By
eHow Careers & Work Editor
Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Step1
Determine your needs. Your work station may provide many uses during your typical work day. It may serve as a desk, a filing cabinet, a layout table or anything else you can think of. During the course of any normal day, you may use several office machines (such as your computer, fax machine or desktop calculator) and will need easy access to them. Your work station might have to provide storage for various supplies, such as scissors, markers, specialty letterheads and pens. Make a list of the tasks you must perform regularly at your work station, and then compose a sub-list of what those tasks require.
Step2
Evaluate your work area. The size of your work area will determine the size of your work station.
Step3
Set your cost limits. According to your home office budget, allocate what you can spend on your new work station. Consider that the work station may increase your productivity drastically, so allocating a bigger section of your budget might prove an excellent investment. And remember, if you work from home, it's most likely that everything you buy for your home office is going to be a tax deduction.
Step4
Check what's available online. Go to various office furniture websites and look at options and pricing. You can find websites that will customize or create custom work stations. Log options and prices for future reference. Most of the bigger office supply stores have great home delivery services.
Step5
Shop in person. Go to various office furniture supply stores and check out the options and prices. Sit in the chairs and try out the desk. Is it comfortable? Is it ergonomic? If you're going to be sitting at your desk for up to eight hours a day, you better hope everything's a good fit.
Step6
Make a decision. Based on all the features you require, the quality of the pieces you looked at and the prices of the work stations, choose one for your new home office.
