Welcome to the 542nd Metamorphosis Monday!
For this week’s Met Monday, I’m sharing a small computer workstation I set up in the guest room at my son and daughter-in-law’s home. If space is limited in your home but you would love a dedicated spot for working on your computer, I can definitely recommend the setup I’ve created and will be sharing in today’s post.
A little backstory: I often plan or time my visits with my son and daughter-in-law to coincide when I can be the most help to them, like when they have a lot of evening events to attend or have travel plans where they are unable to take the little ones along. Visits can sometimes last a few weeks, depending on what we all have planned, or sometimes a planned shorter trip will end up getting extended as needs arise.
I love my visits to see them–love spending time with them and my two grandsons so much, but blogging for several weeks on a small travel laptop can be challenging when you are used to working with two large monitors back home.
During a previous visit, I got an idea: why not set up a little workstation in the guest room, and while I’m at it, add a nice large external monitor to use with my laptop! I ran the idea by my son and dil and they both thought it was a great idea! I think this little setup will also come in handy for the other family members and friends who are frequent visitors to their home.
I searched online, read a bunch of reviews and settled on this inexpensive desk that didn’t look like it would take up a lot of space. This desk was super easy to assemble, only took about 15-20 minutes.
I like how the design of the desk places the monitor up a bit at eye level. I don’t need a mousepad because my favorite Logitech mouse doesn’t require one and works great on the black surface of the desk.
I like the extra shelf below for holding books or really anything you wish. I often place my handbag there. In the photo below, I was charging my iPad so had it resting on the shelf. I also ordered the same 12-outlet power strip surge protector I use at home so I’d have plenty of plug-in space for all my electronics like my iPad, phone charging pad, etc…
Since I don’t need the monitor on my laptop while working here, I folded it back and out of the way, although I could have kept it upright to use as a second monitor since it doesn’t block the view of the large monitor at all. I’m finding the single, large monitor is really all I need as I work with split screens and drag/drop what I need from one to the other.
The monitor I purchased is so large, it’s easy to open several windows and drag photos from a window/file into the blog post I’m working on. Love that! My son loaned me his HDMI adapter/converter for connecting my laptop to the new monitor, but I went ahead and ordered a new one since I’ll need one each time I visit. I’ll link to it and the other items I’m using at the end of this post.
I also purchased an inexpensive chair that had great reviews. I liked the design of this chair with the open/mesh back and the heavily padded seat. So far I’m very pleased with how it sits and find it quite comfortable.
I have soo enjoyed this little workstation and have been kicking myself for not having set it up sooner. It’s so much better than sitting at the dining room table where my grandsons were often having to hop over the electrical cord running from my laptop to the nearby outlet. It also eliminates my computer and other work “stuff” taking up space at the end of the dining table, though my son and dil never once complained or seemed to mind. This setup is just so much better and more convenient!
If you’ve been thinking of setting up a little workstation but don’t have a lot of space, I can definitely recommend this arrangement. Below you’ll find links to everything I’m using in this computer workstation.
HDMI, DVI, VGA, Converter/Adapter for an External Monitor
Looking forward to all the great Before and Afters for this week’s Metamorphosis Monday!
Metamorphosis Monday
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Great compact setup. I like big monitors. I use my 14″laptop as screen one and a larger monitor as screen 2. So much easier with multiple windows open.
Looks like you can stay for longer visits now.
Yup, you can do it that way, too! I forgot to mention that in the post so thanks for mentioning that! This is def so much easier for those longer visits. Think I could fit this monitor into my suitcase for travel overseas? 😉 lol
Love that little away from home workstation! Thanks so much for hosting and hope you have an amazing week! 🙂 Linda
Thanks, Linda! XXX
Lordy, whatever did we do before Amazon? Great setup.
Exactly! I must say that at least once a week! lol
Thanks for the party Susan! I know your son and dil are thrilled to help you set up a work station so you will visit more often! Win win for everyone!
Thanks, Jenna! I love being here…so much fun! 🙂
Thanks so much for hosting each week, Susan!!!
Hugs,
Debbie
Have a great week, Debbie!
What a great workstation…you always find the most wonderful solutions to every dilemma you encounter!…thanks for hosting Susan and have a great visit with the family!
Thanks, Shirley! I wish I had done this long ago, definitely making everything easier/more efficient. XXX
This is great, Susan. Now that we are downsized (yay! sharing our urban tour today), every single thing with compact yet full purpose is definitely on my radar. Mr. P. has a great setup in “his” space, and the best part (for me) is that it’s out of sight upon entering the room!
Now you have one more reason to go to OH more frequently!
Thanks for hosting us.
Oh, I want to see that! I know you are loving your new home!
Susan, I love this “home-away-from-home-workstation” brilliant idea.
I have always loved MetMondays, I’m back trying to blog alittle, because of this particular linky party. Thank you for hosting.
Welcome back, Jo! Hope you are having a great spring…summer is almost here!
