The best laptop storage ideas will make sure your precious computer has a secure place to reside when you’re not using it. As while it’s easy to move your laptop around your home, it can be a bit of a lottery as to where it may end up at the end of a busy working day. While it can be easy to stash your laptop behind the sofa cushions or balance it on paperwork piles on your desk, if it doesn’t have its own place it can be vulnerable to irreversible damage – be it from bumps, scratches, falls and dreaded water spillages.
But giving your laptop it’s own bed for the night when you’re not tap, tap, tapping away on it can be a game changer. A slim drawer in the living room, a large, stylish box on top of a shelf or a purpose-designed laptop storage bag can all be excellent options to consider.
No matter where you stand on the Mac vs PC debate, here we run through a few of our favorite laptop storage ideas with tips on how to organise your home office. It’ll help to make the transition from working from home to relaxing at home that much easier.
(Image credit: Sharps Home office )
Laptop storage ideas: 8 ways to store your computer
1. On a shelf above your desk
(Image credit: Pooky furniture and accessories )
We’ll start with the most obvious place to store your laptop at the end of the day – on a shelf above your desk in whatever counts as your home office. With the phrase ‘tidy desk, tidy mind’ in mind, we suggest clearing the decks at the end of the day by placing your laptop on a shelf up high.
This provides the perfect solution as it protects it from water spills or pet cats looking for desk to sit on, but ensures your laptop is within easy reach for next time you log on. We love this desk setting from Pooky(above), which has plenty of shelving styled with colorful artwork, beautiful tomes and attractive lighting.
2. Use an Apple laptop caddy
(Image credit: Kensington StudioCaddy)
If you’re an Apple user, you’ll be pleased to hear you can buy a Kensington StudioCaddy that stores your MacBook with ease. It can also charge your iOS devices at the same time.
The StudioCaddy is designed to support your complete Apple ecosystem, and can cradle your MacBook or iPad vertically. This not only provides a great space for storing it at the end of the day, but it doubles up as stand for your iPad.
The Qi wireless charging dock that sits alongside this is ideal for powering up your iPhone and AirPods too, and it comes with additional USB charging for iPad, iPad Pro and even your fitness tracker Apple Watch will fit in.
Another option is the vertical storage stand from Bookarc. This not only works well as a laptop stand, but is ideal if you’re using your laptop alongside a large desktop monitor.
3. Choose multi-functional furniture
(Image credit: Furl Horizon coffee table)
When it comes to finding a comfortable place around the house to work, sometimes only the sofa will do. That’s why a coffee table that doubles up as a handy storage cabinet can be an excellent choice. And when space is tight, multi-functional furniture always makes for a great idea.
We like the look of the Horizon by Furl that lifts easily to reveal a storage compartment that can hide away your belon
gings. It can store small items such as a laptop, remote controls, place holders and magazines and comes in a range of real wood finishes including ancient oak (pictured), bog oak and walnut in three sizes. It’s also supported on clear glass feet, which enhances the illusion of space underneath.
4. Go for a bespoke desk with plenty of storage
(Image credit: Neatsmith bespoke desk )
If you’re planning a home office from scratch, this presents the ideal opportunity to create a space with lots of useful storage. Be it cubby holes, drawers, shelves or simple surfaces, a tailor-made design can be ideal for laptop storage.
‘Bespoke designs make the most of the space in your home,’ says Philipp Nagel, Director of Neatsmith. ’A bespoke desk can be made to fit in a full-length wall or work around more awkward architectural features such as sloped ceilings, chimney breasts and alcoves.
‘When designing laptop storage consider the shelving gaps are the perfect fit and decide to display the contents of the unit or keep them hidden behind doors. Also think about how you will hide away your laptop and computer cables.’
5. Keep things hidden behind closed doors
(Image credit: Sharps Manhattan bedroom)
Another way to add harmony to your home life – particularly if you’re working from home – is to create a hidden desk area. A desk space with closing doors built into a wardrobe area not only provides an excellent place to work, but means you can keep your computer and paperwork hidden when it’s time to call it a day.
This Manhattan bedroom design from Sharps illustrates the ideal way to maximise space and store your laptop and other important tech valuables hidden behind closed doors.
