What’s on your desk, Jennifer Pattison Tuohy?

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy is The Verge’s smart home reviewer, and she’s mind-bogglingly impressive in the number of devices she covers. As she says, “On any given day, I can be evaluating anything from robot vacuums, smart locks, and lights, to smart chicken coops, smart ovens, and connected coffee makers.”

Jennifer has been a journalist for her entire career, “starting at The Daily Telegraph in London, England, right out of university.” She’s been at The Verge since 2021; before that, she was a freelance journalist for publications including Dwell, Wirecutter, Wired, and US News.

Besides installing and testing a constant influx of smart tech, Jennifer lives with her husband, two children, a dog, two cats, a rabbit, and a backyard full of chickens. We checked out her office setup and asked her how she keeps track of it all. Here’s what she told us.

That looks like a comfortable, if somewhat crowded, space. Where in your home is it?

My office is upstairs in our two-story house in Charleston, South Carolina, in what used to be a guest room. For a while, I had my desk in our bedroom, which was not great, as my husband worked 24-hour shifts and sometimes liked to sleep during the day. So, we decided to convert this to my office / guest room (the couch is a sleeper sofa).

At the time, I offered my two children the option to have this as their room, and I would take over one of theirs — both of their rooms have much bigger windows, which I coveted. But this is a bigger room with a bathroom! Surprisingly, they both declined, so I got all the space to myself.

And I really need it — I am on a first-name basis with my UPS, FedEx, and DHL delivery drivers, who are at my house multiple times a week delivering or retrieving packages. I test a lot of gear.

Could you tell us a bit about your L-shaped desk?

The desk was custom-built by my very handy husband from upcycled scraps of African purpleheart and Brazilian bubinga wood he bought from a woodworker on Facebook Marketplace. It was originally designed to fit perfectly in the corner of our bedroom, but luckily, it also works really well in its new home.

While I knew that having a big desk would attract more clutter, I have to face the fact that I’m a clutter lover. Also, I primarily use the long part of the L-shape for photographing, tinkering, and setting up a lot of the devices I test. It’s like my workbench. The drawers below it are full of surprisingly organized little trays with a variety of batteries, screws, screwdrivers, double-sided tape, SIM tools, and other hardware I need while testing gadgets.

My husband also built a very useful “tech hub” into the desk: shelving under the desk on the right where I can tuck away things like my router (currently an Eero Pro 7) and the many smart home hubs, bridges, etc. I’m running. The wires all feed through strategically placed holes that funnel to a somewhat managed cable system under the desk — basically, a plastic crate that holds all my power strips.

It’s a leather La-Z-Boy. I picked it up at Staples while back-to-school shopping a couple of years ago. I used to have a very hard bright red office chair, which looked super cool but was not comfortable. This one is comfortable, if not particularly supportive; it’s very large and super plush — leaning back in it makes me feel like an executive or a supervillain.

Tell us about the various tech devices you’re using.

There’s a lot! My main computer is my work-issued MacBook Air with M1, connected to a Dell 4K monitor via a truly awful Anker USB-C hub, which I need to replace. The monitor is mounted on an Amazon Basics adjustable monitor mount.

That’s an Insta360 Link PTZ 4K webcam up top, which is great if a little frustrating, as its tracking feature can be very aggressive.

Then I have my personal computer, an ancient (2016) MacBook Pro on a Rain Design iLevel laptop stand, which is adjustable and super handy for moving around the house when I want a change of scenery. It’s connected to a 32-inch Samsung M80C Smart Monitor with a Magic Trackpad and a Seagate external hard drive.

I need two screens, and my Air can only handle one. It is annoying swapping between two computers, though, so generally, I only use the M80 when I need to keep an eye on multiple things at once, like during a big event. The monitor has streaming built in and is a smart home hub for Samsung SmartThings, so I also use it as a TV — it’s easy to see from the couch, and I’ll sometimes have tennis on in the background on mute while I’m working. I can’t listen to music while I write; it’s too distracting, but the tennis is soothing.

All the little screens you see are smart displays. There’s the Echo Hub, which gives me easy access to control connected devices in my office, such as lights, fans, and shades. Then an Echo Show 8, a Pixel Tablet, and a Google Nest Hub. They’re primarily for testing purposes, but they also make nice photo frames.

The keyboard is something I’m testing. I usually have a huge Logitech Ergo K860 keyboard, as I have had some wrist issues. This is my first time using a mechanical keyboard. It’s a Matter-enabled one by Third Reality, the Smart Mechanical Keyboard MK1. I can set the function keys to control my smart home; they act as individual buttons in Matter-supported ecosystems like Apple Home, so I can turn off all my lights with the stroke of a key.

The pink Logitech Lift mouse is my favorite mouse ever. I’ve spent a long time looking for a comfortable mouse that doesn’t aggravate my wrist, and it does the job. I love its scroll wheel, but I set up its buttons to do something useful when I first got it and have never used them since.

Then there’s the Belkin DockKit stand (more on that in a bit) and my Ember Mug — which is four years old and on its last legs; I really need to get a new one. But I love it. There’s also an Apple HomePod on the bookshelf next to the desk; I use it as a speaker for the Apple TV, which is hooked up to the smart monitor, and it’s also mainly for testing smart home gear.

You have a lot of tech that you’ve reviewed or are in the process of reviewing. How do you keep track of it all?

