when people notice and others havent.

I even got an "i didnt know you were going in to the office" from the boss, and a "me either" from my colleague who i sit next to who was in the office.

Chuckles.

I even got an “i didnt know you were going in to the office” from the boss, and a “me either” from my colleague who i sit next to who was in the office.

are you this guy?

https://m.facebook.com/watch/?v=879950959620123&_rdr

There was that guy who filmed himself bringing a cup of tea... to himself. Then played it as background. Genius.

Point taken on plugs. It's specced with 4 sockets and I'm going to ask for 8 in the office plus 4 in the shed I think.

Sadly I don't have the financial resources for solar, bloody good idea though as I need to get an overhanging tree chopped down which will help with sunlight.

Desk depth is something I've been thinking about. Initially specced the biggest ikea up / down desk I could. But someone mentioned that as I already work on a very small desk (70w x 50d), why go so big? And I review a lot of documents on screen so don't need a huge distance. So I'm probably going somewhere in between.

Thanks for the clarity on the heating elements. If I stick with carpet tiles I had wondered about laying them away from where the chair will go. I may just try loose laying the tiles and see how it gets on temperature-wise. Or fit laminate straight away with the heating underneath and rug on top.