Before your eyes, papers are haphazardly scattered on the tile floor, the computer is in a cramped corner on a couple of milk crates, and you’re sitting in a purple beanbag while you evaluate your finances online. After printing out some paperwork to file, you look to the laundry basket “filing cabinet” in utter despair, and decide it might be time to make a small investment in your sanity: office furniture.

As a furniture buyer for a large insurance company, I have an insider's scoop on the different brands and styles of office furniture available, from the major manufacturers to store brand varieties, as well as the process of buying and installing quality furniture. Also, I can empathize; I was one of those people who used a laundry basket to store my mortgage papers.

I've found from working alongside many different people and departments, that price is always the first consideration when purchasing office furniture. Many people tend to want to pay nothing for something. Caveat Emptor – Buyer Beware! You will get what you pay for. If you buy a decent looking workstation from Staples or Office Depot, what you will end up with is a mid-to-low quality product, but you will pay less than other furniture brands. Think about your budget carefully. You want to get good quality product without getting hosed by eager or unwitting salesmen. Keep your expectations realistic. New office systems can range from $200 - $10,000, depending on the number of components, the finishes, and the installation requirements.

Step One: Decide On Your Layout

Furniture items abound, and everyone wants to sell you something. So, before ever stepping foot out the door in your quest for the perfect system, make sure you have a pretty good idea what pieces you are going to require in order to work more efficiently. Consideration should be given to the amount of work surface space you will need, the flow and ergonomics of the layout, the amount of lighting, the storage, the seating, and if you don't have a private hard-walled office in your home, then possibly, a partition system.

When considering the depth of your work surface, 24” is adequate. More than that and objects such as your stapler or paper clips could be located too far out of your reach. Your goal is to be able to remain seated and still reach in all directions on your desk. Your computer monitor should be in a position about 14-16” away from you. Frequently used storage compartments should be located to your left and right, or overhead, but as close within range as possible to avoid standing and reaching. Reaching consistently could result in an injury. A keyboard drawer will save on space, and an articulating platform will help you to position your keyboard in an ergonomically correct fashion.

Identify where you will place your new workstation. Once you’ve identified a location, take some measurements and design a coarse floor plan. Consider the dimensions and placement of your desk, whether it is a simple table desk, a corner system, a U-shaped workstation, a workstation with a peninsula-style surface, or an L-shaped workstation. Decide whether you will have pedestal drawers on the desk, or if you will purchase a freestanding, rolling pedestal for filing. Hutches and overhead cabinetry are excellent for storage in a small area, where the only space available is vertical. Also, consider whether you will purchase a lateral file or vertical file for additional storage. A lateral file is wider than a vertical file, whereas a vertical file is deeper and comes in letter or legal size. Note the location of your filing cabinets on the drawing.

If you do not have the luxury of a separate room to call your office, you may consider a panel system. Partitions are used mostly in corporate office environments, however, there’s nothing stopping you from using them in your home, except possibly aesthetics. If you are a telecommuter and need a place of little distraction, then it’s an investment worth considering. Your company probably won’t cover the cost of a panel system, so you may have to. You can generally choose from a wide selection of fabric choices when picking out panels. Make sure to note the placement of panels on your drawing, as well as the sizes of each or size of the space.

If you don’t adequate overhead lighting, then you will want to consider task lighting. If you plan to purchase overhead cabinets or a hutch, the task lighting can be affixed to them. If that is not within your budget, then a simple desk lamp of your choice should suffice. Make sure you have ample lighting in order to reduce or eliminate eyestrain.

If you plan to be in your office for several hours at a time, don’t skimp on a new chair just to save money. You could be hurting yourself in the long run. When it comes to working effectively, a good chair goes a long way. It is the single most important expenditure in your office setup. Choose a chair that is fully adjustable if possible. This means that the arms should be able to adjust up and down, in and out. Check for seat height adjustability, back height adjustability, back tilt, seat tilt, and seat slide. Make sure the casters are of a durable quality and move well on carpet. In addition to the adjustability features of the chair, it is important that the cushion fits your body like a glove. A chair that is designed well, ergonomically, should have a contour that molds to the body. Make sure to sit in the chair before you buy it. If something seems off to you the first time you sit in it, the feeling will only get stronger over time.

