Does anyone have an office setup with light strips? If so, any specific brand? Links please.
Also looking for chair recommendations as well. Must be comfortable enough to be sitting for 6-8 hours if necessary.
Thanks!
I’d look at getting a standing desk, or a standing mechanism for your existing desk top, or a desk riser. If you want to try it out at low cost, I got one of these for my keyboard and mouse: https://www.uncagedergonomics.com/workez-best-laptop-stand-lap-desk/ and put my monitor on my desk’s shelf when standing.
The laptop stand can also be used on the sofa etc so it’s no loss if you decided to get something more permanent and motorized. The one hazard is the mouse tray has no lip to stop mice falling into coffee mugs.
I prefer to stand for a while then sit for a while. I also have a keyboard tray on my treadmill.
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I recommend Aeron chairs. I sit for hours years and it is comfortable. The pellicle fabric breathes and keeps your back and backside happy. They come in three sizes, A, B, C, smallest to largest. There is a sizing chart on the website. They have many options available for adjustable parts.
They are expensive off the shelf, but with all the startups that go bust, you should be able to find a used one. I bought one for my girlfriend for $250 from a person on the Nextdoor app.
My ex-wife worked for Geiger, so I got a deal on mine, with all the options. It’s served me well for about 10 years, and has no signs of giving way.
As the saying goes, buy quality, cry once.
Oh yeah, it’s the Official Chair of Office Hockey.
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Aeron chairs are one of those things that people either love or hate. I used one for a some years and I was on the hate side. It never really did fit right. I had back pain and upper leg pain every time I used it for more than an hour or two. Both got worse over time. It’s adjustable but there were some things (like the waterfall seat front) that just didn’t work for me. Definitely try before you buy.
I use an Embody chair now (also Herman Miller) that’s a much better fit for me. It is, unfortunately, also not cheap and there are fewer in the dead startup furniture pool.
Same here - worked in the dawn of the Aeron acendency when every startup bought them by the truckload for their offices as a sign of… something. Never got comfortable with them. Ended up preferring the Steelcase Leap with optional headrest.
On a whim a couple of years ago I bought the $229 IKEA Markus for my home and on a scale of 1-10 I’d give it a 6.5. Slightly more comfortable than an Areon, but much less well made, and a couple of times a year I have to pull out that little IKEA wrench to re-tighten the arms. An acquaintance liked it so much he bought four of them… as dining chairs. 
The Wirecutter named the Steelcase Gesture their pick for best office chair so I’ll take a look at that model (with headrest) when shopping for a new chair this year or next.
I’m also in the market for a new chair so watching this thread. My current chair was a salvage from the office where I worked over 20 years ago and the pneumatic adjustment no longer holds the chair up at the selected height.
My issue is that my desk height is higher than normal, at 32.5 inches high. It is built-in and designed so standard 2 drawer file cabinets can fit underneath it with a couple of inches to spare which is why it’s higher than normal. That means I need a chair that has a seat height of at least 23 inches and ideally up to about 26. Most desk chairs are too low and most lab chairs start too high. I do use a foot rest so that even though I am short I can type comfortably at this desk.
I’m going to take a look at the Steelcase chairs, I see they have a stool version that might be suitable.
If the chair otherwise still works for you (which would be impressive after so many years) another option would be to see if you can replace the lift cylinder. I did this in my wife’s Aeron a couple of years ago and, for that chair at least, it was pretty straightforward.
Have had mine (Aeron chair) at the office for at least eighteen years; inherited one for use at home too. A little ugly, but comfortable and the ventilation is not to be discounted. And durable.
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True.
Easier, cheaper and more effective to just do what you say.
I work in pomodoros and so get up/ go bathroom/make drinks/stretch etc in the 5 mins breaks.
I’ve got a Flexispot desk base and mounted my old desk’s tabletop onto it. I use the standing desk option for what I call “power hour”, where I just plow through smaller task, like scanning files, printing shipping labels or preparing other physical mail, which is sadly still legally required for me to do. It makes the process more dynamic.
Otherwise I’ve got a cheap Aeron knock-off, because they are really costly over here. But I am eyeing different option of quality desk chairs.
I use Philips Hue lights and would advise against getting any china LED strips or mixing different systems. The advantage of the Hue system is that the recent generations are quite color accurate, even across the different light-types and bulbs. If you mix brands the blues are often off.
The downside of the Hue light strips is that they don’t have local dimming zones and the LEDs for different colors are slightly apart. You will notice individual colors close to the strip. However you can put them in aluminium channels with a milky cover (you can find them on amazon), which reduces that flare of individual colors.
If you use them as indirect lighting behind a ledge, shelf, desk etc. that effect will just barely be noticeable.
I like my Hue setup. Especially in conjunction with the app “iConnectHue”, which allows to program scenes and routines, incl. fading and dimming. So I’ve set up an automation that all my lights should slowly shift to yellow from 10-11pm and afterwards switch to a dark orange until 11:30pm. This works wonders to get you into bed 
There are many things that don’t quite work. The seat tilt is also broken and that is more noticeable now that I’m back inside for much of the time working on programming LambTracker. I’m spending hours in the chair in front of a screen.
I’m an Aeron “hater”. At work they would buy you any chair you wanted, and a few people did get Aerons. I happened to spot an ancient Steelcase chair lying around and grabbed that instead, using it until it just plain wore out.
Desk chairs are a personal decision. Best bet is to try out as many as you can before you buy. I ended up with one of these at work: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003G4OJK4
and then after I retired I bought the same model. Great price and only real problem is that the adjustments, while vast, can be difficult to change. But it certainly might not be for you.
I used an Aeron for almost 20 years as my full-time desk chair. I loved it, but be warned that you must try the different sizes before you buy. I only found one of the sizes comfortable.
When I went to replace it, the sales guy said he’d be happy to sell me a replacement, but if I was willing to risk spending more money, he’d recommend that I sit in Herman Miller’s new (at the time) chair, the Embody. I was amazed at how much better the Embody was for me, and ended up buying it. (Happily, they had a damaged floor sample for a significant discount.)
In general, price will get you reliability and repairability. It doesn’t buy you comfort and injury avoidance.
So, if you have back problems or may develop them, I strongly recommend that you go shopping for a chair at a dealer where you can try multiple chairs. Until you’ve repeatedly sat in a chair that fits you well, it’s difficult to tell the difference when you can’t do direct comparisons. One way you can find such a dealer is go to Herman Miller’s web site and find a certified dealer in your area. If you live near a major metropolitan area, these dealers will likely have many other brands, too. A good dealer will let you come back a few times before purchasing, and they may be able to help you find a reduced-price floor model.
Thanks everyone for the tips so far on the chair!! I wish there was an @everyone in this thread!
My wife and I currently have the Markus chairs from Ikea. They have been great so far. I get to move around my body, so I am not tied down. However, my wife sits in the chair for 8-12 hours for work. Standing desks and “getting up to move” aren’t an option due to the nature of the job. Her exercise comes after work is over.
I keep hearing about the Herman Miller Embody, we found someone who has several, he is willing to sell for almost half the price, and they are fairly new. We are hoping to go find a dealer nearby and just “sit” in them as everyone recommends. One of my concerns is that the chair doesn’t have a headrest at all, it sounds silly, but I wonder how that adjustment will be.
Massdrop’s standing desk is diwn to $250, -$80 if you want to make your own desktop https://drop.com/buy/drop-lift-2-sit-to-stand-desk