Evolution of the Ultimate Home Office

My home office has been featured on many web sites and has been viewed almost 250,000 times on Flickr. I’ve just posted a photo set that shows the latest evolution which includes the installation of new flooring and the migration of the DJ and home studio equipment to a standing desk.. Here is a quick overview of how the office evolved over the past eight years and what equipment is currently in use.

EVOLUTION ONE – INITIAL SET-UP

The initial set-up was centered around an Ikea Jerker desk. A few of the key components of the future office area already there including my framed Think Different poster set, and the black dry erase board. Evolution One photo set.

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EVOLUTION TWO – BIOMORPH AND PAINT

Evolution two was a major overhaul that centered around two key changes including the introduction of a Biomorph desk and a repainting of all the walls. Much of the existing Ikea furniture is still in use. Major furniture changes included the introduction of two reading chairs and new bookshelves. Evolution Two photo set.

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EVOLUTION THREE – FLOORING AND FURNITURE

Evolution three focused on changing the flooring and purchasing new furniture. The carpet and lighting in the home office were always two major issues of discontent. Changing the lighting would be a major project, so I focused on the flooring instead. Most of the existing Ikea furniture was also replaced. Outside the flooring, the most drastic change was the migration of the home studio equipment to a new custom-built standing desk constructed of natural steel and glass. This also eliminated the use of an L shaped desk, which opened up the room substantially.

So, what does the office currently contain? Here is an equipment list:

Primary workstation is a Mac Pro (2 X 2.93 6-core Intel Xeon with 32 GB of RAM and an SSD boot drive). The Mac Pro is connected to one 30″ Apple LED display and two 27″ displays. It is also connected via Firewire 800 to a Drobo (for music and movie storage) and via iSCSI to a Drobo Pro (for back-up). The Drobo Pro is in a storage and server room next door. Bowers and Wilkins speakers and a Blue snowball handle audio input and output. A Kinessis Freestyle split keyboard and Apple trackpad are also in use.

The secondary workstation is a Windows 7 machine custom-built by Puget systems. It doesn’t get a lot of use, but is available for testing and running LPS. The workstation is connected to my Klipsch ALX speakers.

The desk also has a Cisco SPA525G phone, an ambient orb, Koncept light, and Chumby. The Cisco is connected to the Jive VOIP service, which is the best small business VOIP provider I’ve ever used.

The home studio set-up includes lots of components including an iMac workstation, Mackie mixer, Korg mixer, two Technics turntables, two Pioneer CDJ 2000′s, Pacemaker portable DJ player, Korg Khaos pad, Korg Electribe MX, Heil PR40 microphone and a keyboard/synth. The audio can run through my Pioneer headphones or two Yamaha studio monitors.

Other notable office tech includes a Samsung TV, Izon video camera, MacBook Air 11″, HP color Laserjet printer, Slingbox, Atomic clock, and tons of radio and electronic devices hidden away in the cabinets. There is also various LED accent lighting at the primary workstation and the home studio desk as I prefer to work with the overhead lights off.

Various artwork and posters are on display throughout the office including a framed set of the Apple Think Different educational poster campaign, a large version of the Miles Davis Think Different poster, a Ghost in the Shell movie poster, Justin Bua DJ print, First Maps of the Internet poster with an inscription from Steve Lukasik, two framed cityscape paintings, an original Killer Elite (old school) movie poster, and a small “I want to believe” X-file poster transferred to canvas.

Behind the wall containing the bookshelves is a storage room that houses a server rack contacting the Drobo Pro and various testing hardware. It is also where all of the Internet and wireless routers are housed including an AT&T 3G Microcell allowing my iPhone to work in the office. Evolution Three photo set.

WHAT’S NEXT

The only thing I’d like to change is the lighting, but that will be a major project and could be a few years before it gets done. I’d also like to re-organize the back room where the Drobo Pro and other various hardware are kept. It is possible I’ll move the Puget Windows system to the back room which will clean up some cabling and desk space at the primary workstation. I’d also like to replace the Blue Snowball with a Blue Yeti microphone.

For detailed photos of the entire set-up, visit this Flickr link.