How to choose a new or vintage desk to suit your home office 

Working from home? Find a desk that’s qualified for the job and one that's perfect for you and your living space

Modern classic, The Loop by Leif J¯rgensen, a crisp trestle like desk delivered in the form of an industrial sawhorse for Hay (Denmark). ìJacked upî on three legs a side, it would look superb with any shell or saddle chair, and with a linoleum top is tough enough to serve as a work bench. Around Ä1,100 new, hay.dk.

WRITING desks have become a more urgent subject in the WFH era super-imposed on us by the Covid pandemic. 

Tapping stages rather than writing supports, the anonymous slab of no-style nothingness we took for granted in our cubby now has to be replicated at home, at the right height, depth and rigidity. It’s an interesting challenge for those who don’t want a blonde-wood Ikea trestle, or a corporate bit of laminate Jenga, to find something they truly, deeply like to look at and sit at every day. 

The Flatmate secretary from M¸ller Small Living is made of CPL coated birch plywood and contains an array of possibilities in just 0.9 m≤. In addition to the storage space on the sides, Flatmate features an LED strip, a socket and two USB-connections. Ä1271, snow.com.

Anything emblazoned with the legend “home computer desk” is suspect. It presumes you’re a grinning hobbyist using your lap-top on it occasionally rather than seriously working eight hours a day. I have a Danish 1960s lady’s desk in vivid, book-matched rosewood. Bought on DoneDeal for pennies and dropped out of the back of a van in a car-park, it’s lovely. However, my chair crashes rudely off the knee-hole. I’m poised for athletically playing Rachmaninoff’s 4th rather than smoothly typing. With the right chiropractor on speed-dial, I suppose you could call it managing.

Before you go all misty eyed over some old dear as I did, get the ergonomics in place. The standard height of an office desk is 73cm to 78cm to the underside of the top surface. Don’t measure to the top face — it’s the lower edge.

If you fall for a converted dressing table, believe me, it’s likely the apron facing you along the underside of the front edge of the piece will slice into your knees. Most women were a lot smaller in the mid-century, and dressing tables were there to get close to a mirror — 80cm to 90cm in depth would not be unusual in a larger executive desk.Expect to see some water and even ink stains. These can be accepted as part of its honest history or entirely stripped and polished out if you’re happy to throw some money at its restoration.

Widths in commercial desks range from 80cm to a full two metres (excluding corners and wrap-arounds). While this might seem enormous, having areas at each elbow to place files and other accessories, desk-mounted storage trays and other detritus is truly handy in keeping you in the chair. I use one end of my desk for a few pieces of silky glass objects I stroke to soothe my nerves while writing for you.

Some really smart timber and steel office desks from the 1950s right up through to the 1990s have sliding elements that go over their open flanking drawers as extra work surfaces. If extra detailing is obsolete to what you need the desk for, just ensure it doesn’t get in your way. Drawers in odd spots as in an old drop-down bureau or a Davenport — truly irritating in real life when you’re reaching for a report during a Zoom meeting.

The best place to look for an old desk for doing office work is in the area of old office desks – rather than writing furniture made in the 1800s intended for the home. Many of the latter are not fit for our purpose. A sofa table or old roll-top American from the 1920s will struggle to fit the dimensions needed for a PC or laptop with a separate keyboard and other peripherals. If you’re planning to drill out holes for cabling – don’t tell me about it. Please. Get your vintage desk wrong, and your vertebrae and carpel-tunnel will let you know, and the dainty 19th-century bonheur-du-jour will be duly fired. Don’t force the issue with a creative chair position for square pegs in round holes.

Be honest before you buy or bid. Bring a tape measure or ask the remote seller the exact figures. Softwood tables like pine centre tables for kitchens, were often cut down at the legs, as swabbing the stone floor around their feet led to rot. With aprons and slender drawers, be very careful to judge their height and comfort once seated. How stable is that desk? Is it rocking and rolling at the joints? Do the drawers pull out smoothly? Most fall front desks have considerable bounce even set up on slide or swing out supports.

A beautiful G plan desk by Victor Wilkins 60s with clear Scandinavian influences in the floating top. Expect to pay from Ä700 ñ Ä1200 for a similar example. From a selection of treasures from The Vintage Hub, thevintagehub.com (Lusk, Dublin).

A WK Mobel desk from the 1950s, made in Germany, won’t have any compromises —it’s designed as a work horse not a decorative occasional. Be warned. 1960s and 70s desks with any style are making ridiculous money online, and you won’t get much change out of €1,500 for a 130cm long teak example with drawers and light wear. Try Pamono for a good selection for every pocket, pamono.eu. Ensure you get the quality you are paying for, including proof of the maker, if that’s being touted.

Walnut and teak desks from this era with groovy floating tops and boxy drawers over kick out legs start around €600 for an unmarked British or European desk to well over €2,000 for a known name like Tijsseling for the Dutch firm of Hulmefa, or a veneer in Scandinavian informed style.

Look out for relatively modern conference tables with metallic legs and resin laminate tops by top makers like HumanScale. Bombproof and stylish, they often turn up in second hand office retailers alongside the particle board rubbish heaved out when a business renovates or goes toes-up. We found a white Knoll “Y” base six or seven years ago and parted gleefully with just €50. Miracles still do happen.

New vintage inspired desks, including licensed pieces designed in the mid-century, offer a wealth of choice reflecting everything from Thonet to George Nelson profiles. You can blend them into a period inspired room or single work area. With timeless clean lines integrated into good working measurements tailored to your body, if you can’t find a local carpenter to build out a simple work space for you (recommended and often over-looked) it could be well worth spending a little more on a high class, brand new piece.

If you’re not tied to a desk all day, the bureau has inspired a number of fascinating slender work stations that can sit behind a door in a dorm’ or make use of a squeak of hall. The Muller Secretary Desk, or Flatmate by Michael Hilgers (2012) is one of my favourite new fall-front bureaus, and comes in at just 0.9m of floor space after hours. Using a Bluetooth keyboard it turns the mobile tablet PC into a stationary ergonomic workspace including integrated lighting and a cool black textile cable power supply to charge your devices and a touch of file storage. €1271, snow.com.

For something reclaimed in a rugged industrial style, the work of Barrel & Gunn in Dublin takes reclaimed, honed timber and reconditioned gun barrel metal to new heights. The firm can make a table or desk to suit your needs while “retaining the memory and character of their former lives in every dent, scratch and gouge.” Prices dependent on the commission (maker Greg McGeough is always reasonable),
barrellandgunn.com.

If you have to completely clear your hot-desk at the end of the day, Bo Concepts Cupertino puts storage into compartments tailored right into the desk top including Bluetooth speakers — an elegant Danish minimalist alternative to expected drawers, from €769, boconcept.com.

Finally, my choice would be The Loop by Leif Jørgensen, a crisp trestle like desk delivered in the form of an industrial sawhorse for Hay (Denmark). “Jacked up” on three legs a side, it would look superb with any shell or saddle chair, and with a linoleum top is tough enough to serve as a work bench. Around €1,100 new in various sizes, look out for the lightly loved Loops second-hand too, hay.dk for suppliers.