The most important thing is to get the width and depth right and to figure out where everything goes. Don't be afraid to add multiple levels either going up or down to add what you need. Don't limit your thinking to the desk, think also about storage of desk stuff, what accumulates on the desk, what you need to see, what not, etc.
Although "designers" (if they don't think a lot about functionality I prefer to call them stylists) love them I'd avoid minimalist desk ideas, unless that is how you use desks (most people I have ever known have a ton of shit lying on their desks). Don't design for a shiny product picture, design for your own daily use.
The best thing I ever did for my desk had nothing to do with my desk: I added a ton of small-stuff storage in the form of office cabinets for my electronics needs and label them properly. This makes it easy to clean up accumulated stuff and find it later. This improved the way I could use the desk more than any desk design could have done, ever.
That means if you want a good desk design you have to analyze your own usage patterns before and try to draw the right conclusions.
Although "designers" (if they don't think a lot about functionality I prefer to call them stylists)
If you get a butcher block countertop from a big box home improvement store, make sure to finish[1] it right away, since they are moisture sensitive and the plastic wrap job is usually somewhat damaged by the time you get it, due to the vagaries of transport.
[1]: (finish == woodworking term meaning to apply a protective coating)
If you aren’t looking for something do heavy duty, plain mineral oil from the laxative aisle at Walmart is $2 a bottle. If you want to make that more heavy duty, mix it 50/50 with beeswax and heat until wax dissolves. Then let cool and you’ll have what looks like candle paraffin. Work that into the wood and you’ll have it sealed. You will need to reapply it every so often (probably once a year but depends on use). Not a permanent seal but no harsh chemicals used and you get to keep caring for your special piece of furniture which some people find satisfying.
If you're okay with periodically re-applying, and don't need the durability of poly, something like tung oil is a great choice - wipes on super easy and looks fabulous. Sibling comment has great recommendations in this domain.
On gumminess - it sounds like it didn't cure correctly? Could be environmental factors, (temp/humidity) could be uneven application, etc. I also find I have to leave polyurethane alone for a looooong time for it to cure properly - I try not to touch the final coat for a week or more. I try to do very thin coats, sanding between each coat, for 2-3 coats, then for the final coat I use a spray polyurethane which seems to lie flat a bit better.
https://blog.luap.info/drafts/i-built-a-lay-down-desk.html?h...
And discussed on HN here:
ps: i lead the hardware + software labs at autonomous (autonomous.ai), a smart office company. super excited to see what you’ll build!
My idea was to have the smallest actual desk surface possible for my needs, maximizing the number of screens/pixels in my field of view. I got the heaviest duty electric standing desk frame and built on top of that. The desk surface is about 16” deep, which allows me to have smaller monitors that extend below the surface of the desk (but still within view) mounted beneath my bigger monitors. I also set up rails (2x6) at two different heights to accommodate monitors at eye level and below, and at above eye level, so basically three rows of monitors. All of my monitors are on arms, which in retrospect was maybe not the right choice, since I don’t actually need them to move, and the arms make them wobble a bit when I bump the desk.
I have my work and personal laptops each on a monitor arm (with a laptop tray). Laptops on arms are actually the best thing ever, since I can use them sitting or standing without adjusting the desk height, and I can have a laptop positioned over my mousepad. Got one of those aluminum mstand things collecting dust.
If I had to start again, I would get a second standing desk frame just for my desk surface and laptop arms. I would cut out all the monitor arms and build a sort of parabolic-shaped frame on top of the heavy duty standing desk frame to hold my monitors infixed positions relative to each other. With two standing desk frames I could easily adjust my desk height vs monitor height.
I also have a drivers seat from a PT Cruiser mounted to a gas cylinder chair base. This is mostly great, but I think it would be better without wheels, or at least with stiffer wheels. If you go this route be on the lookout for car seats with built-in heat; not sure why all desk chairs don’t have this feature.
I guess I have a lot of thoughts on this lol.
If you are anything like me the slab will eventually be covered in parts and pieces, rolls of solder, breadboard with cables going hither and thither and more but at least the stuff is not directly on the desk, ey?
[1] this is assuming the cat is as bad a hacker as ours is, if yours is actually better by all means allow it to participate.
