Name: Isabel E.

Location: Quezon City, Philippines

Occupation: Law Student, Full-time Mom

Room size: 12 m² (129 ft²)

Cost of the setup: ~$1,5K (₱78,9K)

Social media: Instagram

Hello! Tell us a bit about yourself

I’m Isa or Bellie, as I’m known on my Instagram page bellie.welly.

I’m a full-time law student at Arellano University School of Law and a mother of a 3-year-old.

I also do a little content creation on the side with my studygram, which I started early into the pandemic as a form of accountability for my studying.

It was also around this time when study with me videos and silent vlogs were starting to become a hit.

A cute study desk setup featuring a mechanical keyboard
Isa went through a lot of iterations before she arrived at the current look of her workspace. It’s always a work-in-progress for her

I was obsessed with how their desks looked along with their tech, which got me into my current hobby: mechanical keyboards. I currently have four in rotation, and I love them!

Prior to the pandemic, I was uninterested in how my desk looked. As far as I was concerned, as long as I had a space to study or work ­— it was enough.

I used to study a lot at cafés or the library, rarely at home.

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Then COVID-19 happened.

I was forced to look at my untidy and unappealing desk every day, which pushed me to revamp it.

Take us through your setup

Item Model
Monitor Fujitsu Monitor VL-200SSWR (secondhand)
Monitor mount KENLEI White Single Gaming Monitor Bracket Mount
Laptop MacBook Pro 2015 and MacBook Pro 2020
Speakers Divoom Ditoo Plus
Headphones JBL 600BTNC
Keyboard Akko ACR64, Tester68, Rumi61, AWS84
Mouse Rapoo M300
Chair Unbranded Ergonomic Chair
Desk mat Vegan leather desk mat
Laptop stand Height Adjustable Aluminium Laptop Stand
Web camera Cat 1080p Web Camera
Monitor riser Locally sourced and custom made
Docking station Generic aluminium laptop and tablet holder
Pegboard IKEA Skådis

Two main things I was aiming for while creating my setup:

1) it should be comfy enough for me to stay for long hours;

2) it should not be too cosy that I won’t be able to do my work.

I tend to go overboard with the first one, so I had to add the second goal.

I had a lot of trial and error before I figured out what my preferences were and which items I needed.