Desk and chairs

What recommendations do you all have for 'computer' chairs?:typing:

I got a new chair in late 2005 to replace my now 14 year old chair, which looks a bit past it. However, I never liked this new chair as much, and then one of the arm rests broke. So I switched back to the old one.

Then for Christmas 2007, I was given another new chair. Again, I still don't like this chair as much as the old one. The only advantage to this old one is that the back is taller and it supports my head, which is a good thing as I have a bad neck. Rather than putting the old chair in the loft like I did back in 2005, I have kept both the old one and the new one in my bedroom, which takes up too much space.

Also, this new one is now a bit worn out, with some of the covering coming off.

Basically, I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for chairs? I wouldn't mind something to replace both my old and new ones.

I am also interested to know what everyone here does for a desk. :typing:

My current computer desk was made in 1997 and we got it to accommodate the A500+ which I got back then. The desk still works OK, i.e., it will support a large speaker, a 21" Trinitron and a Model M keyboard, but it is falling apart. Numerous bits of wood have broken, and it is wobbly. Some more bits of wood broke on it the other week, so for security, it is propped up with the Yellow Pages.

I have wanted a new one for a few years, but I am interested to know what everyone else has. I will probably build one myself, then I can have it exactly as I want it, and it will be cheaper. But I have seen a couple of nice (but very expensive) desks on the John lewis website :).

I put some pictures here: http://stevecoates.net/photos/desk/

What have you been doing to those chairs!!!

Personally I never had a desk and proper chair, and nowadays I use my computer on my TV from the couch with a bluetooth mouse but wired keyboard. Before I got this TV which enabled me to do so I just had a corner in the living room, sitting in a typical livingroom chair with the monitor up on a bookshelf. It never really worked that well but was the only solution back then. When I got my HDTV I had allready had the PC hooked up to my old TV for some time for watching downloaded films and such, so was happy that I could now use my TV as a more permanent monitor. In fact I threw out my old monitor years ago and haven't had one since.

I also want to know what you have been doing with your chairs Steve! I've had a leather office chair for about 10 years and it is pretty much as good as new and I've used it a lot. Just don't get how your chairs are so worn.

Regarding desks. I've got a pretty large beach office desk with a built in cable management system. It's a sweaping shape, and next to it is a matching seperate pedastal set of draws with filling cabinet bottom draw. It's very similar to the desks I used to have in a design agency I used to work at, which was the reason for me originally getting it. Cost quite a lot at the time (about £450 I think) but well worth it. And the cable management system is quite cool, with a lock under the front, and the whole desk top sliding forward about 6 inches to reveal the cable tray at the back, with vertical ducting down each side and points at each end at the top for wires to be threaded up onto the desktop. I will take some pictures of it when I get time this week. I've never regretted buying it.

Just sitting on them.

Maybe your chairs are better quality harrison?

I think initially it just broke a bit at the seams and got worse from then.

I've always just bought reasonable quality (a range or 2 up from the poorest quality stuff) from places like Ikea, and they've been OK. Same for chairs really. A lot of it depends on how well put together they are too, and of course the load/use they will have to cope with. Lower down shelves like yours irritate me as it is easy to bang an ankle/toe against, and there is also the temptation to rest your feet on the shelf, which'll end up breaking the cheaper stuff.

I never really spent hours and hours in front of the computer, and now we have a decent laptop and a netbook (and smart phones and an HTPC on the big telly) I don't think we we'll be using the big PC all that often (maybe tryping longer documents, and photoshopping with aproper keyboard/mouse combo). I don't think we need all that much space in the office, other than for the piles of paperwork and junk. But then, we probably don't really need so many internet-connected devices, but I guess it's nice to have them anyway.

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Originally Posted by Harrison

I've got a pretty large beach office desk

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Beats my seaside desktop background any day :/

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Just sitting on them.

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Are you sure ??? :lol:

Well, I do sit in funny positions and I tend to lean back in them a lot, resulting in them falling over.

I saw a nice desk in John Lewis earlier. They had some office chairs that were in the region of GBP900 :o.

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Originally Posted by J T

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Originally Posted by Harrison

I've got a pretty large beach office desk

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Beats my seaside desktop background any day :/

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Thanks for that JT! :dry:

The wooden back broke on my my old chair. Maybe I can glue it back together.

I should just get a new chair I think.

I'm thinking of building a big desk into my bunk bed.

Many years ago I built my own desk which was the whole length of the room using kitchen work top and cheap pine wood timber. Screwing the back to the wall and having legs at the front for extra support along its length. Worked great and looked OK too.

I probably have some pictures of it somewhere if you are interested in seeing what it looked like. At the time it had space for all my Amigas to be set up alongside each other which was great. These days iI just set one of them up when I want to use it.

I'd be interested to see that harrison.

I'm definitely having a new chair. Hopefully that will help my bad back.

Seen a few nice ones in Staples and also a couple that I like in John Lewis.

I've bought the Morgan chair from John Lewis. Should be arriving next Monday.

There were a few I liked in Staples, but then I tried several (inc the Morgan) in John Lewis and liked them better. Only issue is that they are a lot more expensive.

Looks like a good chair, and very solid and comfy. The price is quite high though, but if it's for a good cause, like helping you with back pain, it's worth the money. Hopefully that works out well. Anyway, you already tested it, so I guess it will be good for you.

Wow! That is expensive. Looks very nice and comfy though.

TBH I think in the picture it looks pretty much like any other chair, but it looks good IRL was definitely comfy when I sat on it.

Now to get on with building the desk. I am making slow progress, having come up with a diagram of how I am going to modify my bed to fit a big desk under it.

The chair arrived last Monday. It was easy to build and is very comfy :).

It is definitely better quality than the old Staples ones.

The arms are made of a piece of metal which attaches underneath the chair, then a piece of plastic fits over the top, and this plastic is height adjustable. This is why the arms are a little wobbly like the reviews on the John Lewis site mention. I can't see them breaking though.

Congratulations on your new chair! :) It's important to pamper the rear!

I'm still using old "Peter" (that is the name of the chair) and it gets more and more uncomfortable by the day. It was the cheapest chair they had at the furniture shop many years ago, and it feels like it too. People complain that it stops their blood from flowing from the buttocks and down to the legs.

Know what? I'm going to buy a new chair this week. It's time to get comfy! :)

Good for you PG. Be sure to post some picturs when you get it. I'll post some later.

I think the cheaper chairs are fine for occaisional use. The Staples one I had would have probable lasted much longer if it was only used for an hour or so every other day. They're just not really suitable for many hours of use every day.

Did you ever get a new chair PG?

Anyway, here's the Morgan chair, which I am still finding comfy.

http://stevecoates.net/photos/desk/morganchair.jpg


And here is the new desk which was mostly built by my Dad. Its really nice a roomy and is a nice fit for the large Keesonic speakers, Dell monitor and IBM keyboard:

http://stevecoates.net/photos/desk/newdesk01.jpg

http://stevecoates.net/photos/desk/newdesk02.jpg

And here is the monitor a few months ago displaying TV pictures from the PVR:

http://stevecoates.net/photos/desk/STA60068.JPG