Cash drawer tray

Home Office

Setting up an office or improving the one you have doesn't Have to cost a fortune--start smart and watch it grow

DO YOU HAVE OFFICE ENVY--THE FEELING YOU GET WHEN you walk into a well-equipped workspace and see a comfortable ergonomic chair or sleek LCD monitor, while your own home office chair is recycled from a dinette set and your monitor is bulky enough for its own zip code?

Luckily, with today's high-tech gear and space-efficient furnishings, you can turn your home office dreams into reality without busting your budget. The trick is to let your office evolve along with your business: We've taken a three-part approach to setting up an office, starting with a moderate outlay and adding and replacing elements to reach a deluxe setup suitable for not only yourself but an employee. With our stair-step shopping list suggestions, you can plan a growth path for a home office that will deliver comfort and productivity from day one--and inspire envy a little later.

A Good Start

You don't want to skimp--to bother your family by working at the kitchen table or buy a low-powered computer better suited to kids' homework than serious business--but you don't have money to burn. So start with thrifty choices such as these:

* The Mammouth computer desk from Computer Furniture Direct's value-priced Power Works series ($699). Recycling an old table will devour office space while merely encouraging you to pile and store unnecessary items. A better idea is this all-in-one desk of oak solids and veneers, with a wide keyboard/mouse pullout to save space. Below, there's a roll-out printer tray and CPU tower area, eliminating the need for an extra storage surface. Two utility drawers and a pencil drawer hold the supplies you use often, while a bottom file drawer keeps current files within arm's reach. The Mammouth desk is 72 inches wide, 29 inches deep, and 30 inches high.

* The 1000XG desk chair from Advanced Ergonomics ($299). An office chair should support your upper and lower back, allow free movement for your arms, and distribute your weight. Look for a "waterfall" seat with a rounded front edge to prevent restricted circulation and compression of the nerves behind your knees; height and back adjustments; tilt and lock mechanisms to reduce leg strain and fatigue; and tension control. The 1000XG is a comfortable, no-frills seat with a variety of upgrade options such as reactive memory foam to spread your weight evenly.

* Compaq's Presario 5700N-500 ($1,178). With 128MB of RAM and a 10.06GB hard disk, there's little fear that this minitower PC will grow obsolete quickly--and its 500MHz Intel Celeron processor and 10x DVD-ROM drive can handle any productivity software you choose. Best of all, its low price includes a 17- rather than 15-inch monitor.

* Hewlett-Packard's OfficeJet 710 multifunction peripheral ($299). Buying a separate printer, copier, scanner, and fax machine can add up when your cash flow is down. Fortunately, a multipurpose ink-jet means you needn't sacrifice one function for another--and the 710, though no longer the newest or fanciest model in HP's OfficeJet line, still delivers sharp printouts, scans, copies, and faxes, all in color, and saves desk space in the process.

* A halogen lamp from The Sharper Image ($60). The right combination of natural light, fluorescents (today's are virtually flicker-free), and task lighting can end eyestrain and headaches. This brushed-steel, tilt-and-swivel lamp has a step dimmer that powers up to a maximum of 100 watts and an articulated arm that adjusts from 17 to 27 inches.

Stepping Up In Style

AS YOUR BUSINESS GROWS, YOU'LL WANT TO BRING YOUR home office up a few notches--you'll likely need more storage space (for both physical and PC files), and may even need to keep busy with a portable computer when out of the office calling on clients or pitching new business.

* If you don't have the luxury of a spacious closet you can retrofit with shelves, consider adding a hutch; Computer Furniture Direct's Mammouth hutch, designed to fit perfectly on its namesake computer desk, is $389. It has two storage areas for audio CDs or software CD-ROMs, two cabinets with adjustable shelves, and room for plenty of reference materials and memorabilia.

