What size desk do you need? A measuring guide for small rooms

Start with three measurements

Before you look at a single desk, measure the space you actually have. Three numbers decide almost everything:

1. Usable wall width. Measure at desk height, not at the floor. Skirting boards, window frames and radiators often steal an inch or two exactly where the desktop will sit.
2. Floor depth. Measure from the wall to the nearest obstacle behind you: the bed, a wardrobe door, a walkway.
3. Height obstacles. Note the height of window sills, radiators, outlets and light switches along that wall.

Write the numbers down in inches. If you want to see them drawn to scale, the planner on the Ewula homepage draws your space and a desk together and tells you how much room is left.

How deep the desk needs to be

Depth is the number people get wrong most often, because it controls how far away your screen can sit.

OSHA's computer workstation guidance says to keep a monitor at least 20 inches from your eyes and gives 20 to 40 inches as the preferred viewing range. Mayo Clinic's office ergonomics guide gives the same range and describes it as roughly an arm's length.

Your eyes sit several inches behind the front edge of the desk when you are seated, so desk depth and viewing distance are not the same number. As a rough guide (our estimate, not a standard):

If your space only allows a shallow desk, a monitor arm can push the screen back over the rear edge and win you several inches. See our guide to monitor arms for shallow desks.

How wide the desk needs to be

Width depends on what sits on top. You can work out the width of any 16:9 screen from its diagonal: the width is about 87% of the diagonal. That gives these approximate screen widths:

Add room for a lamp, a notebook or a phone and you get these practical minimums:

• Laptop only: about 30 to 36 inches.
• Laptop beside one 24 to 27-inch monitor: about 40 to 48 inches.
• Two monitors side by side: about 55 inches or more.

A 40-inch desk is the most common "small" size and fits a laptop and one monitor if you stack one in front of the other rather than side by side.

Check the leg room underneath

A small desk with a drawer unit or a crossbar in the wrong place can be harder to use than a slightly bigger one with an open frame.

OSHA's work-space guidance describes the space your legs need under a work surface. For upright and slightly reclined sitting, it suggests clearance at least:

• 20 inches wide
• 17 inches deep at knee level and 24 inches deep at foot level
• 20 to 27 inches high near you, adjustable to suit your body

Before buying, look at the product photos and the dimension drawing for anything that cuts into that box: drawers, a modesty panel low at the back, a footbar, or legs set in from the corners.

Check the height

Most fixed-height desks sold for home offices are between 28 and 30 inches tall. The SHW Mission 40-inch desk, for example, is listed at 28 inches.

Mayo Clinic's guide says your hands should rest at or slightly below elbow height when you type. If the desk is too high for you, raise the chair and add a footrest; if it is too low and cannot be adjusted, Mayo suggests raising it on sturdy blocks. A standing desk converter is another way to change the working height without replacing the desk.

Leave room behind the chair

This is the measurement that decides whether a desk fits a bedroom.

Office space planners at Office Furniture 2 Go give these clearances behind a desk:

They also note that a chair pulled out and in use takes up about 18 to 24 inches behind the desk edge. So in a room where the bed is 50 inches from the wall, a 24-inch-deep desk leaves 26 inches: enough to sit, but tight.

Worked examples

Before you buy: checklist

• Wall width measured at desk height
• Floor depth measured to the nearest obstacle
• At least 36 inches left behind the desk, ideally 42 or more
• Desk depth gives at least 20 inches from your eyes to the screen
• Open leg room at least 20 inches wide
• Desk height checked against your chair
• An outlet within reach (see how to hide desk cables without drilling)

When you have your numbers, our list of desks that fit small spaces compares specific models by footprint.