_ __________________ __________________
| | | || |
| | | || |
| | | || |
| | | || |
| | |__________________||__________________|
T | | | |
XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
HHHHHHH H [laptop] [keyboard] [drive] H
================= ====================================
| |o |[___o___][______o_______][___o___]|
| | || ||--------------|| ||
| | || || || ||
| | || || || ||
| |o || o|| ||o ||
| | || || || ||
| | || || || ||
| ____________ | ||_______|| ||_______||
|_| |_| || || || ||
XXXXXXX = heavy wooden slab
HHHHHHH = feet for slab, made out of same or similar wood
======= = desk surface
o = knob on drawer or door
The wooden slab is not attached to the desk, it stays in place due to its own weight - one of the reason for choosing a heavier type of wood. I'm using a slab of oak I cut from a dead tree I felled some years ago. I did not cut the edges straight so the front edge is uneven, this is where the bark used to be. The top of the slab leans over a bit since it did not come from the middle of the trunk, this gives more top surface while looking interesting as well.
It did when I made it and still would if only I were to remove all the stuff which has collected on it. Still, it is handy to be able to have a few ongoing projects - currently a few SBCs which I'm configuring for duty, three mobiles with broken screens which I'm repurposing, one trailer camera based on another screen-less mobile, some random breadboards with half-forgotten circuits on them, a roll of nickel band waiting to be used to make battery packs, several 18650 batteries I salvaged from old medical power packs for the same purpose, an experimental wifi-interface for a heat pump I'm working on ... and that is only part of what fits in front of and under those monitors...
- I do not need a desk to use my desktop, so I'm looking to build a kind of "wardrobe" on wheel (see after why) that will contain two desktops easily accessible on the back, my new main monitor (34.1"/21:9) and a secondary vertical mounted one (27" 16:9), inside the rest of such "small wardrobe on wheel" structure I've put a classic UPS, few extras (like my not-so-much-used-anymore laptop on the back, cables and so on), a compact laser printer etc all connection TO the wardrobe: just a power cord and a cat6A cable. FROM the wardrobe a usb cable;
- separated from it my standing desk, reduced in size, to have a place for keyboard, trackball (both wired, I do not want wireless ones), a "conference bottle" (poors man Meeting Owl, meaning a "bottle with mic, speaker and cam") and few extras;
- under this system a simple magnetic treadmill (so I can walk and stop without having to touch anything, even if I need a small angle to use such system) and a tipper chair that when I want it, it goes over the treadmill, when not in use remain behind.
My target is having a standing desk (done, but not as I wish) where I can:
- "walk" starting and stopping when I want, no buttons needed, no fixed or not so quick to regulate speed;
- being sit when I want, with the minimum effort, so I can switch in few seconds without moving much stuff around;
- a complete hand-free setup (done, but not done for cam) while I'm still far from the monitor.
Perhaps I've build a good enough prototype in few months :-)
In the latter case there's a few things I'd do, but in general simpler is better. I like clean desk surfaces, so starting with a nice piece of wood is great but entirely optional (and wouldn't do on first version). Most important thing to me would be to start with an adjustable height desk. Preferably a standing desk[0] but at minimum adjusting while I sit because I like to move around. The next thing is about ensuring a clean desk. The far side of the desk should have the apron inset so you can get vesa mounts on easily.
Now for extra bonuses. Back end of the table has slats so wires can be passed through. Only to be thick enough for the cable because the end is open (I hate wrangling port shapes through awkwardly sized holes, just go around). Front apron and back surface would be nice to have small usb pass-through. Back for things like mouse and keyboard so they don't have to reach wherever the desktop is. Then just simple LED underlighting because I like to work at night and don't want to always have the full lights on so I can fall asleep sooner. Thing that I probably wouldn't actually do but could always be added later: insets for wireless things like locations to put your phone to wirelessly charge without needing to dock.
But if I were actually to do this, I'd probably just get a butcher block like Blamazon and pre-built adjustable height legs.
Yeah... wasted youth.
If y'all have suggestions, please let me know! Following this thread closely
[1] - https://i.pinimg.com/736x/2e/7f/ec/2e7fecdc12ec89d510e11033e... Kinda like this, but the top is totally separate from the cabinets, and is slightly wider
* Integrated cable management: I attached the power strip and the LAN switch under the desk. I’ve got cats that get curious.