6. Hide your laptop in a stylish storage box
(Image credit: Pooky Drax Desk Lamp in black, £137)
Sometimes something as simple as a stylish cardboard storage box can do well to keep your laptop safe when not in use. We love the set up here by Pooky, which includes an open shelf complete with plants, boxes for paperwork and other tech equipment.
7. Keep your desk drawers in order
(Image credit: David Phillips desk area design )
Desk drawers needn’t be spilling over with all your belongings. Keep things neat and easy to access by dedicating a desk drawer to your laptop, mouse and keyboard. Compact desks such as this one pictured above designed by David Philips is just the ticket.
‘This desk is ideal for small-space living as it fits elegantly into the corner, with a perfectly sized drawer to store away a laptop and charger,’ says Mark McDonnell, Design Director of David Phillips. ‘When designing a home office, it’s important for the space to be practical but clutter-free. Allow your desk to have built-in storage that is the right size for your essentials as there’s no need for excessive storage if you don’t need it.’
8. Opt for a box desk
(Image credit: Box desk by DBI Furniture Solutions )
If footfall is tight at home, a wall-mounted box desk (as pictured above from DBI Furniture Solutions) provides an excellent alternative to a standard desk. It also provides a useful storage area to hide away your laptop when you come to log off for the day.
‘Intelligently designed to pop right back up, an open-and-close, wall-mounted desk will give you plenty of space once the working day is done – acting as a stylish shelf-desk combo,’ says Nick Pollitt of office furniture suppliers DBI Furniture Solutions.
‘Even during your productive hours, you can still benefit from a good amount of space from the compact design. A box desk works best for laptops and light accessories, where you can use nearby storage solutions for extra documents, folders and heavier home-office items.’
Which laptop storage bag should I buy?
(Image credit: Red Paddle 30L Waterproof Backpack )
Investing in a decent laptop bag with specially designed compartments will protect your computer both at home and on the go. ‘Make sure the bag has strong and sturdy straps, and think about how long you will be carrying it for,’ says Nick Pollitt of office furniture suppliers DBI Furniture Solutions. ‘Are you walking half an hour in the morning and evening with it? If using it for long periods of time, it’s even more crucial that the bag is made from strong fabrics – especially in the straps.
‘While the laptop bag should come with protective storage compartments, it’s also a good idea to still put your laptop in a case for extra protection. You should also carefully bundle up your laptop’s charger and place it in the separate compartment to avoid the plug scratching the laptop’s casing.’
Looking to buy a new laptop storage bag? Livingetc loves:
1. The stylish 30L Red Paddle Waterproof Backpack is tough yet lightweight to carry. It’s packed with useful features including a removable protective laptop insert, a hidden valuables pocket, a large external water resistant pocket and multiple attachment points. An eco-friendly option, it’s made from 100% recycled materials.
2. The Kensington Contour 2.0 Business Notebook carrying backpack can hold up to a 15.6″ computer in its special interior compartment. It also has an RFID security pocket to prevent cards, passports and any item with an RFID chip being scanned.
3. For use inside a laptop bag, Apple users can try the Twelve South Suitcase for MacBook. It has a molded hard shell for complete protection and crush resistance.
How do I organise my home office?
(Image credit: Home office shows Benjamin Moore Metropolitan AF-690 Regal Select paint on the cabinets )
Professional home-organiser Vicky Silverthorn from You Need a Vicky shares her top tips on how to add order to your home office:
1. Simplify your paperwork
‘The more steps it takes to file papers the less likely you are to do it immediately. When people think about paperwork organisation, they often think of complicated colour-coded sub-categorised detail, but this is often too intricate to keep up and results in piles of paperwork.
The best solution is to choose a system like the Bisley 10 drawer multi-drawer for your filing. Simple categories, open a drawer to put something away and that’s it – done!’
2. Clear the decks
‘Many people believe and feel that clear spaces result in clearer thinking, and I am certainly someone who agrees with this. If like me, a clear desk gives you higher levels of productivity and better thinking capacity when you are decluttering have that thought in your head. The items that you deemed essential to have around may suddenly be less important than you think.’
3. Streamline your bookshelf
‘Books are fantastic but often shelves are spilling over and cause visual and physical crowding. Instead of thinking of them as as a group, think of them as individual titles and only keep the ones that are really important to you. A nice way of letting go is by thinking that you can pass on the knowledge or stories they contain to someone else.’