I spend a lot of time in my home office.
There are emails to answer, Champagne Chapters ideas scribbled into notebooks, articles to write, books to plan and approximately seventeen browser tabs open at any given moment.
So while I want my office to be functional, I also want it to be a space I actually enjoy being in.
I am not interested in filling a desk with things simply because they photograph beautifully. If something is taking up precious real estate around my computer, it needs to earn its place. But if it happens to be useful and aesthetically pleasing?
Even better.
These are six things currently living in my home office that I genuinely use and would buy again.
01
The Gel Pens I Keep Reaching For
There are people who can grab any pen from the junk drawer and happily continue with their day.
I am not one of those people.
Give me a pen that writes smoothly and I'm suddenly prepared to reorganize my entire life.
This metallic gel pen set has become exactly the kind of simple desk staple I love. The pens feel a little special without being too precious to use, and they're perfect for everything from jotting down a quick note during the workday to scribbling book ideas when inspiration decides to arrive at an inconvenient hour.
See the gel pen set on Amazon02
The Highlighters That Understand the Assignment
Office supplies do not need to look as though they escaped from a fluorescent middle-school pencil case.
These Mr. Pen aesthetic highlighters come in a set of eight muted, boho-inspired colors with chisel tips, which means they are functional without turning every page into a neon billboard.
I love them for notes, planning, calendars and anything I'm working through on paper. They give me the organization I want while keeping everything looking soft and elevated.
Is color coordinating absolutely necessary?
Probably not.
Does it make me feel approximately 37 percent more organized?
Absolutely.
See the aesthetic highlighters on Amazon03
The Chair That Makes Long Desk Days Much More Comfortable
If you work from home, write, read or routinely disappear behind your computer for hours at a time, the office chair matters.
A lot.
Mine is an ergonomic office chair with an adjustable headrest, reclining support, a footrest, wheels and a swivel design.
And yes, the footrest was absolutely part of the appeal.
There comes a point during a long writing or work session when sitting perfectly upright at your desk starts feeling wildly optimistic. I wanted something that could function as a proper office chair but also let me lean back and get comfortable when I'm reading, researching or attempting to solve whatever problem I've created for myself that day.
This has become one of the true workhorses of my office.
See the ergonomic office chair on Amazon04
The Desk Pad That Instantly Makes Everything Look Better
This may be the simplest item on the list, but it makes a surprisingly big difference.
I use a neutral desk pad that protects the surface beneath my computer and doubles as a generous mouse and writing area.
More importantly?
It makes the entire workspace look pulled together.
If your desk tends to collect a computer, notebooks, pens, coffee, chargers and the occasional book that definitely has nothing to do with what you're supposed to be working on, a large desk mat creates a little visual order among the chaos.
The light neutral shade also keeps everything calm and cohesive without feeling sterile.
It's one of those small upgrades that makes an inexpensive desk setup feel significantly more intentional.
See the neutral desk pad on Amazon05
The White-and-Gold Mouse Because Details Matter
Necessary?
A mouse, yes.
A white-and-gold mouse?
Emotionally, also yes.
I use the VssoPlor slim wireless mouse in white and gold. It connects through a USB nano receiver and is designed with quiet clicking, which is a tiny feature that becomes much more noticeable when you spend hours working at a computer.
It's simple, pretty and doesn't visually fight with everything else on my desk.
And this is exactly the kind of office purchase I love: something I genuinely need, except in the version that makes my workspace feel more like mine.
See the white-and-gold wireless mouse on Amazon06
The Fantasy Romance Planner That Was Practically Made for Me
And now we've reached the least traditionally “office” item on this list and possibly my favorite.
The Ultimate Fantasy Romance Novel Planner by Storyfolk is designed specifically for fantasy and romance writers, with sections devoted to plotting, character profiles, world-building, magic systems and chapter outlining.
In other words, someone understood that creating a fantasy romance requires considerably more than opening a blank document and hoping a morally questionable immortal man appears.
For writers, there is something incredibly satisfying about getting a story out of your head and onto paper.
Character motivations.
Relationship arcs.
Magic.
World rules.
Plot holes you're pretending aren't plot holes yet.
This gives all of those ideas somewhere to live.
And while I will always have approximately five notebooks containing mysterious sentences I no longer understand, having one place specifically designed for building a fantasy-romance novel helps bring a little order to the creative chaos.
See the Fantasy Romance Novel Planner on AmazonCreating an office you actually want to sit in
A workspace should feel like it belongs to you.
I don't think a home office needs to be perfectly styled.
Mine certainly isn't.
The best workspaces develop slowly. You find the pen you love. You replace the chair that makes your back hurt. You add something pretty simply because looking at it makes you happy. Eventually, the room starts to feel less like a place where you're supposed to be productive and more like a space that belongs to you.
That's really what these favorites are.
Nothing revolutionary.
Nothing you need to completely reinvent your office.
Just a handful of things I use in mine that make the hours I spend here a little more comfortable, organized and beautiful.
And considering how much of our lives can happen behind a desk, I think that's reason enough.