Desks
From Fozzee.net
Contents |
Overview
Let me start by saying that I've spent a lot of time over the years sitting at my desk, both at home and at work. To me, a desk is more than just a surface to support your crap, it's a support system for your life. It keeps your paperwork organized, keeps your keys from wandering away while you sleep, and is generally a sturdy surface for all sorts of projects.
My Desks
The Early Years
The first desk that I can remember came (I believe) from my grandparents house. It was sort of a... vanity style desk, with stacks of drawers on either side of a central drawer, for storing pencils, etc. When the desk came to us, it was black and white (multiple coats of paint). We stripped it (using nasty early 90's paint stripper) and repainted it navy blue (using Red Devil brand paint, I think). In later years, I'd punched a hole in the back of the central drawer, to accommodate the cables for the Timex Sinclair stored within.
So far as I know, this desk is still in use by my mom, in her craft room. It's been repainted at least once since.
Middle School
Somewhere along the way, I needed space to set a computer on my desk (I'd brought my 486 home from Dad's), so I needed an upgrade. Grandpa found a surplus steel desk at some sort of office equipment auction. It was enormous and heavy. Great for supporting tons of equipment. It had lots of drawers, and was about 3x5 feet.
As I acquired more equipment, this desk got an "upgrade". Aaron and I built a plywood shelving unit that sat on top of the desk, and provided a number of switched outlets (one of which was painted glow-in-the-dark), as well as 3 vertical shelves for stacking equipment. It was here that I first learned the issues of setting monitors too high.
High School
I soon realized the impracticality of spreading equipment "up", and wanted to clean up my cable mess (which Mom was constantly on my case about). I bought one of those particle-board, L-shaped desks from the local office store. I think Mom and Doug were at a bit of a loss for what to do with the steel behemoth, but I didn't mind. It actually worked pretty well. There was space for my towers on the floor, and equipment on the various recesses. This marks the first time I'd ever had a real keyboard drawer.
This desk followed me, when I moved to my dad's basement. There, it got a few improvements; Namely, finger-style wiring duct, and the relocation of the old, raised monitor platform as an extension of the desk's surface.
It should be noted that during the entirety of this desk's life, so far, I'd always had a second table in my room, to serve as a "work bench", since this desk wasn't that sturdy.
On My Own
When I got my own place downtown, my living room was promptly converted into Desk Central. My desk's surface area was a significant portion of my total floor space. I expanded by adding L-brackets to the back and sides of the original L, and used pre-cut melamine shelving to serve as new surfaces. At this point, the desk was sort of a "fat C" shape, with my side having the legs of the C, and the "guest side" being the back of the C.
The back was wide enough that I'd added a foot-wide raised shelf to accommodate my lone houseplant and flatbed scanner. In the end, it was quite the Frankendesk, but highly functional.
This desk met it's demise when I moved back to Dad's, as I felt that it was too chopped up, and was trying to minimize my possessions, pending a move that never happened.
Moving Up
When I moved in with Fru, I needed a new desk, because Frankendesk had been trashed. I opted for a glass L-shaped desk, with equilateral sides, each 2x4 feet. Our office was arranged in a T configuration, with our L-shaped desks back-to-back. A 3rd desk was stashed in the closet, and became Andy's second home.
When I moved out on my own, I needed more space, but with a 1 bedroom apartment, my desk was back to the living room. I opted for a second, identical unit. I configured it as a "Long L", with 2 segments strung together on one leg, and a single segment on the 3rd. The 4th segment had wheels added, and was put in the bedroom, to be rolled out as needed. This 4th desk is still in service, as Becky's desk. This configuration persisted pretty much as-was when I moved to Omaha, and on, into our house.
The Future
For some time, now, I've been thinking about building a new desk for myself. Previously, I was most concerned about having seating for a number of people who'd come over to hang out, game, etc. More recently, my needs have changed. Now, I'm more in need of more space, convenience and features for a single person, with an occasional seat for a "co-pilot", or guest gamer. To that end, I'd designed the FrankenDesk Mk.III, which was designed as a corner unit, similar to the Biomorph Pro. The idea was to have lots of space available from the central chair position, with space for guests on the "wing" areas. This desk was specifically designed to be the largest surface that could be cut from a standard sheet of plywood, measuring a whopping 8' corner to corner.
Now that it's actually time to build this monster, I come to find out that I no longer have space in the office for it. I went back to the drawing board and designed the MkIV, which was more L-shaped again, but with a twist. It remains to be seen if this beast actually gets built.
Monitor Stand
While this monitor stand comes before the MkIV desk chronelogically, by design, it's a decendant of the MkIII Corner Desk. The main change was the 3(4) cheap LCD mounting brackets, ordered from MonoPrice. I'll write more later, for now, this is just someplace to toss the picture. At present, it's designed to sit on top of one segment of of the Glass L desk, but it could be easily adapted to the MkIII or MkIV style desks.
Friend's Desks
Aaron
My friend Aaron built a pair of these desks for him and his roommate. They're basic L-shape, with a total length and width of 8'. Aaron was looking for a large, robust desk for video editing equipment, CRT monitors, and support for guests at frequent LAN parties. He was especially pleased with his surface construction, which was biscuit-joined, and finished as a single piece. We had a heck of a time moving these desks up onto the apartment's loft.
Deerhead Wonder-Bar
While a bar really isn't a desk, it seems to fit here best.
When Micah, Carey and Nick H moved into the house soon to be known as Deerhead, none of them had a lot of furniture. Sure there was a hand-me-down sofa, and Carey's precious china cabinet, but they lacked a kitchen table or anywhere else, really to prepare and serve food and drink. It was shortly decided that a bar was in order. Nick, the architect of the group, set out to design a masterpiece on a shoestring budget. The body of the bar would be 1/2" fiberboard, framed with 2x4s, and topped with a piece of remnant laminate counter top from the hardware store. At the back of the bar, a raised, mirrored bar surface would serve food and provide a surface to eat at.
It was originally intended that there would be bar stools in front of the bar but bar stools cost money and, as noted, this was done on a shoestring budget.
We learned a few things whilst working on this project, not least of which is that Carey does not like people using "his" mirror pieces without permission. After we had the mirrors bonded to the (detachable) bar top, we realized that we should have used a finer layer of glue, as there were stress-lines on the back of the glass. Both panels cracked pretty bad on short order.
Other features of the bar included an under-counter fridge (which once froze and exploded Diet Dr. Peppers), latching/locking doors, and space to conceal power cords for under-surface lighting.
