Why dining tables make the best office desks

Over the past few weeks we all have been forced to work from home.

The trouble was that most of us did not have home offices built in our homes.

To be honest, there was no need to have had a purpose built home office. We made do with whatever we had.

So many people worked on coffee tables or a lounge suite, a kitchen counter or a bar height table (like me – I can stand up and type which is good for my back).

There is no doubt though, that the majority had worked on our good old dining table.

It turns out that the dining table is actually better than an office table.

Here are 6 easy to understand reasons.

1. Dining tables are big 

Bigger than an average office desk. And that gives you the ability to work easily.

Here’s why – A home office isn’t designed like a traditional office. There is no photocopy room, a break area, filing cabinets or library. Offices are built with a proven layout that has much more space to cater for a multitude of people.

A home office is, well, an office in a home. If you are like me, you space things out on the desk and have easy accessibility to the paper or file you need easily.

Having a bigger workspace makes working from home easier and more productive.

Dining tables are available in a much bigger size variety than office desks. An 80x80cm dining table for 4 makes an ideal single workstation for one. A 1.8m table allows for more space for documents are files to be placed upon it.

Dining tables can even stretch out to 4m in length too – Find out who may need this sized table in the last point below.

Lastly, a dining table and a traditional office desk are normally the same height – 73-76cm which makes all dining chairs suitable to act as office chairs – a bonus and a saving as you do not need to buy a traditional office chair.

2. It’s super easy to work on a dining table

Most work from home people I know work with a laptop, or a pen and paper pad. Home offices are truly wireless so no ugly cables lie around.

A dining table has no drawers and filing cabinets – but do we need them? What’s in your file drawer at work? If you truly need a storage space an attractive credenza or shelving (find amazing ideas here) can be placed in the room while you maintain the style of the room. There’s no need to place an ugly filing cabinet in your lounge.

3. The tables look great from EVERY ANGLE

 

They are made to be a centre piece of a home as opposed to office desks which serves mostly a utilitarian purpose. This allows for many more layout options rather than just having a desk shoved up against a wall. Imagine. You can now have your desk in the middle of the room and it will look great.

4. Styles aplenty

There are so many dining table styles that you can easily find the one that matches your personality and the look and feel of your home.

No one said that your home office must look like your office. So why design one like that?

There will be no privacy screen under your table which means you can place things underneath if you wish (like a storage unit). But more importantly, you do not have to sacrifice on your décor style.

At the office everyone probably has the same desks, but at home, let your personality shine and take over.

Choose from tables made from wood, metal, marble or glass. The variety is immense.

More importantly, you can now choose a desk that matches the décor in your home.

5. A community meeting point.

Let’s face it – working from home means kids and spouse all around us. This is our community. A large desk means that everyone can gather and do their work together.

My kids do their homework on the big dining room table (OK, sometimes they attend class while in bed and pyjamas too).

It’s invaluable to be able to work and interact with the family at the same time. For the kids, notebooks, laptops, pencil cases and worksheets are strewn all over the table, and its far easier for all to study and interact.

Having this big desk just feels right when you have a family first attitude. Everyone gets to connect and interact – family unity is enhanced.

6. Cost effective

A dining table that serves as a work desk can also, not surprisingly, serve as a dining table. One table with two uses (there are more uses but these will be discussed some other time).

Try that the other way around. Imagine bringing home your office desk to dine on? Doesn’t quite work, does it?

The multi-purpose element of dining tables means that you are saving and buying 1 desk instead of two.

Working from home and kitting out a home office is not something we normally want to do – it is something that with the current situation we have to do.

We have found out that we can all work from home – but talk of the demise of the office are premature.

I see a time where people will strive to go back to the office – to connect interpersonally with their peers, share a laugh and a cup of coffee.

While home offices allows one to get a lot of personal work done, it’s not ideal for creativity and team work. Let’s not talk about the diminishing company culture that self work destroys.

So why spend money on “traditional office furniture” when at the end of the day we will aspire for home to be home and the office to be the office.

Below please view images of our dining tables which can be converted into desks.

If you like this article please read all the necessary elements required for the perfect home office.

Click on the images below to see your favourite WFH (Work From Home) desk.