So clever! And more comfortable having a dedicated out-of-the-way space. And useful for others too–double win!! (But remember to step away and get outside there)
So true! Wish I had thought of this a long time ago. lol Don’t worry, I will. 🙂
Susan, can I hire you as my personal interior designer? As soon as I find my new house, you just need to come for a few weeks to Europe and I’ll give you a completely free rein! 🙂 Love the ‘home office’ you’ve created in your son’s and dil’s house! I wish we knew what your grandsons think what you do with your computer and laptop, etc. Maybe they think you’re playing? 🙂 Did they ever ask you? It must be interesting for them when they’re a little older and they discover their Nana is a popular blogger! 🙂
Enjoy your stay with your family, Susan!
PS: Please, tell Nancy, I love that floral bedspread! It’s so feminine! 🙂
Aww, thanks Cecilia! I think they just think I’m playing or looking at photos. Whenever I visit, they ask over and over to watch the giraffe and lion videos I filmed in Kenya. They can’t get enough of those. lol
Thanks, Cecilia! I will def let Nancy know…she will like that! 🙂
What a great idea! So perfect and will be a blessing for other guests also! Now you can stay even longer!
Thanks, Cyndi! I do think it will come in handy with other family members visit, or maybe even for my son if he needs to quickly work downstairs on something. XXX
Hi, I started not to comment, but I feel as though you are a friend after all these years of reading and thoroughly enjoying your posts. I just wanted to be sure your monitor is not too high. I worked for a large insurance company with over 35,000 employees, when I retired. I performed an ergonomic assessment on every employee in our office once a year (for many years). Not knowing how tall you are, or your measurement from your bottom in the chair to your eyes, it may be perfectly fine. The top line of the screen (not the casing) should be at or slightly below eye level. I just wanted to be sure you weren’t looking up at the screen. I hope it is ok that I mention this and you know it is with the best intention.
Thanks for that info, Linda–that’s really helpful to know about the correct position. How cool it would be to have someone available to do an ergonomic assessment! I think I’m okay at this desk because I wear what Lenscrafters calls, “Workstation glasses.” These glasses have literally changed my life! Even the eye doctor I saw at Lenscrafters said the same thing about the workstation glasses he wears when I was there a few weeks ago getting contacts.
With workstation glasses, the majority of the lens is designed for viewing a computer screen a few feet away…like around arm’s length or a bit more. (That also works well for household chores like cooking, ironing, etc…) The very top of each lens sees further away so if you work in an office and someone walks up to your desk, you can clearly see them as you look up. The bottom of the lens is designed to see close-up for reading small print on your desk or whatever you might be working on. I’m pretty short (around 5’4″) but when I have the chair adjusted where my arms are at the proper height for the desk, my head/eyes are looking straight ahead around the upper 1/3 of the screen. So far, this is working well with my laptop pushed forward so I’m not sitting too close to the monitor. Have you heard of “workstation” glasses? I had not until I got these at Lenscrafters a couple of years back. When I leave the house to go someplace, I change to my regular progressive lenses since I’m super nearsighted. The very few times I’ve forgotten to change my glasses for a short trip to the nearby grocery store, I just looked through the top part of the glasses and could see fine for driving. If the monitor was lower, I’m not sure that would work with my workstation glasses.
Hi Susan, the glasses you have been wearing sound wonderful. Our employees did order computer glasses through an office supply store, but I am sure they weren’t as good as the ones from LensCrafters.
Just be sure you are not leanng your head backwards, looking up at the screen and that your head is in it’s normal straight, ahead position. It can cause neck, shoulder, back pain if you do that continually. By the way…..feet flat on the floor. Now that’s hard for me to do!! I hope you have a wonderful week!!
What a brilliant idea Susan….I am sure it is much more convenient when visiting your family. I always enjoy your tips….and trips, virtually of course.
This is so great! Thank you for sharing. And finding the perfect chair is so important. I see your LV personal planner and decided to look online for one for myself but I must not be using the correct descriptor because I am unable to locate that size. Can you provide me details on yours, please?
Thanks, Vickie! This chair is pretty comfortable for the price. I like how padded the seat is.
I purchased the planner a year or so ago and you can see it in more detail in this previous post: https://betweennapsontheporch.net/beautiful-calendar-inserts-for-any-agenda-especially-for-the-louis-vuitton-fan/
It’s their GM size which is 7.1 x 8.7 inches in size. I wanted it to sit on my desk fulltime so I went with a bigger size. They make it in two smaller sizes. Some folks like the next size down if they plan to carry it in a medium size handbag.
You can see the various sizes at this link. Mine is the one on the top row…the GM size: https://us.louisvuitton.com/eng-us/search/agenda
I didn’t like the calendar insert that LV offered for it so I purchased my own from a wonderful Etsy shop. I linked out to her in that post that I’ve linked above.
I’m not sure if she is still making all the same LV dashboards but if you don’t see them on her site, contact her via her contact at Etsy and let her know what you want and she can create it. She’s very easy to work with, very accommodating.
WOW! Thank you for taking the time for this generous informative reply. I felt like you had mentioned this in a previous post but I had not been able to carve out the time to search it out. I love the size of your and will see what I can come up with. Bless you!