The Evolution of My Home Office Setup

Phase 1: The Kitchen Table Era

The first month of remote work, I survived with just a laptop on the kitchen table. The dining chair made my butt ache after 2 hours. My only screen was the 13-inch laptop. Switching back and forth between code and browser during PR reviews was driving me insane.

After a month of suffering through it, I decided to invest in some gear. First purchase: a 27-inch LG 27UL500 monitor, 290,000 won. Putting it on the kitchen table meant I had to move it every time I ate. (Looking at photos from that era is pretty funny.)

Phase 2: The IKEA Desk Era

I got an IKEA LAGKAPTEN tabletop with ADILS legs. 78,000 won. Reviews called it the ultimate bang-for-buck setup, and honestly, it wasn't bad. The only downside was no height adjustment, which made my typing posture awkward.

Picked up a Sidiz T50 chair secondhand for 180,000 won. That's when I learned that a 400,000-won chair goes for half price used. The chair was worth every penny. Butt pain: gone.

Total investment: monitor 290K + desk 78K + chair 180K = 548,000 won.

Phase 3: The Dual Monitor Era

I went from solo dev work to team lead, which meant juggling Slack, Jira, and the IDE simultaneously. One monitor wasn't cutting it. Considered buying another of the same model but went with a Dell S2722QC instead. 340,000 won. USB-C that charges the laptop too, which was a nice bonus.

But I positioned the dual monitors wrong and had neck pain for a month. I was using the left monitor as my primary, so my head was constantly turned to the left. Putting the main monitor directly in front and the secondary to the side -- such a basic thing. Why didn't I think of that?

Also picked up monitor arms at this point. Ergotron LX Dual, 190,000 won. Felt expensive, but the desk space it freed up justified the cost.

Phase 4: The Lighting and Accessories Era

More video calls meant I started caring about lighting. Stuck an LED light bar behind the monitor for indirect lighting, put a ring light in front. Upgraded the webcam from a Logitech C920 to a Brio 4K. Someone actually said "your camera quality is nice" for the first time. (Is this really something I should be evaluated on?)

Spent three hours on cable management once. Cable tray, velcro ties, cable clips -- 23,000 won worth. The before-and-after comparison photos were satisfying, but a month later it was a mess again.

Current: Phase 5

I totaled up the investment in my current setup. Two monitors 630K, monitor arm 190K, chair 180K, desk 78K, keyboard 150K, mouse 80K, webcam 130K, lighting 70K, miscellaneous accessories 110K. Grand total: 1,618,000 won.

And that doesn't include the failed purchases. Two mice that didn't fit (70K), a wrist rest that was too hard (12K), a monitor film I used for a month and abandoned (18K). Including the duds, it's over 1.7 million won.

Honest Conclusion

Setup optimization has no end. You watch setup videos on YouTube and think "should I get that too?" and every time new gear drops your eyes wander. But the things that genuinely impacted my productivity were the chair, monitor, and keyboard. Those three. Everything else is closer to scratching a satisfaction itch.

Next upgrade candidate is a standing desk, but the quote is already 550,000 won. Not sure when I'll pull the trigger.