DIY Home Office and Desk Tour — Work From Home Setup - YouTube

We all need a space where we can feel productive  focused and inspired hi I'm Matthew Encina and  

in this video I'll take you through my DIY process  of updating my workspace and give you a tour of  

my home office setup I'm a designer in content  creator so I wanted to optimize the space for  

my creative needs overall my goal was to have  an office that is clean and minimal in design  

the first step cleaning up when I first started  this project my wife and I were in the middle  

of redoing our bedroom so the home office became  a storage closet it was a mess boxes everywhere  

lots of old stuff we've been hoarding for years  and just way too many computers and devices I  

took a hard look at every object in the room and  asked myself does this object provide me joy do  

I use this often is this important to keep if it  wasn't an emphatic yes to any of those questions  

and I sent them to donation or the trash the next  thing on the list was to consolidate computer gear  

between my wife and I we had too many machines  and devices many were legacy computers we held  

on to since our school days so I wiped what we  weren't using and sold them once the space was  

cleaned I wanted to update the accent wall so the  space had more contrast I chose a dark grey with  

a slightly cool tint to it I used the paint with  a matte finish to keep the appearance soft next  

on the list was the foundation of my workspace  the desk I wanted a big long desk made of solid  

wood I looked at many tabletop options but ended  up getting an oak kitchen countertop from Ikea  

for the base I used the pair of Alex drawers  and also from Ikea which I already had from my  

previous setup because it was solid wood it was  pretty heavy and difficult to move around the  

wood was untreated so I had to apply the finish  myself a note here don't make the same mistake  

I did and put your hot coffee on untreated wood  that's a big no-no to fix that moisture damage  

I had caused and prepped the surface for finish  I sanded down the wood I started with a coarse  

120 grit sandpaper and finished off with a 320  fine grit after researching the different wood  

finish options between lacquers and oils I ended  up going with a Danish oil finish this provided a  

good balance of the natural earthy look of an oil  finish while offering the moisture protection of  

lacquer I wiped on two coats of the Danish oil  and let it dry overnight the next day it still  

felt a little sticky and was a little too shiny  for my taste so I wiped it down with a little bit  

of linseed oil and sanded down the top layer with  my 320 grit sandpaper this left my desk incredibly  

smooth to the touch with my desk finally prepped  I was ready to set up my hardware I work on both  

Mac and PC I used my macbook for everyday tasks  like browsing writing and designing while I used  

my PC for heavy tasks like 3d rendering previously  I had two separate desk setups for these and now I  

had to figure out a smart way to incorporate both  into a single desk I used to have a mechanical  

keyboard and a wired mouse but it was cumbersome  to switch back and forth between devices so after  

a lot of research I found the Logitech Kraft  keyboard and the master MX 2's Mouse was the  

best solution for my situation the touch of a  button I can easily click through and control  

each device I love the low profile design the  tactile feel of the keys and the beautiful look  

of the materials because they match the rest of  my setup also the ergonomics of the keyboard and  

mouse are amazing underneath that I'm using a felt  pad as a soft surface for my hands and my devices  

to sit on it also serves as a visual angle for my  monitor I'm using an ultra wide display from Dell  

in the past I've used a dual monitor setup but  I prefer having one big screen with lots of real  

estate for all of my windows and like my keyboard  and mouse I can easily switch between my Mac and  

PC to work comfortably for many hours at a time  while maintaining a good posture I invested in a  

few things a good chair a footrest and a monitor  stand the chair was probably the most important  

purchase since I spend most of my time in it at  home I've been rocking a beat up by Kia chair  

for the past decade and I was way overdue for an  upgrade so after much deliberation I opted to get  

the lino chair which was incredibly comfortable  and quite minimal in its design its adjustable  

in all the right places and comes in some really  nice material finishes to reinforce good posture  

I bought a wooden monitor stand to keep my eye  line looking up and got an angled footrest to  

help me sit back in my chair as an added bonus  the monitor stand created a small pocket to  

tuck my keyboard in if I ever needed more desk  space to work because I switched tasks between  

shooting designing and writing I needed a good way  to organize my gear I wanted my most used items to  

be within arm's reach so I arranged everything  based off of that I bought a modular pegboard  

system to hold my loose accessories my camera  gear writing materials and my headphones wires  

and adapters over my desk I installed a shelf  to make use of the vertical space in my room  

this is where I store my secondary gear when  not in use for the things I rarely accessed I  

tucked them away in labeled boxes in on visible  places across the room I used an IKEA shelf to  

organize my books and display my collectibles  in a nice way to keep my space looking clean I  

decided to hide my wires from sight to do that I  used some cable ties and adhesive hooks to route  

and manage all of my cables behind my desk for  the things that would rarely be unplugged like  

my monitor and PC I tucked a power strip on the  floor beneath my desk for the things I'd need to  

unplug often I installed another power strip on  the side of my desk this gave me accessible power  

while still keeping the wires visually hidden  to hold the loose connectors and chargers for  

my laptop I used a weighted cable organizer to  keep them readily available while I enjoy the  

minimal design and openness of the space I wanted  to make sure there was still some character to it  

I follow a lot of artists on Instagram and  whenever I can I purchase their artwork like  

you saw earlier I have a small collection of toys  and pins from conventions and events I like to  

keep these here to remind myself not to grow up  too quickly and to add some color to the space  

to complete the setup I keep this lightly scented  candle and a mini cactus on my desk that's my home  

office I've been working in it for a couple of  weeks now and I've got to say it has made a huge  

impact on my productivity focus and just general  enjoyment of being in the space yes it does get a  

little cluttered from time to time but because  I've developed a better standard and system to  

keep things organized I find it fairly easy to  maintain this was a big project for me it took  

about two months on the weekends and many trips  to the store for me to complete I didn't know half  

of the things I know now about designing a good  workspace if you have any questions about anything  

in the video leave me a comment and I'll do my  best to answer it I've also added a link in the  

description with all of the products I've used in  my home office in case you wanted to pick up any  

your own also don't forget to like and subscribe  because it lets me know who's watching and if you  

want to see more of these types of videos now with  that out of the way it is time to get back to work