Midway through 2021, I took the plunge and started working from home in a full-time capacity. My old day job was left behind, allowing me to put all of my focus into writing. It’s essentially the dream that I’ve had since I was in High School, and it’s finally become a reality.
However, the problem with working from home is that my organizational skills are lacking, at best. At any given moment, I have a myriad of phones, keyboards, key switches, headphones, pens, cables, and notebooks on my desk. To say it’s frustrating is putting it mildly.
From afar, I’ve always envied those seemingly-unrealistic desk setups that appear on YouTube or in the r/Battlestations and r/MacSetups subreddits. Fake plants and wooden shelves are pretty much everywhere, and it truly left me feeling like this was the way to achieving the organization I needed.
There’s an old saying that goes “a cluttered desk leads to a cluttered mind” and that could not be more spot-on in my case. Something is always getting in the way, and my most recent example was reaching for a cup of coffee, catching my hand on something, and ruining one of my beloved mechanical keyboards with custom switches.
This is where Grovemade comes in. The company reached out to us to show off its new line of refillable notebooks, complete with its aluminum pens. After that, I decided it was time to try and take the plunge and see what would happen if I actually managed to get my desk organized.
A few weeks later, my home office had more than a few boxes courtesy of Grovemade, and then it was time to get unboxing and organizing. Starting things off, the most necessary addition (in my eyes) was the Grovemade Desk Shelf. This is available in two different types of wood, but I opted to go with the Walnut finish. As you’ll see, this trend continued, to try and keep everything aesthetically pleasing, even if it doesn’t perfectly match up with my desktop.
Paired up with the Desk Shelf is Grovemade’s excellent Walnut headphone stand, Wool Felt Desk Pad, and the aforementioned Notebook with Aluminum Pen. With all of this combined, I have finally reached a feeling of “nirvana” while sitting at my desk. It did require a bit of finagling, given that my 34-inch ultrawide monitor is mounted to the desk, causing the Desk Shelf to jut out a bit further, but it still leaves me plenty of space.
Moving Things Around
Now, whenever I need to snap a picture of something, or just want to enjoy lunch and watch YouTube, I can slide my keyboard under the shelf. The CalDigit TS3 Plus, which is connected to my 16-inch 2021 MacBook Pro, is nestled nicely under one of the shelves. Next to that, I have an older Satechi desktop charger so that I can just plug in my different devices and accessories when they need to be charged up.
But the biggest key to creating this desk set up in its current form is to help keep my mind free from the unnecessary clutter. Instead of accessories and devices being thrown all about, everything here has its place. By cleaning things up and getting things organized, I was able to bring my beloved HomePod back into the mix. Of course, I have speakers connected to my MacBook Pro, but the HomePod acts as a speaker for my iPhone or iPad. It’s really a shame that Apple didn’t update these with a newer version, but the HomePod mini (in another room) isn’t too shabby.
While it’s really great to be able to keep your desk nice and tidy, that’s not the reason why you would opt for Grovemade accessories. In theory, and if you had the tools, you could go to your local hardware shop and pick up the materials to create the Desk Shelf yourself. You could even cobble together a homemade headphone stand if the mood struck.
Incredible Craftsmanship
What Grovemade brings is craftsmanship that has to be seen to be believed. The Wool Felt desk pad has become my favorite desk pad that I’ve used and compliments the rest of the ensemble quite nicely. The desk shelf itself is more than sturdy enough to put a whole slew of things up on it, if you saw fit to do so.
And while we live in an increasingly digital world, having quick and easy access to good ole pen and paper is a feeling that is second-to-none. I don’t need to pick up my phone or open an app on the Mac when a thought or idea comes into my head. Now, all I do is grab the pen and the notebook and write it down. Then I’ll go back and review it later to see if it’s really worth adding to my to-do list.
Grovemade’s products are simply incredible, yet simplistic. If you’re having struggles as I had, then you’ll definitely want to go check out their myriad of accessories to improve your home office setup.
Andrew Myrick is a freelance writer based on the East Coast of the US. He enjoys everything to do with technology, including tablets, smartphones, and everything in between. Perhaps his favorite past-time is having a never-ending supply of different keyboards and gaming handhelds that end up collecting more dust than the consoles that are being emulated.
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