You should be able to sit in your chair with your elbows at right angles when you type and your shoulders should not be hunched. If you have a chair with armrests, check that they are not getting in the way of this position. Your body, hips, knees and legs should also form a series of right angles, and you may need a footrest to achieve this. The chair should also be able to swivel and move, so that you don’t have to twist and strain your body. However, this doesn’t mean that you will need to spend a fortune on a smart office chair. You can often find perfectly well designed ones that fit all these criteria and are comfortable in second hand office suppliers or inexpensive office furniture outlets.

As you plan your desk layout don’t forget that you need space for paperwork whether it is a bank account, notes or the letter you are replying to. You will also need a printer, which will probably need to be close by, and you may want a fax and a telephone. Printers and faxes are now fairly compact, but around 41cm (16in) square is average, with room needed behind for cabling. You may also want to consider installing an additional telephone line, especially if you are planning on using a fax machine, modern and email for sending and receiving work.

Ergonomics is an important part of office planning and these practicalities are just as important in the home. Don’t fall for a small desk because it fits into the space on the wall start all your measurements from the size of your monitor, the position in which you will sit, and how much space you need so that both you and your computer can operate properly. Also make sure that whatever you buy to stand your PC on is sufficiently strong and stable. A personal computer is quite heavy and has a number of trailing wires, so however inexpensive or attractive a trestle type set up may be, you need to be quite sure you are not going to pull it over.

It is important, too, that the monitor is positioned straight a head of you, with your eyebrows in line with the top of the screen. Their depth demands around 60cm (24in) of desk space just for the screen and you will need a good extra 25cm (10in) in front of that for the keyboard and any paperwork you are using. Pull out or pull down flaps which can provide this extra work surface and the L shaped desk, with the personal computer on the corner where there is greater depth, are good solutions. But make sure that your chair can swivel around to face the monitor don’t allow yourself to spend much time with your keyboard in front of you and the screen to one side.