Desk Build

I have been working on a project to build out my desk. During covid lockdown times, my husband started working from home and took over my desk with a Veradesk stand-up attachment and a double arm rig for a notebook and big screen. I must stop and say the Veradesk was one of my top five street treasure finds, for which I need to thank my little one for having such a wide territory to cover on her daily walk. To avoid getting sucked down the Tiger King tv hole during lockdown, my husband got a work-from-home job, and we set him up to work from my desk.

I didn't need a desk then, so I placed my MacBook on a homemade stand on our kitchen counter as required. To make the counter work as a desk, I bought a tall drafting chair for sale on Craig's list. Last year we decided to put my desk back together from under the bed, and I have kept track of my projects and stuff with little more than the basics. But I follow a clever guy on youtube who designs desk setups for people who work from home. So I got the bug to do something similar to my desk.

The Ikea Capita Legs I had saved from a previous project were the basis of this new build.

I already had some elements. First, I bought a monitor with dual monitor capability. In hind site, I should have purchased a monitor with built-in USB plugs, which would have made adding cameras, backup drives, and other add-ons easier. I currently don't use these elements, but I can see the value of pre-positioning the capability for future use. Next, I picked up a more professional keyboard because of my MacBook's stupid butterfly keyboard defect. Some production issue in this model means the notebook keyboard making the cursor jump all over the screen while typing. Lastly, I upgraded the MacBook with a clever adaptor to a 1 TB internal hard drive. See my previous blog post on the topic.

The desk itself is from a yard sale. We initially saw the desk at Crate and Barrel. It's a Steel table on wheels. We often find what we want in the stores and then look for it used on Craig's List. We found two of these 4' x 2' tables from a family whose kids had grown out of homeschooling.

First Mod:

I build a keyboard tray that hangs from 1" x 1" wood stringers that nest nicely between the underside of the desk and the bottom lip of the desk's top side. The tray itself is a Fellows generic off-the-shelf tray with a slider on the side for your mouse. I built a second tray set up on the other desk, but the tray is way more relaxed. It's off a commercial office cubical and has all kinds of adjustments. That was free off someone's porch, free from Craig's list.

Second Mod:

This modification is inspired by my nerd crush Daniel Titchener. See a link to the build on youtube. He has a popular Youtube channel that discusses in interior design and living in small spaces. I looked for the monitor stand he used for a client's desk and decided I could create a reasonable facsimile for my modest budget. I had four 21 cm legs from Ikea from a previous shoe stand project in our last apartment. I kept the legs for just this kind of application. I splurged on a dark wood three-foot Rubbermaid shelf from the hardware store for the top of the stand. Then I screwed the Ikea legs to the bottom of the Rubbermaid shelf, which puts my monitor at a much better height.

The Rubbermaid self is pressed particle board and did not take kindly to the drill bit. Luckily this is the underside of the self.

Then I spent a few weeks thinking about making shelves hanging from the Rubbermaid top shelf of the stand. I devised a plan to use six-inch threaded screws for the hanging shelves. I wanted something thin, like sheet metal for the lower shelves, which Daniels build had going for it. Nothing has shown up on the curb while walking the dog lately. However, I found a free wood shelf board on the curb while walking the dog a month back. Cut in half. It gives me the length of the shelves I am after. Wide enough for my 17" PC notebook to perch on, to be both out of the way and easy to get at for projects.

With a torpedo level as my guide, I mounted two shelves with wingnuts to six-inch threaded screws.

I cleverly clamped the two hanging shelves to the top shelf and drilled four holes all the way thru the shelves. I could have spaced them a little closer to the edges, but I can come back and try that later if I need to make more width on the self.

I clamped all three selves together to get all the holes lined up. I may redrill these holes 1/4 inch / or 1 cm closer to the edge for a wider shelf. and maybe add a third-hanging self.

Add-Ons

Two add-on items are a light bar and a large desk mat. I tried to copy the light that Daniel used in his youtube video. That light had Bluetooth control on the desk like a little mouse. The light I purchased was about half as much. It hangs over the top of my monitor. My desk did not have a light, and this light bar was just the ticket. It is dimmable with a touch and does not need any desk real estate for a base or control bobble to occupy. See what I used in this link to FunLicht on Amazon. Of all the things I have added, this light is the one I found to be the biggest improvement. I think it is the lack of glare from a regular lamp I like the best. It puts light on my keyboard and task space but does not splash my eyes with glare. The second add-on is a large desk mat. My desk is front and center in our living room, and I want it to look nice. The orange and brown striped desk mat gives my desk an Italian Job movie art vibe that I like. Plus, the orange accent is so my color. Thanks to walking the dog, I also found a glass table topper on the curb. I have spread the desk mat over the top of that. I will see how it holds up and maybe try putting the mat under the glass, like the tablecloths at a Chinese restaurant, to protect it from dust, ink, and spills.

The nuts and bolts of my desk shelf mod are wing nuts. They are easily adjustable should I want to change the spacing between shelves or ad an additional shelf.

Future Mods:

Eventually, I want to add a video monitor switcher so I can use the monitor for both the mac and pc with a simple switch. In addition, a switch to incorporate the computers with the smart tv monitor mounted on the wall above my desk. Switching two computers between two monitors will take more research. Given enough time, it might be something I can accomplish wirelessly. Maybe even a picture-in-picture function on the big tv monitor.

Also, for a remote-controlled monitor lifter. I want to be able to have the monitor raised and lowered out of site. Currently, I have to slide the shelf forward and put the monitor down on the desktop for the remotes to work on the tv and sound bar mounted on the wall behind my desk. It should also play a clever toon while the monitor goes up and down. I'll work on that next time I have some sassy cash.