My two-part desk setup

A basic principle of ancient Chinese Feng Shui is that you should not sit with your back to a space. In other words, you need to have your back against a wall, not your face facing a wall. I believe there is a reason for this. When there is a space behind you, human instinct forces you to pay a subconscious attention on that space (we are very alert to danger from behind), making it harder to concentrate on what is in front of you.

Wow this guy has the 606 Vitsoe Universal shelving [1] and USM Haller desk [2]

A dream setup.

[1] https://www.vitsoe.com/us/606

[2] https://us.usm.com/collections/tables-desks

It "looks" amazing. But you know, the real hard work is always done by the rag-looking, worn-out dirty, dented, scratched, faded-out, weak tools and work-benches. Not the shiny or rugged ones. Just like some notebooks that were used a 1000 times, with corners rounded by usage, not by design.

I would love a table that has uneven solid wood surface, with cracks and scratchers, burn marks, broken corners, worn-out edges, ink-marks everywhere, shaped out by the usage, not by design.

Very aesthetic, the author must be a photographer, these photos could fit very well on r/malelivingspace.

Having just moved house, this is fantastic inspiration.

To be fair, the huge window by the desk in the article makes it a naturally more appealing space than my own. But it’s enough to make me rethink the layout we have here so far. Especially since we want space for non digital projects too.

I have a similar setup, but separate desks:

- A sitting desk for coding

- A standing desk for thinking and working on paper

There is something magical about standing while working on paper.

I’ve also found that this separation became more important to follow since the arrival of LLMs.

I do the same thing but with two physical desks, not just partitioning one desk into two logical desks.

Aside from the obvious advantage of more space it really helps put your mind in a different context when you are at a different location. In his example just moving over slightly would do nothing for me with the computer just arms length away and still in full view.

I put my desk facing the middle of the room in a previous place a few years ago. I really liked it. Unfortunately it does require more space, though, which I don't currently have. If I ever have more space again I'll definitely be doing it again. It feels so much cosier. I don't like having my back to the door.

I saved my desk from curb side collection. My chair idem. My laptop battery died two years ago so my desk cannot be too far away from a wall socket.

Maybe one day I could face my desk away from a wall.

You have one monitor yes, but what about second monitor?

It's cheating, somewhat, to replace your desk with once that is as wide as two desks. I'm trying to figure out a way to do something similar with only one desk's worth of space.

I mean I love this kind of stuff but honestly the answer here is "have a huge honking office." I have a digital/reading split and there's actually a technical term for it: a mess.

What I like to do is think of the office less as a discrete space and more like a colonial, expansionist government - if I have sat in a chair for any amount of time, anything in a five-foot radius starts accruing stacks of books, paper pads, that kind of thing. My wife loves this! Sometimes it gets cold in a room and I leave it for a while and when I return months later it's like discovering an office from the past

I can’t sit with my legs down like this, I always need them on top of something, and my legs are like super long. :/

Initially thought one desk was facing the room, the other desk would be behind facing the wall (where there is bookshelf space instead I guess)

I have considered that as a dual setup (a desk towards room and a desk behind you up against wall)

Tolomeo detected.

Michele De Lucchi & Giancarlo Fassina (1987)

What is the lamp, the one that‘s like a paper globe?

That was everywhere in my childhood.

It's not mentioned in the article but one thing I constantly struggle with when laying out my office is facing the desk toward the wall (like he originally had it) vs. facing toward the room (the "digital" side of his desk now). I don't like facing the wall but I find when I face the room the monitor totally blocks my view and it kind of looks like ass from the other side. This guy did way better cable management than I have done but still, you're looking at the back side of a monitor like a huge 2001 style monolith, especially if your monitor is black.

I still don't have a good solution for this, and curious what others are doing.

Adding another desk isn't "rethinking the desk". It's adding another desk with a slightly different purpose to the first desk. It's maximalism under the guise of insight.

This does not look like the work space of someone who does serious work.

Will there be a follow-up when that Ikea tissue-paper lamp catches fire and burns his flat down?

I don't know how those things are legal, like building a computer case out of recycled newspaper clippings.