* usb hub on the side
* Boom arm for my microphone.
I’m working on building a new desk right now. Some things I want to add: * Better cable management. I’d love a little cabinet under the desk that all the cables go through and stay hidden.
* Some sort of bag or box on the side so I can sweep my desk clean
* built in wireless charging.
* integrated KVM switch. Preferably a button under the desk I can press to switch between computers.
* built in hardware mute switch/press to talk for my microphone.
* some sort of rail mounting system for monitors, camera boom, and microphone.
* foot hammock
I spent $$$ making a counter height 3D printing table via all ways X crosses in tension stainless cable and threaded loops and stainless threaded rods through the base. Cut stainless cable is wicked sharp.
I currently have two 43" 4k displays (Philips BDM4350UC) next to each other. One directly in front of me, the other angled to the side. It's not working great - too much strain to use the right half of the side screen.
What I'm curious to test: one 43" 4k screen in the the middle with an LG DualUp 18:16 screen to each side.
Maybe I should just get two pivotable regular cheap 24-27" 16:9 displays and be done with it, a bit like this:
https://old.reddit.com/r/battlestations/comments/aogog4/my_p...
A 43" display is the closest with a 0.39 cm difference in screen height, though I ended up getting a 42" LG OLED instead.
My main hangups are finding a nice Monitor mount setup for them. Something like the following would be ideal, but I'm not sure if it'll fit with such a big main screen: https://eu.humanscale.com/userFiles/images/monitorarms/m10/m...
Something like this system with the walltrack kit, though I'm unsure if it'll work with the bigger tv/monitor sizes: https://www.ergomart.com/monitor-mounts/monitor-wall-mounts/...
Cable management isn't horrible but there's a lot of room for improvement. I'd like to replace all the AC adapters with one big one that can supply everything.
I've built some outlandish and unsatisfying desks in the past, the gradual approach has been better.
1. This is unsafe for children, as they might figure out a way to flip the switch and crush themselves. Please take this consideration into account.
I bought spring-based (not electric) height adjustable legs / frame and then went to home depot with a friend and cut a 70" x 30"ish x 1" piece of wood. Added a rounded edge to one side, sanded, stained it, then screwed it into the frame.
I love it. It's huge compared to a typical desk, and although I haven't done anything unique with it, it's been solid.
I dont really know what I'd add to it that would be worth giving up desk space, tbh. The conveniences / tools I use work fine being on the desk rather than part of the desk
Now I've got a fully jarvis frame with some amazon wood top just sitting on it.
0: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-prod...
Imagine plugging your phone, keyboard, or mouse, directly into the wood. There might be some downsides, but it’d be unique.
I prefer wired keyboards/mice for their reliability. But aesthetically, I don’t like having a bunch of cables spread across my desk.
Cable hiding is cool, but even with a full wood shop I just attach raceways to things or at most route out a channel that I can attach silicone catches over top of, because the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
My stereo system is worse. I periodically look at the rats nest of wiring and cables in the back--at least some of it to components that aren't in the rack any more--thinking to do something about it. But I then lie down until the feeling goes away. I know I would break stuff and it will end up being a tedious multiday project to get everything working again without much real benefit.
I always setup my desks so the keyboard mouse etc have homes off of the desk so I can have a completely clear desk to do other tasks like writing or crafts
Our apartment at the time was kinda small and I had to fit my desk to a very specific slot, so no off-the-shelf desk would've fit the nonstandard size. I bought a 100% wood kitchen counter cut to my measurements and finished it to fit the decor.
We've moved since and I took off the old tiny desk, spread out the legs and got an even bigger kitchen counter cut. Still the same base. The old desktop is now my SO's remote work table, with a similar set of height-adjustable legs.
tl;dr
1. Get a base with a memory so you can set your favourite positions fast (sitting, standing+writing, standing+just watching)
2. Get the biggest desktop you can fit and get a sturdy one. If the tabletop is too light, it'll shake and vibrate as you type.
3. Ikea Skådis pegboards can be attached to the actual desk so they move up and down with it: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skadis-pegboard-white-50320805/