When I bought my first home office desk several years ago, it fell apart after I moved it three times. I definitely got what I paid for…almost nothing. I replaced it with a desk that cost a bit more, but it was reliable and functional.

As the number of home offices has continued to grow, so has the quality of home office furniture. Finally, there are plenty of home office furniture options available and the days of dealing with cheap, flimsy home office furniture are over.

Whether you’re setting up a home office for the first time, or you’ve decided it’s time to replace your existing furniture, you don’t have to spend a fortune. In fact, you may not have to spend any money at all.

Consider these four options for home office furniture:

If clients visit your home office often, it makes sense to spend more on furniture. High-end or premium furniture looks expensive because, well, it is. Premium furniture comes in a variety of woods including oak, maple, pine and mahogany. Instead of gluing fronts directly on the drawer, high-end manufacturers usedovetail drawer construction. Other features include a latching keyboard pullout — you can use it instead as a drawer — and high-quality ball bearings.

A good place to find high-end furniture is through commercial furniture dealers. Some premium furniture manufacturers include Sligh, Paoli and Hooker Furniture, and you’ll find other options at Design Within Reach and Desk by Design.

Mid-range furniture offers some of the same benefits of high-end pieces, but is more affordable. The drawers either have dovetail construction, or fronts nailed (rather than glued) to the drawer. They also have nice finishes and even come in a variety of colors. Mid-range furniture uses a combination of wood and MDF(medium density fiberboard).

A few retailers that carry mid-range furniture include Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel,Restoration Hardware, Ballard Designs and Computer Furniture Direct. One of my favorite manufacturers is Aspen Home.

Economy furniture, mostly RTA (ready-to-assemble), is designed to function at a low price and often is made from less expensive particleboard, or from MDF that’s rated lower than what’s used on mid-range furniture. On the surface of RTA furniture is laminate, melamine or some other type of veneer that changes the look of the furniture and gives the surface added protection. Sometimes plastic is used on metal glide systems to save money.

RTA lines are available at various office supply superstores and discount stores including Office Depot, Staples, Office Max, Target, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club andCostco. Ikea is another good resource.

The last category includes home office furniture you’ve inherited from family members, picked up at antique shows, or even found online. This is the type of furniture whose value you can’t judge by how much you paid for it (if you even had to pay for it). A well-made traditional desk your grandma left you in her will, may have sentimental value which makes it even more priceless.

You may want to bite the bullet and buy high-end furniture to impress your clients, or stick to a mid-range budget and create a home office that’s functional and well-designed, just not outrageously expensive. Whatever direction you go, make sure your home office fits your budget and your style.

One last point: make sure your furniture fits through your home office door or up the stairs. If not, it doesn’t matter how nice it is.

(BTW, I don’t get paid to recommend any of the resources in this post. The truth is, I’m a furniture addict and I spend more time researching home office furniture than I care to admit.)

How have you furnished your home office? Share your comments below.