If you are a larger person, keep in mind that a majority of chairs are only covered by warranty up to 225 pounds. The pneumatic cylinders in these chairs will break quite easily once that weight limit has been reached, so choose wisely.

If your office setup is going to be in a thickly carpeted area, you may want to purchase a chair mat. Be careful of slipping, however. Caster based chairs can slip easily on chair mats in certain situations.

Step Two: Decide on a Color Scheme, Style, and Finish

The next step is to take the pieces you will need to purchase and assign an expect-to-pay dollar value to each one. Generally speaking, cheap pressboard desks without laminate coverings from places such as Wal-Mart and Office Max range in price from $100 up to $700. I do not recommend pressboard components because when it comes to moving them, they fall apart easily. However, if you find that you cannot afford to pay more, I highly recommend purchasing at the higher end of this spectrum if possible, depending on your need and the amount of time you will be using your office.

There are pressboard desks available that have a sturdy laminate surface. These are more durable and higher quality, specifically if they come with metal end panels or c-legs. It is easy and practical to install a keyboard platform on this kind of desk. They come in many colors, including different wood grains such as oak, walnut, and mahogany, which are more suitable to a home office. These desks can be purchased anywhere from $300 and up, to about $1,000, depending on the layout.

In addition to the middle and lower priced desks, you can also opt for a more expensive wood style. A simple wood desk that is about 30” deep and 70” wide will cost approximately $1,500, depending on the wood finish chosen, and whether or not it is solid wood or some other abstract. Anything larger and more complex could range up to as high as $10,000.

Take a look around your house. Is it more country charm? Is it traditional, like a lawyer’s office, with Queen Anne style legs on the furniture and intricate patterns in the curtains? Is it more modern, with simple rounded edges and clean, straight lines? Or is it ultra-contemporary with sleek silver and primary colors? Your new office suite should reflect your design scheme. There are so many choices out there, that it’s easy to fall in love with something that doesn’t fit with the flow of your home décor. Knowing the tone of your dwelling prior to getting to the store will help prevent you from falling into that trap.

When choosing, be sure you have an opportunity to view all of the possible fabric samples and finishes. There are hundreds of choices available, and the names of these choices are usually quite poetic – everything from Salamander to Chocolate Royale. Bring pictures of your office space with you when you go shopping. It will help you, as well as the salesperson, to limit your options to those fabrics and finishes that will work well within the scheme.

Step Three: Shop Around

Furniture Vendors

There are literally thousands of resources for purchasing furniture – anything from tag sales and flea markets to third party dealers to online auctions. Don’t limit yourself to places that come immediately to mind such as Office Max or the nearby furniture store. Be creative in your hunt.

Corporations: There are many corporations out there that sell good quality used office furniture. This is furniture that they have purchased in the past, for which they no longer need. Don't hesitate to look there first for some great deals. You can call the main number and ask to be routed through the Corporate Real Estate or Purchasing departments. I can personally vouch for the fact that larger companies dispose of non-standard product, even if in extremely good condition. I have been witness to the disposal of beautiful soft seating, wood coffee tables, wood desks, and many other varieties of furniture - due mainly to the fact that the company isn’t "standardized" on it for one reason or another. A good example of a large corporation selling to the general public is Pratt and Whitney in Windsor, CT. I bought my Steelcase desk at the Pratt and Whitney store for $10. It was a light oak laminate which went well in my house. Considering a Steelcase desk can sell for hundreds of dollars brand new, that's not a bad deal.

