so I finally landed this dream remote gig and I am beyond excited to get my home office setup ready here in my Seattle apartment but oh my god looking at the prices of things like Herman Miller or Steelcase is actually giving me a heart attack. my budget is strictly $800 for everything because I already spent way too much on my PC build and I need to have this done by next Monday.

I spent all night yesterday looking for alternatives and my logic was that maybe I can find some hidden gems that arent marketed to death. I saw some people swear by the Autonomous ErgoChair but then I read a bunch of reviews saying the mesh gets super loose after six months and the customer service is a nightmare which totally scared me off. then I looked at the IKEA Karlby and Alex drawer combo which looks cool but I really want a standing desk and those conversion kits on Amazon like the Flexispot ones seem okay but I am worried about them wobbling or the motor burning out when I have my heavy dual monitor mount on there.

• standing desk frames under $300
• chairs that wont kill my back after 8 hours
• monitor arms that actually stay put

I am just torn because I dont want to buy cheap junk that I have to replace in a year but I definitely cant afford the $1500 designer stuff right now. are there any specific off-brands that are actually legit or should I just look for used warehouse stuff?