#Deskpiration: What K-Dramas Taught Us About Keeping A Dynamic Work Station
Spruce up your desk inspired by your favorite Korean show
The shift from working in the office to serious work-from-home mode is a tight, challenging experience. Some of us took longer adjusting to this kind of setup, and it’s understandable enough—creating the ‘workplace vibe’ isn’t as simple as it sounds.
On the flipside, having your own workstation at home gives you more freedom to make it truly yours. No company branding and regulations here. The choice of furniture, accessories, tools, and everything else—your call. You can go all out in decorating: which chair would suit your needs more, or upgrade your shelves or drawers whenever you want. Reveling in this idea inserts fun and excitement in a rather strenuous change in lifestyle.
We’re now on our sixth month in quarantine and while we’re wishing that things would go back to normal soon, it helps that we adjust ourselves accordingly while it lasts. If you still haven’t found the right kind of work-from-home setup at home, or are thinking of revamping your workspace, we urge you to look into our obsession-of-the-moment for some #deskpiration—right, from our favorite Korean dramas!
With superb set design that’s truly peg-worthy, we’ve picked seven shows where we can pattern our work stations from. The characters from the series own jobs from different fields, but one thing that they have in common is a work space that we'd love to have for ourselves.
Check them out in the gallery below and steal some workspace setting tips as well. You won’t dread having to sit on your desk for hours after you’ve done some revamping inspired by these six K-dramas!
Deskpiration
Deskpiration
1. Get the right desk for you.
The perfect work station begins in having the right kind of desk. In ‘To All The Guys Who Loved Me,’ Seo Ji-hoon’s character Park Do-gyeom is a webcomic writer. To make it easier for him to get his work done, he chooses a slope desk which helps with good posture and better wrist positioning to prevent injury. | What we love: Park Do-gyeom keeps it minimal with a neutral color scheme. His warm and well-lit space is furnished with a mix of industrial pieces and quirky accessories. His desk accessories are eye-catching and good conversation-starters; the globe and his sketches pasted on the wall are interesting details, too!
Photo Credit: Photo from hancinema.net
2. Choose pretty, functional pieces as table accessories.
Seo Ji-hye plays Woo Do-hee in ‘Dinnermate,’ a producer-director of a digital content company. As a media producer, everything is fast-paced—thus the need for everything to be convenient and within reach. She decorates her space while attending to this necessity by choosing accessories that double as practical tools, like pastel-colored organizers. | What we love: Woo Do-hee’s desk is simple with playful accents—there are pops of color without going overboard, and fun accessories prevent the setup from being boring.
Photo Credit: Photo from hancinema.net
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3. Put a touch of personality to the setup.
It doesn’t just end in getting practical about your furniture and tool picks. Don’t be too stiff—get creative! Top actress and ‘Goddess of the Universe’ Oh Jin-shim (played by Yoo In-na) from 2019 K-drama ‘Touch Your Heart’ isn’t afraid to add her own flair to her plain law firm desk. She’s a pink lover, so the actress places bits and pieces of her favorite color wherever she can put it. | What we love: Oh Jin-shim coordinates her color obsession even to the littlest things—pens, sticky notes, and the like.
Photo Credit: screengrabbed from 1theK (원더케이) YouTube
4. Less is more.
It’s invigorating to sit down to a nicely-decorated desk; however, going overboard with the knickknacks can be a cause of major distraction. Yoo Ah-in’s character, bestselling novelist Han Se-joo in ‘Chicago Typewriter,’ keeps clutter at bay with a few table embellishments just enough to keep the space interesting, and maintains ample room to get his writing done. | What we love: The novelist’s study—and his whole house—screams vintage allure. The typewriter, the bookends, the lamps, the frames, the wallpaper, and more—it truly is a den for a creative old soul like Han Se-joo.
5. Your background matters.
Sure, we can’t possibly have a glass-stained window as a background for your study like Ko Mun-yeong in ‘It’s Okay To Not Be Okay.’ But having a beautiful background for your Zoom meetings is helpful, so make sure to choose a spot in your room (or your home) with a wall that you can adorn with paintings, shelves, or even plants! | What we love: The set in Ko Mun-yeong’s study focuses more on the beauty of the actual furniture, leaving the complications of excess decorations and putting the spotlight on the vintage fixtures.
Photo Credit: Photo from dramabeans
6. No desk? No problem.
If you live in a compact space, save yourself the trouble of fitting a too-large desk and opt for a low desk table instead, like this choice from the characters of ‘A Piece Of Your Mind.’ Find the most comfortable spot at home (can be the living room but we urge you not to choose your bedroom!), put on your headphones for some music, and work the day away! | What we love: The portability of this option! We also love how the wooden low desk blends well with the tropical interior setup.
Photo Credit: Photo from mydramalist
7. If you live in an apartment studio setup, zoning your work space properly will help.
In What's Wrong With Secretary Kim, Park Min Young's character, Kim Mi So lives in a charming studio flat. Her living room is separated from her bedroom by a room divider. Her work desk is situated next to her bed. It's not much space, but it's organized. What we love: The strict implementation of zoning in this otherwise small space makes everything look so neat. Note the cubby next to her desk where she stores other clutter. Note that the placement of furniture allows for at least a few inches between each one, ensuring that a person can move between each. Her pastel color scheme also helps keep the feel of the room light, befitting of the character.
8. Situate your desk where you can benefit from an ample source of natural light, and clear it after each work day.
"A neat desk is a sign of a sick mind," they say... but we're all for it! Still in What's Wrong With Secretary Kim, Park Seo Joon's character, Lee Young-Joon, is the cool chaebol who is smitten by executive assistant, Kim Mi So, played by Park Min Young (shown in this photo). What we love: More than the fact that it is very neat, attesting to the fact that clearing your work space after each day allows for a fresh beginning every morning, his desk is also situated near a source of ample natural light. Doing so allows one to stay awake and focus on the tasks at hand.
Photo Credit: @whatswrongwithsecretarykim
9. For couples who have no choice but to work within the same space, keep your desks separate.
In Itaewon Class, Park Seo Joon's character, Park Sae-yo-ri, is an ex-convict who went against all odds to beat the largest food conglomerate with his chain of bars. When he was able to afford an office of his own, his loyal marketing manager (who also eventually became his love interest), Jo Yi-Seo, played by Kim Da-Mi, stuck with him to make the whole operation a big success. What We Love: The restraint in this slow-building romance spoke of loyalty and persistence, but design-wise, we love that each character had a work desk that were similar with each other in color and materials, but still maintained the characters' identities. Apply this at home, must you work with your better half in a home office situation. Keep your work desks separate. If possible, have separate work areas. This avoids distraction, helps you stay focused, and keeps your relationship healthy by separating it from work.
Photo Credit: @itaewon.class
10. Keep all the essentials within arm's reach.
She Was Pretty was set in a publishing office. Starring Park Seo-Joon as Ji Soong-Jun, the deputy chief editor of The Most magazine and boss of Kim Ye-Jin played by Hwang Jung-Eum. These characters know each other as children, but experience a reversal of fortune set in a dynamic publishing industry. What We Love: The desk in the series poster has all the basics and essentials within reach. If anything, make sure you have a calendar, a task lamp, an organizing bin for files and a holder for your pens and supplies.
Photo Credit: @reviewallseries
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