Blog office blunder - with sound desk building tips. :)

Between Christmas and New Years, I had abit of kiddo downtime with my son going to his other parent's place for a few days. Being hit with a creative explosion, I shared on Facebook my big pie in the sky plans to morph 6 rooms. SIX.

This wasn't my intent. :) It just started with one room and snowballed from there because I'm borrowing from some rooms to make others work.

I've been showing some progress with my son's room on Facebook lately. Over the weekend we ripped down a wall!

However, the FIRST room I worked on that I didn't blog about yet was the blog office.

Revamping the office with a farm table and armoire

I had a swell plan. I was going to dismantle the shelving unit and palette table and bring it downstairs with me. Then bring in a farm table and armoire I have to replace what was here.

So, big brave me took down Christmas AND slid the wall unit into the hallway and dismantled the palette desk. Here we go! Big great changes ahead!

Next came the farm table which was abit too tall, so I cut the legs shorter.

Desk measurements matter

- arms parallel to floor when typing

- eyes level with top of your monitor

I desired the table to max out at 27.25"from the floor. The net says a desk ought to be 29" but I say it depends on your chair, your keyboard, your monitor size and your own body for that matter. I personally like to type down onto the keyboard rather than have my arms float too high up.

If you aren't sure what's right for you, prop a bunch of stuff up like I did in this picture last summer to figure out what feels right before making permanent modifications to furniture.

Consider lowering a big monitor

And if you think you can't have your monitor low enough because it's of the monster variety, I beg to differ. There is always a way if you're crafty enough.  How I sunk my own monitor seamlessly into my own palette desk top is HERE.

 Cutting down table legs to fit

My weapon of choice was the sawzall. The blades are pretty long, making free hand style deep cuts relatively easy.

 Protect equipment and floors prior to working

I proceed to cut the legs. I'm sorry the sawdust all over some of the equipment makes you itchy. When all else fails, laugh, proceed and don't do it again.  (translation... crap!!)

Protect your nice floors too. This looks sloppy but I was pretty careful with the tools on the floor. It was just... quicker. :)

 When building, use SCREWS

But simply cutting the legs wasn't so quick like. The craftsman that made the table used nails for some strange little extensions... which made my saw stop pretty quick. I didn't know the nails were there until I hit one. I thought my blade was just dull...

Anywhoo, the nail stopped my blade in just the right place, then I pounded on the cut area with a hammer until I could chunk off some wood to get a crowbar in there to yank off the rest.

I got REALLY good at this on the 4th. But not a moment before.

And guess what! The table was still too tall, so I did it all over again. But with no nails, it was a breeze in comparison.

 Then I staged my armoire with storage in mind. Cute!

And then I pushed the table in place, piled it with my stuff and stood back.


And hated it. Then went to bed.

Don't get me wrong. It was cute. But it was too small for two computers and I created a dark wooden cave that required flicking on lights. And with the doors closed? No. I can't face closed in areas or walls. It feels like my nose is being pushed in... so, no.

Sleep on it when undecided

I really did go to bed but it wasn't to give up. I like to sleep on big decisions if somewhat unsure. And moving my palette desk and wall unit was a big change, so I wanted to be sure.

So.. did I hate it the next day too? Yup. But I was going to do it anyway and eventually make it work because I needed that other stuff downstairs!

Until I received an email from a blog reader moments later. She was in LOVE with the blog office and wanted to know how to build the wall unit. Urp...

If that wasn't the writing on the wall, I don't know what was. I giggled with relief and pushed the palette table and wall unit back into place again and hugged the works! And made it better and stronger. More screws, just lots of touch ups I didn't do the first time.

And then I lightened up the accessories, with storage in mind.

 

Welcome home, palette table and funky wall unit! I missed you so! Honestly. I felt sick for the two days it was gone. :)  But at least it didn't cost me anything to try something new.

What's next? Let's just take each day as it comes. :)

Giving friends make my place look cool! Thanks!

Groovy rusty license plates and vintage clothespins from Anything Goes Here Etsy

Funky  cultivator blade from Iris at Treasuring the Journey

Coke crate -  Dan 

antique propeller and old window picture frame -  Vic

Ever made a decorating decision you went back on again?

Original posts:

building the palette table - 6 part series

wall unit build

wall unit staging

I'll be sharing this post on SNS' next themed linkup, creative storage ideas. 

Hope to see yours there this upcoming weekend!