I keep a laptop plugged into my server rack. From my desktop a room away, I dedicate one of my three monitors to that laptop's display. The Linux environment stays up and reachable without walking to the rack, and it's become a real part of my daily workflow.
Three tools make this work: Deskflow for keyboard and mouse, Sunshine to stream the display from the laptop, and Moonlight to receive it on the desktop. Deskflow handles input; Sunshine and Moonlight handle video. Keep those roles separate and it works well.