My Workspace

I live in a small two bed terrace house in South London. Lucky I was able to claim the second room as a dedicated workspace for my freelance web design business. It's taken 18 months since moving in to the property to get it to my liking but as I work from home everyday I felt it was so important to have a space I was happy in, after all I spend more time in this room than any other in the house.

Desk - I have a large desk (1.6m x 0.8m) with an Ikea add on unit for the monitors to sit on, and the laptop to neatly slide under. I tend to sit more on the right side (nearer the window), which leaves enough space on the left for paperwork, unused Ikea fixings, other odds and ends.

Dell 24" UltraSharp Monitors - Ever since I was given two monitors at my first designer role for GAME having two monitors has been my preferred setup. The one on the left is the U2414h and on the right the U2415. They are both matt displays with very thin bevels, which makes them ideal for a dual set up. The only difference between the models is the aspect radio. The U2415 is 16:10 which I prefer, especially for design work. I tend to use this monitor as my main monitor, so I'll often have Sublime Text or SketchApp open on this screen and a browser window on the other.

Macbook Pro - As I mostly work plugged into the monitors I didn't need a large Macbook, so I went with the 13" Retina Macbook Pro. It gives me the best of both worlds. I can simply unplug it for taking to client meetings, or if a change of scenery is required.

Apple Bluetooth Keyboard - Until quite recently I had the wired version. However too much tea spilling left me needing to replace it. I went for the wireless one as it looks a little neater on the desk, and is less faff.

Logitech mouse - I've never liked Apples mice, I've had Logitech's for the past 10 years. This one is the M705 model. It has up and down thumb buttons which I use to control Spaces in OSX, very handy.

Wacom Tablet - I use to have a high-end Wacom tablet whilst at uni. I mostly used it for drawing in Flash. I loved it for that purpose. The years past and it collected dust so I sold it. Shortly after doing this I had an project which required some hand drawn elements - perfect for a Wacom. So I bought another, this time a more mid-range, cost friendly option, the Wacom Intuos Pen Graphics Tablet. Since that project it's mostly sat to the side. I'll slide it over now and then, but it hasn't replaced my mouse as my day to day input device. I grip pens oddly, at school my teachers insisted I used one of those rubber triangles over my pencil, but I never changed my ways. As a result I find it really uncomfortable to swap between using the pen and the keyboard.

Bluetooth Speaker - I stream music or podcasts from my phone to the Bolse Portable Speaker. For around £30 it gives a decent sound, and it sits neatly on the desk without any wires.

Anglepoise - I love this lamp. It's mostly used during the darker months at dusk, it lets me focus the light on the desk without too much glare. This model is the Anglepoise Type 75 Desk Lamp.

Chair - Ikeas Markus office chair is a great chair, it supports my back well, and I feel quite fancy sitting (and spinning) in it.

Other bits - Simpsons Mini Lego figures, Star Wars figurine, a plant (its nice to have something else living in the room whist I'm alone for 8 hours), and a sock which has been made into a pig. All these little bits make my desk a happier place to be.

In the other corner of my office is the area I like to relax in. It's also a little nod to the things I loved growing up (and still love if I'm being honest). I use this area mostly for reading, or I'll unplug the macbook from the monitors to sit somewhere else for a while. I store a lot of my paperwork and cables in the

classic Ikea Kallax unit, but mostly it's there so I have somewhere to put my cuppa!