20+ Small Desk Setup Ideas for Home Office

A small desk setup is an essential piece in getting your home office up and running. Not everyone has a huge room dedicated to becoming a workspace. Some people don't even have an extra room at all. So, it comes down to finding something around the house or buying a small item that slots right into a desk setup for small spaces. 

You may not even be aware of how much power you have in random items you own around your home. There are so many different things that you can repurpose into a standing desk, which means you can work in a healthy way to improve your posture and reduce low back pain. 

A small home office doesn't need to be a problem once you know how to populate it well enough to prevent clutter and keep the space efficient. A minimalist desk setup further helps the situation, as it keeps the space looking neat and fresh. 

You may want to consult a desk setup full guide, which can assist you greatly in how to place things atop the desk once you're finished pulling it all together. Check out the 20 ideas below that can help you get going with a small desk setup that doesn't cost a fortune. 

Pros and Cons of a Custom Small Room Desk Setup

Pros of a Custom Small Room Desk Setup

What makes a small room desk setup a good idea? Consider the following advantages to answer that question: 

• If you are using items already in your home, you can conveniently adjust your workspace without worrying about spending large sums of money. 
• Even if you must buy a new piece of furniture for one of these small desk setup ideas, it shouldn't cost you much, considering your office space. 
• You get to exercise a sense of creativity and feel accomplished in pulling the whole thing off. 
• If you were not working with a standing desk in the first place, you could take advantage of the benefits of using one without a substantial financial sacrifice.
• You get greater control over your office furniture's customization, especially if you are building the desk yourself or setting up an existing item.
• Whatever desk you choose to implement from the list below considers your small space, which means there should be no clearance or clutter problems.

Cons of a Small Office Desk Setup

What kind of downsides can a small desk setup bring in the context of the ideas provided below? The list isn't too extensive, but you still want to think about: 

• If you don't have any of the items needed for much of the ideas below, you can't even try to implement them. 
• Unless you are going to be building the desk yourself or taking advantage of the top three ideas, the chances are that you lose out on the benefits of adjustability.
• You may find a few of the ideas either uncomfortable or inconvenient. 

Here are 20+ Small Desk Setup Ideas for Your Home Office

1. Autonomous DIY Standing Desk Kit

The final entry, which is hands down the best small desk setup option for you, is the Autonomous DIY Standing Desk Kit. It has the form factor you need to incorporate into your small desk setup, and all it requires is to affix your preferred desktop to it. 

Not only do you have an incredibly sturdy base to work with, but you get to add your creative layer to an adjustable standing desk that should benefit you for a long time to come.

2. SmartDesk 2 (Standard)

This entry is everything you could ever need in a home standing desk. Autonomous designed it to fit nicely into small spaces, and it's designed with a host of features to make your remote work life a dream. One of these is the memory presets present that allow you to return to desk heights that you enjoyed quickly.

A dual-motor adjustable mechanism sits at the center of this design for a smooth, fast, and quiet transition between lower heights and higher ones. With a weight capacity of 300 pounds, this desk can support all your desktop equipment and then some. 

3. Wraparound Desk

Another name for this one is an L-shaped desk like Autonomous L-shaped desk, and it's perfect for optimally utilizing corner space in a small area. Without a desktop that wraps around the corner as this one does, you lose some real estate level by putting a desk in that position. You can efficiently use both sections of the "L," which makes for the illusion of a more expansive space. 

4. Standing Desk Converter

Another superb idea for a small desk setup is to bring a standing desk converter into the mix. This one is for those who already have an excellent office desk in the room. All that would be missing from that desk are the advantages of using a standing desk. A converter is a perfect option because it sits atop the existing office desk and provides the adjustability needed to use a standing desk at different heights.

Depending on the converter you get, it may even have a separated space for your peripheral needs. 

5. Office Desk Height Boost

An earlier idea required you to remove the legs from your existing office desk and replace them with a longer set, which would make the desk taller. Of course, that only applies to people who have the skillset to pull that off successfully. If you aren't one of those persons, there is another nifty option that you can consider. 

If you have pieces of wood or some large books lying around, you could place an even number of flat materials under each side of your existing office desk. The height boost makes for a seamless transition to standing desk territory. 

6. Standing Dresser Desk

A dresser also works well as a standing desk alternative. The only problem with this idea is that using your existing dresser may not work so well for you since you may already have items on top of it. However, numerous people have an old dresser or another piece of furniture lying around that could be repurposed for work purposes. There is no better time than the present to whip out that old piece of furniture again. 

