the smith machine also works so you don't need to hold dumbbells in your lap. you can even throw on the barbell pad so your legs don't get thrashed, only if necessary.

I didn't either but my friends and I nagged the owners and they got one a month of so ago :D every time I went in and saw him I'd just say "look at these pencils!!! They could be so much better with a calve machine!!!"

Put a 5lb or 10lb plate under each foot when you do this with dumbells to help give you a makeshift platform to press with the balls of your feet. You can also try moving the plates forward, backward, inward or outward to hit them differently while seated.

You can get the same action by keeping your toes on a step and flexing up and down. Since you can't increase your body weight by much at home, you can just bang out more reps.

doing it on the seated shoulder press bench works well too as long as its one where you can prop your feet up. or you can superset calfraises with bench press and use the foot rests.