Home Office Essentials
Since this will be the area of your house where you'll be spending the majority of your day, it's critical you make it a "home within a home". My room is very small, about 10 x 12 or 120sf (11sqm), but it's cozy and comfortable. It's all relative however, and your tastes and needs will vary. Best thing to begin with is a checklist and go from there.
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link.
Laptops
This is where you want to spend your money. My Lenovo Yoga 720 is great, but I definitely hear it chugga lugging by late morning. Specs are: 3840x2160 Display, 1.8GHz CPU, 1TB SSD, 16GB DDR4 RAM. I got it for about $1400 and change. However, for it to work with dual monitors you have to purchase their Ultra Docking Station, which I didn't realize until after buying the laptop.
Do your research on this one, but I would recommend a focus on weight and mobility for any kind of travel.
Monitors
I use two older model HP monitors; they're still sold new, refurbished or used. They are 21.5" (54cm) and fit the desk I use perfectly. Nothing fancy, but solid little workhorses.
I highly recommend purchasing two; having a dual monitor set up just makes your work that much more streamlined and easier.
Keyboard
I tend to be frugal with some things, my keyboard being one of them. I chose HP again; it's cheap and surprisingly comfortable to use.
Mouse
This is the nicest mouse I've ever owned and it's super inexpensive, $10. Mine is black, but it's only a buck more to upgrade to a prettier color!
Printer
I wanted a laser wireless color printer, so I spent a little extra to get this Brother HL-L3210CW. Mind you, it only prints, no scanning or copying capability. But for $170 bucks, I'm very happy with my purchase. You can get something decent for less, however.
Desk
I have worked at desks that were hand-me-downs, Goodwill purchases and yes, at times the good ole kitchen table. So, to buy a brand new office desk was a nice splurge and goes a long way to helping me feel like I'm being productive in an actual work space. This is inexpensive at $165, but you can also make do with much less, if needed.
Amazon Workstations under $200
eBay Workstations under $200
Phone System
I've used Ooma for about 6-7 years now and it's been great. The initial system is about $75 brand new (you can get it cheaper on eBay), but your phone charges end up being about $5.75 per month. They also have an app you can use when traveling (for an added fee) so it looks like you're calling from your home office.
The one drawback for those of you working for a company that requires a dedicated phone line, it's VoIP.
Phone
This is another item I've owned for years. The only thing I've replaced is the battery and the headset. I've dropped the body of it more than once and it still works great. The noise cancelling is top notch. Plantronics also makes wireless headsets and is one of the top rated companies for these types of phones.
eBay Handsets
