Designing a home office? Get yourself these 5 essentials first

If you're new to the remote work world, congratuations! You've landed yourself a flexible lifestyle that lets you do your job from anywhere. The best part? No dusty cubicle — you get to set up your own workspace however you want, wherever you want.

Optimizing that space for you personally is crucial though, especially if your home has lots of distractions. But before you start investing in all kinds of niche tools to turn your workstation into the Jetsons' apartment, it's best to make sure you have a foundation of reliable equipment, such as a quality desk, a comfortable seat, and a reliable connection to the internet.

While the sheer amount of office equipment that can help your workday run more smoothly is nowhere near exhausted, we've put together a quick list of must-haves to help you jumpstart your design brainstorming.

1. A quality, spacious desk

Let's be real: there's nothing wrong with the occasional workday spent on the couch with your computer in your lap. That's where I'm writing this paragraph—I like the change of scenery I get from the afternoon light in my living room. That said, it's great to have a dedicated workspace where you can lay everything out, keep things organized and handy, and distance your work from the rest of your home clutter.

If you're feeling fancy, you can even invest in one of the best standing desks , which allows you to adjust the height of your desktop on the fly so you can work on your feet. Not only does this break up the monotony of sitting in one place, but it can also make your workday healthier and less sedentary.

Vari Electric Standing Desk: $799 @ Amazon
Our pick for the best overall standing desk, this model from Vari strikes the perfect balance of simplicity and utility. It has a sleek, barebones design that fits just about any office aesthetic, and there are loads of optional, modular accessories for it so you can customize your workstation with ease. View Deal

2. A comfortable, adjustable ergonomic chair

Even if you do stand at your standing desk often, you're going to rack up a lot of sitting time with your remote job. If you churn out all that work in an ill-fitting chair, it may not be long before you experience discomfort and stiffness related to added stress on your back and neck.

One of the best office chairs — especially a proper ergonomic one —remedies this issue by providing a more comfortable, form-fitting platform for you as you sit. Quality models often have lumbar support systems, which keeps your lower back aligned. Most also come with a host of adjustment levers and knobs to fine-tune your seat height, armrests, recline angle, and lumbar support positioning.

If you're a gamer who uses the same space for work and play, you can also invest in a quality gaming chair . These models often have more abundant padding and support, as well as a headrest. Just be aware that these chairs often position you in a more reclined posture, which isn't always conducive to productivity.

Branch Ergonomic Chair: $349 @ Amazon
This budget-friendly chair is a great starter model for a budding home office. It's easy to assemble, sturdy once built, and abundantly adjustable. It also has some rather pronounced lumbar support for a happier spine. View Deal

3. A crisp, tidy monitor

Depending on the type of work you do from home, a monitor can act as a virtual extension of your desk to help you keep your work organized and in view. Need multiple windows open, but don't want to crunch them both down onto your laptop screen? That's where a good monitor really shines. You can have a spreadsheet with all your important data positioned right next to the document you're using to interpret it, all while your favorite show is running in the upper right corner (if that's your thing).

This bit of gear isn't entirely essential if you're only, say, typing Word documents, but it will make your work run a lot more smoothly if you work with multiple programs at a time. I use a monitor to transfer my article drafts to our website, and it saves me loads of time and keeps me from losing track of my progress.

Asus TUF Gaming VG28UQL1A Monitor: $531 @ Amazon
Our pick for the best budget monitor, this 4K display is the perfect size for a busy desk. Its colors are vibrant, and it runs quickly enough to make a great gaming companion during after-hours desk time. View Deal

4. An intuitive keyboard

It goes without saying that, if you're working on a PC, you need a keyboard to use it. That said, even laptop users can benefit from a smoother, larger, more comfortable keyboard than the one that comes built-in. Some increase the functionality of your computer altogether—for example, I can't use alt codes on my work laptop, because it lacks a numpad, but I have no problem accessing those codes with my other keyboard.

There's another sneaky benefit to a quality keyboard: those smooth keys are a lot more comfortable to use when you're typing all day. On our laptops, we're constantly slapping away at a membrane keyboard with virtually no give, but with one of the best mechanical keyboards , this action is much smoother. Over the long run, your knuckles will thank you for that.

Lemokey X1 Wired Mechanical Keyboard: $37 @ Amazon
Another quality budget pick vetted by our testers, the Lemokey X1 is a buttery smooth keyboard with a sturdy, premium build. It has an impressively sharp 1,000Hz polling rate for quick inputs, which also makes it great for gaming. You can even customize the backlighting using the brand's pleasantly intuitive software. View Deal

5. A bright, inviting lamp

Depending on your living situation, getting light into your work area might be a challenge. I'm lucky to have windows right next to my desk, but I've also lived and worked in basements before. Those setups were miserable until I got myself a bright desk lamp .

Light can be practical in the context of the work you're doing, like if you're drawing or writing on paper all the time, but there are also health benefits connected to working with some supplementary light. If you work on a screen, the diversity of light sources can reduce eye strain. Furthermore, it can boost your mood to work in an environment that isn't dark 24/7.

Lepower Metal Desk Lamp: Was $33 now $23 @ Amazon
Unassuming at a glance, this budget-friendly desk lamp wowed us during tests with its sturdy build, flexible adjusting arm, and unobtrusive matte finish that blends perfectly into your office environment. View Deal

More from Tom's Guide

• Forget using a wrist wrest — this ergonomic standing desk has one built-in
• Want a Herman Miller office chair? These are the 7 most popular
• The 5 biggest potential problems with your home office and how to solve them