When I started working from home during the pandemic, I noticed that the chair space in my home office was incorrectly arranged.
As a result, I struggled to move the chair and get up every time.
Therefore, I researched online and planned the space for my home office chair and other furniture to arrange my workspace perfectly.
Different factors contribute to the number of chairs you can fit in your home office, like chair size, room size, etc.
Read on to find out the number of chairs you can fit in your room according to those factors and the space needed for your office chair.
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Why Do You Need Space Around Office Chair?
The office chair needs enough space for your comfort and also chair safety.
Without proper space planning, you could constantly face obstacles in moving your chair or getting up.
Here are some reasons you need enough space around your office chair.
1. Ease Of Movement
To work comfortably, you should be able to move your chair back without hitting anything and move the chair around to grab your essentials.
Space planning helps you create a comfortable chair space for ease of mobility.
2. Space For Chairmat Or Rugs
Chairmats and rugs are primarily used to protect your flooring from the wheels of your office chair.
However, chair mats need to be bigger than the chairs for easy movement and thus require some additional space.
3. Space For Interaction
If your workspace does not have enough space around the office chair, your colleagues cannot gather around the desk for important discussions.
You might miss out on essential updates or discussions this way.
4. Workplace Safety
Proper space planning around desks and chairs is essential for your safety while working.
You might fall over if there is constant blockage while getting up or sitting down.
How Much Space Do You Need For An Office Chair?
To ensure your work comfort, you must plan space around the chairs, behind the desk, and in front of the wall.
| Space for chairs | Distance (Inches) | Distance (cm) |
|---|---|---|
| Space behind the desk | 20-30 inches | 50-80 cm |
| Space between an office chair and wall | 36 inches | 92 cm |
| Space between workspaces | 78 - 79 inches | 200 cm |
| Space around the office chair | 42 inches square | 107 cm square |
| Space between desk and chair | 24 inches | 61 cm |
Continue reading to find out how much space you’ll need around your desk.
1. Space Behind the Desk
While planning your workspace, you should leave at least 20-30 inches or 50-80 cm of space behind the desk and the wall.
This space will enable you to move your chair comfortably and reach the furniture behind you.
2. Space Between An Office Chair And Wall
There should be at least 36 inches between the office chair and the wall.
The chair placed too close to the wall leads to the chair colliding with the wall whenever you pull the chair to get up.
3. Space Between Workspaces
If your home office has an open floor plan with multiple workstations, you must leave 78- 79 inches or 200 cm between the workstations.
Leaving at least 1.8 meters between the workstations will allow employees to move around comfortably.
4. Space Around The Office Chair
Usually, the office chair needs about 42 inches square or 107 cm square area for itself.
However, this can vary depending on the chair size. Smaller chairs only need about 35 inches square, and larger chairs might require 55 inches square area.
5. Space Between Desk And Chair
You need at least 2 feet or 24 inches between the edge of your desk and the back of your chair.
This space allows you to fit your chair correctly in front of the desk with enough leg space.
While sitting, there should be enough knee space under the desk. The knee space must be at least 30 inches wide by 19 inches deep by 27 inches.
How Many Office Chairs Can You Fit In Your Home Office?
Home offices are personalized, comfortable spaces compared to the general workspace in offices.
For this reason, you cant designate multiple desk and chair areas in a space-saving layout.
You might need to consider decorations, home office aesthetics, other furniture, etc., while planning your workspace.
However, sharing your space might require multiple chairs or tables in your home office.
So, how many chairs can we fit in the home office? The number depends on home office room size, office chair size, features, etc.
1. Home Office Size
A larger home office can fit multiple chairs, while a smaller one may only fit one chair and a desk.
However, it also depends on how you organize the desk and chairs.
A chair needs a 42-inch square area on its own for absolute comfort.
Therefore, based on the calculations, a 20 to 50 square inches room can only fit one chair comfortably.
| Room Size (inches) | Number of chairs | Maximum number of chairs |
|---|---|---|
| Small 20 to 50 square feet | 1 | 2 |
| Medium 50 to 100 square foot | 2 | 3 |
| Large 100 to 200 square feet | 4 | 5 |
2. Office Chair Size
The number of chairs you can fit in your home office also depends on the size of the chair.
If you have limited space, you can choose small chairs with less width to fit your space.
For example, more Amazon Basics Low-Back with only 17.7 inches width can fit in your home office.
This table overviews the number of chairs in an average middle-sized home office.
| Chair Size (Width) | Number of chairs |
|---|---|
| Small (15 -17 inches) | 5 |
| Medium (20 - 35 inches) | 3 |
| Large (35 - 50 inches) | 1-2 |
3. Chair Features
Features like foldable arms, armless chairs, stackable chairs, etc. make them more space-saving.
For instance, the Ergonomic Desk Chair with Adjustable Lumbar Support has flip armrests to be fully tucked under the desk while not in use.
Such chairs can fit in an average-sized home office more than regular chairs.
4. Number Of Desks
The number of desks in your room can also determine the space for chairs, as desks take up much more space than chairs.
For example, using separate desks for each chair might only fit one in-home office.
However, if you use a big desk or table like in a board room and arrange multiple chairs around it, you can easily fit 3 to 4 chairs even for a small-sized table.
5. Desk And Chair Organization
How you organize your desk and chairs determine how many chairs you can fit in your home office.
Here are some of the arrangements to fit more chairs in your home office
- You can line your desks along the walls of the room and place chairs for more space. In this way, you also have a spot at the center of the room for one larger desk with chairs surrounding it.
- Use one large desk or join multiple desks to form a workspace in the center and arrange chairs around it.
- Horseshoe arrangement, i.e., arranging two desks parallel to each other and adding another desk to connect these two with chairs facing opposite each other, can fit up to three chairs.
Final Verdict
Working from home requires a comfortable workspace that includes comfortable and well-spaced furniture.
Office chairs require specific space around them and some distance from other furniture for comfort and safety.
Since the home office requires decor and might also be a shared space, you need to use an appropriate number of chairs according to your room size.