7. Wooden Pallet Desk

A wooden pallet can be very efficient as a standing desk. Getting one is easy enough, considering its low price tag. Think about mounting the wooden pallet desk vertically against your wall, after which the grooves may be used for shelf placements. Suddenly, you have the perfect spaces for your equipment and peripherals. 

8. Standing Sawhorse Desk

A sawhorse desk is a great practical and stylish option for a small desk setup. You have quite a bit of wiggle room where the aesthetic is concerned since you can style and paint them however you like. If there are going to be two people using the desk, all you need to do is make it a bit bigger. 

9. Pipe Standing Desk

You may have to get a professional to take care of the legs for this standing desk design since it consists exclusively of pipes. A regular desktop made of a material, such as wood, sits at the top to round things out. 

10. Inverted Laundry Basket

Have you ever considered making your laundry basket a workspace? Unless you have a huge one, this tends to work best if you work from a laptop. There are not many laundry baskets that are going to be fitting two screens and a couple of peripherals. All you need to do to implement this is turn the laundry basket upside down and work atop it. If it's a tall one, it can be a standing desk. If it's a short one, place it on a regular office desk for a height extension. 

11. Floating Corner Desk

Your small office desk setup can benefit tremendously from having a floating corner desk in the mix. The idea behind this setup option is to minimize the amount of space that the desk uses by placing it somewhere that is small and has no other purpose. Corners tend to fit this bill. You are going to be mounting a piece of wood that has a triangular or trapezoid type shape across two walls that come together to create that corner. 

12. Lucite Desk

If you already have a Lucite desk in your home, use it. If you don't, then you can consider buying one to add to your small office. These desks tend to have the perfect form factor for such spaces, and the aesthetic that they bring to the room gives it an elegant feeling. If working in style is your thing, there is almost no better option for you.

13. Lap Desk

This is another name for a folding bed tray desk, which college students traditionally use. Instead of placing it on your lap for elevation, you can put it on an existing desk to take the place of a standing desk converter. You won't be able to adjust it much, but at least it's something to work with for some level of convenience in your small office and it can boost your productivity. 

14. Treadmill Desk

If you place a platform across the holding areas of your treadmill, it should be just about at the right height for you to work atop it. The best part is you can use the treadmill while you work for a slight bit of exercise. It is recommended that you get in some activity while working anyways, so here is the best of both worlds. 

15. Leg Extension

This is another excellent idea that's best suited to those who have little furniture building experience. If you already have an office desk that fits into your small desk setup, but it's not high enough to be a standing desk, you can fix that. Build a new set of legs for the desk, remove the old ones, and join the desktop to the new ones. Now you have a standing desk without spending a small fortune.

16. Kitchen Countertop Desk

It turns out that your kitchen countertop can do a lot more than you give it credit for. Choose a nice, dry space that's far enough from your sink, and use it as a tabletop for your office equipment. The default height of a kitchen counter tends to be right around the required standing desk height for most persons. Therefore, you should be able to work at yours quite comfortably.

17. Bar Desk

A bar desk can make an excellent office standing desk since they tend to be high enough. This option only works if you have such a desk lying around in your home. If you do, then consider using it as a workspace. 

18. Wall-mounted Shelf

This option should be self-explanatory. Technically, all you need for your screens, laptop, and peripherals is a single horizontal surface that can support them well and one that has the right height to facilitate you. Why not just mount a single shelf against the wall? All you need to do is ensure that the shelf's size is conducive to supporting everything you want to put on top of it. 

19. Use a Small Bookcase

If you already have a bookcase in your home, it can also serve the purpose of a standing desk incredibly well. Getting things set up is straightforward, and you don't need to think about using any tools. 

All you need for this is a bookcase with a shelf that is a good enough height to be a standing desk for you. If you have one with removable shelves, it works best since you can remove any that are in your way. You can also put your essential equipment on top of the bookcase if it's a short one. 

20. Build It Yourself

If you can construct the desk yourself and get your hands on the materials, it's a great way to put a standing desk in your small space. You can gather the measurements, which means there is no better way to precisely ensure that the desk being used has the most optimal dimensions. 

Since you're buying the materials yourself and doing this, the cost is undoubtedly going to be way less well than purchasing a pre built standing desk from another manufacturer.