* Hitting the road to drum up clients? Loaning your seat at the PC to a part-time assistant? Want the flexibility of working from the porch or backyard? Gateway's Solo 2550CS notebook ($2,199) packs plenty of power to travel, with a 450MHz Pentium III processor, 13.3-inch active-matrix display, 64MB of RAM, and a 6GB hard disk. With today's array of wireless and phone-line home networking solutions, the Solo can also be a seamless partner to or extension of your desktop.

* Canon's BJC-85 color ink-jet ($299) can fill in for your deskbound printer when you're away. Even with a 30-sheet document feeder, this portable printer weighs just 3.1 pounds and is small enough to tuck into a briefcase.

* The last thing you can afford is losing irreplaceable business data, so your next purchase--if not one of your first purchases--should be an uninterruptible power supply, such as APC's Back-UPS Office 400 ($119). You'll be freed from lost data or crashed hard disks during power glitches, and have time to save files and shut down safely in the event of a blackout.

* The second part of your one-two safety punch should be a reliable backup device--ideally, one that'll also serve as a handy way to move large files between your desktop and laptop. Enter Iomega's 250MB USB external Zip drive ($180): Its QuikSync software lets you create automatic backups. Each disk stores the equivalent of 170 standard floppies (the drive is also compatible with older 100MB Zip disks), and you can move the drive from your desktop to your notebook and back without having to reboot either system.

Living Large

YOU'VE MADE IT---GONE FROM COACH TO FIRST CLASS, from the Beetle to the BMW. You've worked hard, paid your dues, and are ready to ... relax? No--knowing you, you'll probably keep working just as hard, but deserve to enjoy a dream office while you do.

* Hand your old workstation and chair over to your newly hired associate--or convert your chair to guest or client duty, with the hutch perhaps turned to extra shelving--and upgrade to a modular workstation such as the Stratus collection from the Lizell catalog (from $1,999 to $2,966). Made of cherry veneers and solids, this unit gives you extra flexibility to renovate your office as quickly as your business needs change; it packs plenty of drawers, shelves, and workspace, and the five-wheel mobile file doubles as an extra surface for a dedicated scanner, printer, or fax (see below).

* If your first egonomic chair served you well, just wait till you try BodyBilt's K3507 deluxe desk chair ($1,250). This super-seat's 10-point Posture Control System elements include an adjustable headrest and armrests, seat height and tilt adjusters, and a backrest height adjuster, all tailored to reduce the wear and tear on your body of spending long hours in front of a computer.

* Conserve desk space and work in space-age style with Sony's new Multiscan SDM-N50 active-matrix LCD monitor ($1,499). Only half an inch thick at its edges, this 6-pound screen offers 1,024 by 768 resolution and a light sensor that automatically adjusts monitor brightness according to the ambient light in your office. Nearer yet, its "user sensor" switches the display into a power-conservation mode 20 seconds after you step away from your desk, then switches on again when you return to work.

* By now, your business correspondence is keeping your multipurpose ink-jet running constantly, so let the HP OfficeJet handle your color charts and newsletters, but delegate high-volume black-and-white work to Sharp's AL-1250 digital laser copier/printer ($900). This workhorse cranks out crisp 600dpi documents at 12ppm and copies at 8ppm. And its footprint is barely 20 inches square, so you'll save space while saving time.

* A dedicated, flatbed scanner such as Microtek's ScanMaker 4 ($599) offers more versatility for scanning books or magazines than the sheetfed OfficeJet, and the Microtek's sharper 600 by 1,200dpi optical resolution will ensure that your marketing materials offer top-notch color, character, and class.

* Speaking of image processing, snapping shots for a new flyer or updating your Web site will be easier and quicker with a digital camera. Kodak's DC290 ($999) saves images in JPEG and uncompressed RGB TIFF formats suitable for professional print shops, and can record up to 2 minutes of sound with each image. Its 3x optical zoom and 1,792 by 1,200-pixel resolution allow dazzling 8 by 10-inch prints, and a standard 20MB CompactFlash card stores from 18 to 220 pictures.