Dear Unplggd,
I'm a design student whose desk is just large enough for my laptop, an open book and maybe a lamp if I squeeze it all tightly (maybe the addition of a thumb drive if I'm reading a small book). I am looking for space saving solutions for my desk setup and would love to get some ideas of how to make due with the space I have, but that will also help me keep organized and get my work done without uglifying my work space. Any tips?
-Regards, Jacob
[Photo: "Peter"]
Hi Jacob,
We've got a pretty small desk ourselves, and have recently downsized our home office setup to a laptop from a previous large desktop tower (MacBook Pro review coming soon!). We've found that using a USB dock/hub really helps keep our desk clutter-free; we're fond of our BlueLounge SpaceStation, though we wished it could somehow eliminate the power input and mini Display Port cables too. Another organizing accessory we'd love for our desk is one of these Belkin Grommet USB hubs. Anything that reduces cable clutter is a big plus when organize a compact home office.
Consider using corner or wall space if your desk is facing against a wall; you can find cheap corner shelves at KMart or Target (or online, like we did), and IKEA has an assortment of affordable shelving that could sit above your setup.
A small footprint light that happens to operate off USB power like the Conof USB Lamp might work well at optimizing space, offering light and also a place to recharge your peripherals. And if you have a secondary monitor like we do, consider wall mounting it (we need to do this ourselves this weekend).
If you're in the market for a printer, purchase one that can be used wirelessly or via network, and position it underneath your desk or in another room. position your cables and power strip underneath the desk, like shown here or here.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Wow! You suggest a $130 desk lamp for a student?
view Khurt Williams's profile
For a lamp, I'd recommend finding a clip or clamp lamp/light you can tolerate. It may not be "cool" enough (though some are quite nice), but it is space efficient and most of them are flexible and can be easily directly at reading material.
view Orchid64's profile
Where is the poster on the wall of the clutter from? I've seen it before but, I can't remember where. Also the monitor is cool, who makes it?
view modernguy's profile
you should install some lack shelves above your desk - add a bit o' artwork plus some storage boxes and a place for peripherals.
i love the belkin 'concealer', and going as wireless as possible and putting all my peripherals in a closet - modem, router, printer, etc. i really need to get rid of the crap on my desk, but that's just me being lazy and leaving books, mails, cds, etc., just lying around.
oh, and my mousepad is also a notepad! that saves some space heheh. other than, it's just my cup of pencils/pens, cordless phone, lamp i never ever use, and a small skinny vase with some flowers.
last night my bro installed a keyboard drawer for me and i put my laptop on a riser. i'm trying to get more ergonomic as my shoulders/wrists are frickin' OUCHY from heavy laptop use.
anyway, good luck and show us some pictures!
view kdkaboom's profile
The wireless printer is what I need right now. My desk is incredibly cluttered, and I'm sure putting my printer somewhere else would probably solve the problem that I'm having.
view www.CoolProducts.com's profile
Put some shelves up above your desk to clear stuff off your desktop.
I second the clip-lamp idea. Get one with a flexible neck so you can maybe clip it upside down to one of the shelves.
Install a pop-up keyboard/mouse tray that you can mount on the under-side of your desktop.
If you have room, get a little rolling file cart with at least one accessory drawer to put under your desk.
You can always try and wall-mount that monitor to save even more space.
view jyw's profile
First, see if your external monitor has VESA holes, so you can put it on the wall, and consider drilling a Grommet hole with a USB port in your desk, and securing your hard drive and shit on the bottom. You could also get a vertical tower dock for your macbook pro.
view chaseunchase's profile
Get a laptop stand. Rain Design has a very nice stand that would free up space under your laptop.
http://www.raindesigninc.com/mstand.html
view yakimushi's profile