Third Party Dealers: In some of the more sophisticated corporations, furniture is sold to third party dealers for much less than the value; and those third party dealers in turn sell to the general public. Transfer Enterprises is one such company. These companies will often sell new furniture, used furniture, and refurbished furniture. They have a large selection of items to choose from.

Online: EBay has become a major Internet gateway to hundreds and hundreds of used products. But there are other great sites to search through, such as Overstock.com. Or just enter your search criteria into one of the search engines and start shopping around. The wonderful thing about searching on the Internet is that you can often view the different finishes and fabrics online, while in the privacy of your home. It’s easier to be able match to your home office decor when you’re sitting in that space as you shop. Also, when visiting the stores, you may not see all of the options available from each manufacturer. And the salesperson may not always be well versed in the various finishes and fabrics produced by a manufacturer. You can order online and have it sent to your house, or you may be able to shop online and then ask your local Staples store to order the furniture for you, saving on high shipping costs.

Stores: You can find inexpensive office furniture at places such as K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Staples, Office Max, and Office Depot, brands such as Hon, La-Z-Boy, Safeco, and National. In addition to the super chain stores, search the phone book for furniture dealers in your area. Some Steelcase, Herman Miller, Haworth, and Teknion dealers sell to the general public. You will get a better quality choice of product and some great customer service by going this route. The dealers will have a substantial library resource of different fabrics and finishes that you can view in person, as well as some showroom mock-ups for you to “kick the tires.” Another way to find a local dealer is by going to the manufacturer’s website and doing a search through the network of dealers they have housed throughout the country.

What to Look For

Naturally, you want to get the best deal for your money, and shopping around is your best protection against outrageous claims. When shopping for furniture, look for: quality, quality, quality. Every manufacturer is able to provide a specification sheet that details the durability tests, loading capacity, building components, and dimensions, including thickness. Request this information from your vendors or look them up online, and compare notes.

If you are someone that constantly changes your living arrangements, then you want a product that is modular, meaning it can be moved easily and frequently. Many of the pressboard components fall apart after the first disassembly, and it’s not difficult to lose the parts and pieces needed to put it back together. Metal components are generally more modular, although heavy.

Compare warranty information. Most office furniture comes with a very limited warranty, usually about 1-2 years. Desk chairs can have warranties that last much longer. Read the fine print. Chairs generally have a different warranty for different parts. For example, arms and other small components will be warranted 5 years or less. The pneumatic cylinder is usually around 10-15 years.

Step Four: Receive, Assemble, and Install

If furniture is not in stock when you go to pick it up, you will be faced with a lead-time. Most office furniture averages between 4-8 weeks to ship and deliver.

Installation is rarely ever included. When purchasing your furniture, you may be able to negotiate installation if the given manufacturer has an agreement with the local dealer. Dealers generally charge an average of $40-50 per hour for assembly, delivery, installation, and refuse removal. If you live in a 12-story building with no elevator and no dock, and live 45 miles from the dealer, then it will take the installers longer to get the job done, resulting in a higher charge.

When searching for the right furniture, keep in mind that many types of furniture come in multiple parts and pieces. If you will be the person assembling it, you might want to limit the amount of work required to put everything together by choosing a set that has fewer pieces.

Bolting file cabinets to the wall or floor to avoid tipping is a good idea if you decide to purchase a 4- or 5-drawer file cabinet. You don’t want your two-year-old to come along and tug on one of the drawers, only to have it fall on top of him. If the top drawer is pulled out all of the way, it could cause an out-of-balance situation and the file could end up falling on you and result in an injury. You didn’t decide to buy office furniture only to end up in the hospital!

Victory!

All that work has paid off, and now before you is a beautiful office set-up that’s user-friendly, comfortable, and durable. You paid what you expected and got what you wanted, and now the hunt is over. It’s time to sit in that cozy new chair, put your feet up on your new desk, and lean back for a quick nap….except that there’s a laundry basket full of paperwork that still needs filing.

Look, I can help you with purchasing furniture, but I can’t help you with that.