What office furniture should I get and where from?

January 19, 2004 10:37 PM

Office furniture: where to buy it used and what kind do you use? [more]

So, I am looking to move this spring, and as part of my move I want to ditch all the old Ikea furniture and spring for some nice stuff for my home computer set-up. I've had my eyes set on a biomorph desk ever since the startup I worked for had them back in 2000. I love the adjustability, but I hate the price. There must be a cheaper way. So, this is a two part question:

1) Does anyone know where you can find good used office furniture online? Most of the places I've seen don't offer good info on inventory or look credible, and ebay doesn't seem to have what I want. Heck, if you know where I could get a biomorph desk used for cheap offline, too, I'd be interested.

2) Are there better desks out there than biomorph? I've seen anthro carts and kind of liked them, but they are, of course, not as stylish. Any reccomendations?

Thanks in advance.

posted by Hackworth to Shopping (2 answers total)

Hackworth: it looks to me as though you live somewhere with a (or rather the) craigslist presence. Browse a bit and perhaps post your wants -- I had good luck throwing an ad up asking for some pretty obscure stuff (not furniture, however). Unfortunately, office liquidation just ain't what it used to be in the days of the crash, so you're going to have to get resourceful.

The biomorph and its ilk are deeply not my style, so I can't offer much advice as to an equivalent other than to point at Overkill Design which makes similar futuristic Mondo 2000 stuff. With sort of a Monster Garage overengineering approach. Don't mind the cheesy Fender guitar stuff, take a look at their other goods. Even I like 'em.

You might be surprised how well a Big Ass Wooden Desk fits the bill, or a dining table. Goodwill used to be an excellent source for this kind of thing, but they seem to have gone upscale in the last few years. Thrift Town sometimes has furniture.

If retro, large, and heavy don't offend you, you might have some luck at the various flea markets. The Ashby market is light on furnishings but worth a browse. There used to be something similar down on Alemany where the old farmer's market was, but I don't know if they still do that.

Then of course there's always the "door and something to put it on" route, which I've heard good things about but never tried.
posted by majick at 7:23 AM on January 20, 2004

i have tried, oh lord how i have tried. craigslist is useless in this regard, all i get is spam from wholesalers wanting to sell me something else.

the specific reason why I want a biomorph is the adjustability. seperate keyboard and monitor spaces are a must, and the ability to go from sitting to standing makes a big difference on your back if you spend a lot of time in front of a computer. Plus, it make it easier to run from the kicthen to your computer when you are trying to follow a recipie online or something.
posted by Hackworth at 9:37 AM on January 20, 2004