I have a system; it’s not perfect, but it largely works. I enter everything into a Notion spreadsheet when it arrives, then store it in various staging areas until I’m ready to test. A lot of this stuff has to be physically installed in my house, so it rarely gets set up the day it arrives.

On my workbench, I have the products I’m about to start testing. Currently, there are a couple of smart locks and a few doorbells that will be going in during my next install day. The dollhouse is my daughter’s and was built by my husband, but she doesn’t have room for it anymore. So, I’ve adopted it as a thematic staging area for tech that’s next in line for installation / reviewing. I’m about to start testing some new thermostats, so you can see a few in there. It also houses devices I might need to test with a new gadget or compare them to; that’s why the smart displays and smart speakers are there.

Then there’s a closet in the room (behind a curtain) where I store things that either need to be sent back or are further down the line in terms of testing, along with a bunch of older gear. I’m not good at getting rid of stuff — every time I do, I always end up in a situation where I’m like, “Oh no, I needed that Fibaro Z-Wave sensor to test with this new hub.” So, I just store lots of things in lots of boxes to avoid that eventuality. I really need to do a big clear-out of that closet, but I didn’t have time this week.

Of course, many things I’m currently testing are already installed in the house — which is also technically my office! I have three exterior doors, so I test multiple locks, video doorbells, and sensors on those, as well as smart lights, thermostats, kitchen gadgets, security cameras, smart displays, smart speakers, and lots and lots of robot vacuums everywhere else in the house. I have a dozen robot vacs downstairs right now, as well as the three currently in the office. When the robot revolution happens, I will be the first to go.

Is there a story behind that painting of the castle on the seashore?

Yes! A great story. It’s also not a painting; it’s a digital collage of hundreds of photos of my close-knit group of girlfriends from high school (from a company called MosaPics). They make up the main photo, which is of a tin mine in a small town called Rinsey in Cornwall, England. We’ve been going on holiday there as a group since we were 15. If those ancient walls could talk…

I see you use an ordinary paper notebook as well as your tech.

I’ve always been a big stationery fan; I used to hang out in Smythson and Paperchases as a teenager (my wild years). I went through a bullet journal phase for a few years, but it was hard to keep it up with this job.

Now, I have a nice Leuchtturm notebook for note-taking during meetings and interviews, and I use tear-off Ramona & Ruth monthly and weekly desk planners to keep track of what I should be doing each day and in the future. Physically writing stuff down helps me retain information much better than typing.

I had to notice the typewriter and that dial phone!

I am… not a minimalist! It’s a good thing I moved to the US in my mid-20s, which forced me to get rid of a lot of my belongings, or I would probably have all my childhood stuffies on that sofa.

The typewriter is an antique portable Royal Deluxe I picked up at a yard sale in Idaho years ago. It has a carrying case and is so cool. It was going to be the start of my typewriter collection. However, my husband (who is a minimalist) was not keen on that idea and has been trying to get me to get rid of it for a while, as we could never find a good spot for it. In the end, he just built me a shelf to put it on.

The phone is deceptive; it’s actually relatively modern, the buttons are push buttons, and it’s from Pottery Barn. It was a wedding gift. It was functional for a long time, but I no longer have a landline.

That’s a fascinating little clock / calendar.

It’s an iPhone in StandBy mode on Belkin’s Auto-Tracking Stand Pro with DockKit. It’s a super handy gadget. I keep it plugged in at my desk so my phone is charging and easy to see, but it also runs on a built-in battery, so I can take it downstairs if I’m recording a social video or on a FaceTime call. The DockKit function lets it follow me around by tracking my face and body movement.

You’ve got a nice, comfortable-looking couch. And a great-looking lighting arrangement above it.

Thank you! The couch is a sleeper sofa. It was intended to make this double as a guest room, but the first person who slept on it said it was the most uncomfortable bed they’d ever slept in, so we now have alternative arrangements for guests until we can get a better one.

But it’s great as a couch — handy for my family to sit on when they want to come in and bother me or occasionally for relaxing during some deep work. The kitten especially loves it.

The lighting setup is from Nanoleaf; it’s the new modular Blocks LED lights that I’m testing. When I’m done with them, I want to frame the Audubon prints that are sitting on my shelf next to the pink flamingo and the silver duck and hang those there. I’m a big bird fan.

There’s a chicken calendar!

Of course there is! That was a gift from my husband this Christmas; I don’t really use analog wall calendars (I just flipped it to March from January to take this picture), but I love to have a pretty picture of a pretty bird at my desk.

I have backyard chickens — a flock of lovely ladies, including Barred Rocks, Black Copper Marans, and Starlight Green Eggers. They’re my “touch grass” time every day. I take a break and go out to feed them or collect their eggs.

There’s so much else that looks interesting. Is there anything we didn’t cover that you’d like to add?

The salt lamp on the cute air purifier table (it’s from SwitchBot and doubles as a wireless charger) was a wedding present from my aunt before salt lamps became a thing you could buy at Target. It was handmade by my uncle and is a legit original Himalayan salt lamp, not a knockoff; it weighs a ton and creates good vibes in my office!

Before we end, you must introduce us to your pets.

The lazy boy there is Gus, a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon. The black and white kitten is our newest addition and bundle of energy, Boone. Not pictured but who occupies the top spot in the trio of beds in front of the closet is my cat, Smokey, who has already done his fair share of modeling for The Verge, so he declined this opportunity.

Photos by Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge