Slashdot Mirror
Building a DIY Home Office?
Rednerd asks: "I just moved into a new apartment and I'm almost done painting and running the cat 5. I have been looking at office furniture for a new desk to become the new home for all of my misc. computer gadgetry, but I haven't been able to find anything that really fits. (No one seems to sell a desk with room for two 19" monitors, seven computers, a beer fridge, coffee maker, and a small compartment to serve as a shrine for my little plush penguin - Potelé) I'm leaning toward building a custom desk for my computers. With all the talk on Slashdot about creating an ultra-efficient cubicle, I was wondering what other slashdotters have created in the way of DIY home offices?"
Take a peak at IKEA's line of office furniture, they can be extended quite a lot, and then you can just add whatever comes to mind:)
why bother with a beer fridge and a coffee maker? don't reinvent the wheel
... have you considered a monitor arm? get a good one that lets you move it around if need be. i keep my kvm'd monitor on one of those, and it can be quite useful, especially when i'm working on some boxen and need the monitor to follow me
jet powered beer cooler
that famous coffee machine
keep a browser window open to check on the coffee, and keep the thing in your kitchen. when you don't hear the jet engine blaring anymore, you know your beer is good and cold. stick a few brats behind the exhaust, and pitch your bbq
as for the monitors
Its all about shelving, no precious desk space wasted. There are also a number of catalogs and such that sell desks for server rooms in almost what you are looking for, the two monitors and more than normal PCs. I would still say shelving though.
If we don't make light of everything, we are just stumbling in the dark - Blank
Everybody knows someone who's handy.
A friend and I designed and built a new desk when I moved to fit the room and my gear perfectly. (Well, my friend did most of the work) It's doable. And it turned out to be a LOT cheaper than the suitable desks I found out there.
If you DO want to buy a ready-made desk, don't look in furniture stores, they just sell kiddy stuff, and desks for people that need a place for their electric typewriter. Go look at companies that sell to other companies. They're usually more difficult to find, even though they often have a showroom (though just not visible from the outside) and sell to regular people. They're insanely expensive though. But, if you really want ready-made, they'll usually have something that fits.
The cool thing about making your own desk is not only that your desk gets to be BIG, but you also get to choose the materials and colors.
The downside about making your own desk is that it's too difficult to make a desk that has adjustable height, so you have to be REALLY sure how high your surface needs to be (mine is 2 cm too high).
If you are going to make your own desk, make it deep enough. Commercial desks usually are too shallow to place a keyboard in front of your monitor and still be able to rest your elbows in a comfortable manner.
i have 2-21" monitors, a 16" FP, 1-19" monitor (plus some small speaker cubes and misc) on that chromed wire rack shelving (called bakers'racks), this stuff is from a company called Metro Shelving, but IKEA has its own brand...
i use the wide shelves, 24" (and 8 or 10 feet long) for the monitors, and use the narrow (around 8-10"wide) to create a keyboard shelf right in front/below the wider "top"....
you can adjust the height on those legs, with those nylon bushings and i've put a ton of weight on these things (well, about 600-800#'s) and not had much deflection...(though the center of percussion was really high..took about 200# off)
the downsides include having to put "trays" for your pens, smoking materials, etc...as they would otherwise just drop through the wires and if you are one of those folk who rest their wrists on the desktop edge...WELL, a couple of hours of that will teach you about numbness and pain...if you use a contoured KB or wrist rest..nada problemo...
it looks kinda HiTek...and you really can find the stuff just about anywhere, its reasonably priced (IKEA's is the cheapest but they don't have a very big selection of sizes) and if you really HATE the chrome...it's available in a semi-dull/shiny BLACL finish...Blood, Bath and Beyond has a really ***nice*** brand of this stuff, but it's kinda pricey
i equipped an office with about 12-15 of these "desks"...got lots of compliments from customer/visitors and only checked it out for the same reason you mention...all of our employees had at least 3 monitors per desktop and we just couldn't find a nice-looking, cost-effective solution...
i thinks it's medium cool looking, but, as always, should you or any of your..., i mean, YMMV...
Ten quid, she's so easy to blind. And not a word is spoken...
Go to your local home improvement store. You can usually find a pre-cut formica counter top in the clearance bin. Add two filing cabinets or vanitys - one on each end of the countertop. Voila! My workspace is 10' long with a backsplash (to keep all of my pens from finding their normal resting place behind the desk).
Unsightly? maybe... but functionality is great!
When it comes to office furniture, one's got to mention these:
Slashdot: The Ultimate Chair
Poetic Tech: Working environments for high tech professionals
They don't come with beer fridges but can serve as inspiration, that's for sure...
Oh, and it is almost worth buying something just to see their packaging: 2 inch thick corrugated cardboard!
For the record, I don't work for Anthro and have no relatives or friends who do, I just own one of their desks and like it very much.
I use a 72" door layed across two 30" high 2-drawer filing cabinets. This is, IMHO, the ultimate desk. It comfortably fits 2x21" + 1x17" monitor, a load of CD's and anything else you want. This has been the most stable way for me to build a functional desk, with room for the towers underneath. (although the 7 that you mention may need more room..)
A computer without Microsoft is like ice cream without ketchup.
I had exactly the same problem--I solved it with creativity, a 4x8 sheet of plywood, and a scroll saw.
:). I finished it with Verithane, because the stuff doesn't stink and cleans up with water.
;) on the floor. Place your computer equipment, books, etc. in place. Does it feel right? Try again in a couple of days. Does it still feel right?
My construction was simple. I cut a single 4'x8', 0.75" sheet of oak plywood to the correct shape. To support the weight of my monitors, I ran bracing the length and width of the table directly under the monitors. The bracing strips are 2" wide, made from the same sheet of plywood, and mounted perpendicular to the bottom of the table. For added stability, I fastened two edges the table to the wall using 2"x2"s, but if your installation is temporary this may not work for you. Because of the bracing and wall fastening, the table requires just one leg, which leaves plenty of space for my legs and four computers under the table.
I cut the table to shape using a scroll saw, which I already owned. I rounded the edges using a router, which I now had an excuse to buy
Total cost, $90. Satisfaction, at least 10 times anything I found in stores at a reasonable price.
Notes:
1. Explicitly define your requirements. Mine were lots of table space, enough depth for 21" monitor, keyboard tray that also has room for the mouse, and plenty of room under the table for multiple computers. Also, where are you going to put it? In particular, consider the location's lighting.
2. Create a prototype. Use string or masking tape to create a virtual table
3. Double check that the design is stable and robust. In particular, is it strong enough to hold that pair of 21" monitors. Consider bracing to MHz or RAM, more is better.
5. Buy the wood, tools, screws and wood glue. Try and find "void free" plywood. Most plywood has hidden holes in the interior layers.
6. Even thought I took my time, used guides to ensure my straight edges were straight and curves consistent, rounded the edges, and put on three finishing coats, the entire project only took four hours. It is well worth it!
You can try a local kitchen and bath remodeler.
Most cabinet suppliers now carry a home office line. The possibilites are unlimited and you can find things in almost any price range.
i agree... this topic is sorta lame...
but here is my thirteen cents worth.
Go to Home Depot (or your local lumberyard), along the way grab/steal/obtain one of those hard to find lumber carts...then:
Select a Solid Core Oak Door. SOLID. not hollow.
usually about $45-$50
Take it home, polyurethane or paint it to your hearts delight...(satin black was my choice)
then...
grab two of your file cabinets...one on each end
throw the door on top and voila!
one helluva strong computer desk.
If you are as motivated a good friend of mine...cut a 4" drop shelf out of the back-center of the door as wide as (2) 19" monitors, and drop supports, and voila, a nice cozy place for them expensive monitors, but wait there's more...add a few pieces of plywood and some dowels and glue and voila, now you have a shelf over those 19" monitors. If you have a router handy, give the edges of the door/desk a rounded top and sand to smooth.
Note:
this is HEAVY solution but cheap and effective.
HON file cabinets work great as supports.
I've got four computers set up in a relatively small (about 9' x 13') office, and after a number of different attempts (I've been working at this home-office-with-multiple-computers thing for close to 20 years), I've settled on a solution that seems to work.
Everything is modular, no bigger than it needs to be, and on wheels.
Every computer gets its own desk. As small as possible, with as few gimmicks as possible - no CD towers, no printer shelves, no cubbyholes; the only thing I'll accept, if the desk isn't low enough already, is a keyboard shelf, and that has to be wide and deep. It has to be on wheels. The ones I've come to like are the very simple little rolling workstation platforms that you can find at most computer or office superstores for about $60 - basically a flat desktop with a keyboard drawer and a bottom shelf to stash the tower.
Then I have one adjustable height folding table - Sam's for about $40 - about 30" deep x 72" wide; I've set that at a convenient keyboard height, and I usually have a laptop or two set up there. But it's easy to take the laptops off and set up a tower/monitor/keyboard at a convenient height for setup, modification, debugging. I've also got my DSL router, network switch, and a couple of power blocks velcro'd to that table at one end toward the back.
Then I've picked up a couple of sets of lovely maple folding tv tables - four tables, plus a stand, for typically $20-30 bucks. I've got a scanner more or less permanently set on one, and a printer on another. The others come and go as my need for horizontal space grows and shrinks.
Add one of those plastic 4-drawer cabinets (any office superstore, about $20-30) and a couple of file crates with wheels that live under the laptop table when I'm not actively working with them, and a bookshelf on one wall, and I've got a very efficient and flexible workspace!
Remember the three M's of home office furniture - Modular, Minimal, and Mobile.
Good luck.
Richard
Everything possible to be believ'd is an Image of Truth - Wm. Blake
I've been working in my home office full-time (with 7 computers) for almost a year. I wouldn't want to be working at the same desk where the computers are because of all the heat they produce. So I have four of my computers stacked together on an anti-static mat. It's a lot cheaper than buying furniture for them, it works well, and they're directing their heat out of my office.
I use a desk from Office Depot (about $60) for my workstation - it's wider than normal computer desks, so you can fit your mouse, keyboard and a frosty beverage on the main desk surface. A shelf in the back comfortably holds 2 monitors, and the space under the shelf gives me plenty of room to hold all those little odds and ends. I have two of the desks together at about a 90 degree angle, and they make a great work area.
The other trick was to get a decent chair with height-adjustable arms (about $100) and set them so that the top of the arms is roughly even with the desk. I've had tendinitis and carpal tunnel in the past, but I haven't had any trouble at all working in my home office.
One option I'm surprised I haven't seen voiced -- get a bunch of desks at thrift stores, arrange them in a semi-circle. Not necessarily the slickest option, but definitely the cheapest. At least if yr willing to place the machines & fridge on the floor. I use two desks & the top of a filing cabinet; add desks according to need.
man, if you've got SEVEN computers, you really ought to rack them and use some KVM switching. You can also cool them more efficiently that way as well as providing better security and power supply. Keep your desk nice with your screens, kbd, mse and whatever cradle-like peripherals you need. Two's a couple, three's a crowd but SEVEN's a FARM.
That was classic intercourse!
I searched for ages for a computer desk big enough and solid enough and affordable enough. No luck. So, I went to an unfinished furniture store and bought a dining room table. Long enough for all my computer stuff PLUS a TV/VCR. Deep enough so that I can stick papers I'm dealing with in front of my keyboard. $100 for the table. $10 to polyurethane it (why stain it? -- natural wood colors look great).
Life is short: void the warranty.
Helping with organizational effectiveness is our job.
My friend, who has loads of cash,
designed his own, and contracted the guy who custom did cabinets for his kitchen to build it.
The towers are on platforms that slide on aircraft-grade drawer tracks, so that the towers under the desks can be pulled out easily for access. the monitors sit at 45 degrees in recesses in the top of the desk (yes, he uses 19" screens. I encouraged him to get 17" LCDs and have then on articulated arms from the wall, but noooo!)
His scanner is on a shelf that slides forward and down. There's a full complement of cubbies in the hutch above the desktop.
Now, remember, the kitchen cabinet guy did all this, so the desk is a slick black granite formica, and everything else- best quality you can get. It's pretty damn sharp.
My new desk is about as low tech as it gets. As with the rest, I had 3 machines, 4 monitors and preferably a space for my laptop to fit into a reasonably big room - but be pretty snug and 'presentable' when not in use.
Not being tooled up, I went down to B&Q and bought a drill, jigsaw, sander, saw, and one of those 'every tool you'll ever need' boxes for about £60. I then drove over to my mates work and took about 6 of the cleanest pallets I could find in their warehouse.
Two weekends of sanding, cutting, hammering and the like later I have a spanky 'slightly rustic' desk for absolutely free! Apart from having to buy the tools. which will last.
The timber would have cost about £100 - so even then its a HUGE desk about 14 feet long, and between 3 and 5 feet deep, with shelving beneath and some neat monitor stands for under 160 quids!
I'm hoping I can find some of that 'Boomerang' pattern formica. Very Retro.
If it has a sink cutout, that's where I'm going to put the monitor. (Maybe I can get a 'swirling water' screen saver. That would be cool.)
A couple of spigots that attach down to the beer and coffee dispensers would be key.
If I replace the old aeron with a working john, I'd never have to get up, too!
(Sorry - I've been coding all day - I'm a little punchy...)
Actually, formica makes a great work surface and as g33kb0y mentioned, that backsplash is really handy.
Cheers,
Jim
-- My Weblog.
Two half-height file cabinets and a door. Had a desk like this when I was a kid and it rocked.
Brackets contain world's first nanosig, highly magnified:[.]
Sligh furniture carries a line of home office furniture that looks like conventional furniture (hutches, desks, cabinets, etc). It's modular, of very high furniture quality, and really functional. Best of all, it looks like it belongs in a home and not an office or spacecraft or sterile.
But, it is pricey. We're in the process of finishing our basement which now includes a home office with 16 network jacks, 25 dedicated ground outlets and, I think, 8 phone jacks. We've got a built-in storage cabinet that will house my networking gear and UPS to help keep the office uncluttered. Additionally, we're looking at a printer cabinet that will house my laser printer, and a dedicated print server and probably our fax machine.
The kids play area also has a builtin dedicated computer desk (networked, of course) and place for an ink-jet printer and phone. Having one's own home with an unfinished area is a bonus as I have the luxury to do it right and not have to retrofit.
Yeah..I had to take a loan out for this...but when people say there are no decent computer furniture, that applies to people who are:
1) either not willing to really look or
2) don't have a budget for the more expensive stuff or
3) need a temporary arrangement (like a student moving into a dorm). In this case, rule #2 (or #1) usually applies.
I do however, applaud all the people who have responded with solutions that are truly functional for them and on a relatively low budget. It shows ingenuity and that necessity truly is the mother of invention.
And, I have to admit that sometimes I wish my wife would let me splurge and get some really off the wall stuff. Personally, I prefer the high tech look. But, for a home that I may have to resell someday, that isn't the most practical solution.
Cheers,
RD
Poetictech has always had really cool stuff... it's not DIY... but it's very slick.
BlackNova Traders
I couldn't find a suitable desk either, but I had slightly different goals. I wanted something to fit in a very specific place and that looked good. Functionality was a secondary design goal.
Anyway, my desk is in an alcove about 1.5m wide by 1m deep. It's constructed of a single sheet of tempered glass 6mm thick supported on three sides by 1" square blocks of wood bolted to the walls.
There are gaps in the support blocks at the back for the wires to go through and the glass is pulled slightly forward for them to fit. There's a piece of conduit bolted to the back wall that hides all the cables away.
It holds a 19" monitor, printer and a scanner (plus the inevitable pile of CDs, manuals etc that end up on it).
The effect is amazing, it looks like everything is just hanging there, the supports are painted the same coulour as the walls so they're not very obvious when you first see it. I intend to get a wireless mouse and keyboard to complete the effect at some point.
If you're thinking of doing this, get some professional advice on the glass and supports. I had the glass cut and polished by a specialist company (cost about £60) who worked out how thick it would need to be to support the weight.
I had the same trouble after my fancy computer desk got destroyed in a move. After looking around and seeing the cost for substandard desks, I just went to the office supply store. I bought an 8' folding table, like the kind you use in school or government functions. TONS of room underneath it also. When I move again, I won't have to disassemble anything, just fold up the legs and I'm good to go.
Sturdy.
60$.
I bought a second one for a workbench. The office stores deliver for free also.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
This desk was built by Blake who runs Blakespot (used to run a Nino fan page until Philips killed it(the Nino that is...)). He built his own and I have been contemplating doing the same. Sauder and folks that make the home desks don't really make them good enough for people who actually need to work at them. Mine has stuff littered all over it because my wife uses it too. I don't have enough space for everything. It's also too deap. I would like to have one go floor to ceiling (well, almost) and have it L shaped with a long L shaped section that goes below my Window with a cut out in it for my 35 in TV. Why? I eventually will have a ATI or some other card with TV out and I feel whiy have two DVD players in the same room when I have one in my computer? Also this design would allow my TV to be seen without having to look through a person using the computer. Anyway, check out Blake's design at Blakespot.
Gorkman
I have two folding tables, one 6' and one 5', lining two adjacent walls in what is supposed to be my dining room (heh). Sturdy, cheap ($30 each), lots of room under the desks for the computers, just enough room on top for my 21" monitor, easy to spread stuff out... no shelves, though, but you could mount shelves on the wall above a desk if you wanted. I use a bookcase instead.
When I set up my home office, I sat down and designed the desk/work area, with the intention of having a guy in my hometown build it. I was a bit shocked when our new office furniture from Bush came in at work, and it was essentially my design. I checked the cost, and found that the savings was over 50%. Got it and it works great.
For my computers, I changed from cases to rack mount units, and bought a 22U rack from Greybar. I have one desktop system running Windows, as my Quicken and games system. Everything fits, and runs great.
thats not that big problem, I did build my desk with 4 adjustable legs, works very well. The leges were are around 50 Euro, and you have about 10 cm range for adjustment.
Or, use PVC Pipe. Go with something like 1.25" for a balance between strength and space lost to structural elements, and maybe use 3/4 for the "hutch" sections (1/2" would work for fairly short spans /light load areas). Get some veneered plywood (or some MDF and veneer/roller of your own) and make shelvins/sides for the thing. You could build one heck of a kick-ass desk that's precisely what you want/need for not too much money if you went with cheap shelving materials (PVC is pretty cheap to begin with). Remember, you *can* paint the pipe to make it look more impressive.
Check out http://www.thepvcstore.com for some furniture plans that might get you started if you don't already know what to do...
Also, submit some pictures when it's done. :)
What are these strange windows you speak of ?
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
The consumer markup on Metro racking is outrageous, and to make it worse, is usualy the light-duty variety.
Pull out the yellow pages and track down a store fixture or restaurant supply shop- preferably one that sells used. I've been able to find used stuff at 50% of the industrial price, which is already considerably lower than the consumer retail price.
My parents were the kind of people who thought their son didn't deserve anything better than lumber and bricks for furniture. As a result, they threw together a desk for me when I was in highschool It was a door and two filing cabinets. It turned out remarkably well. I still use this arrangement today. I have two of the short filing cabinets with an interior door on top. I also made some saw horses from 2x4s and put another door on top. this is easily enough space to hold my two 19" monitors, color laser, component stereo, 17" monitor, two towers, scanner, fax/copier, and assorded hubs and other goodies. I'm getting ready to make a third set of saw horses for the other door in the garage.
So you can go to your local home center and buy a door ($40), metal saw horse brackets ($2 * 2), and a couple 2x4s ($3 * 2). So for 50 you can get a huge (if unattrctive) desk.
I also recycled a friend's old kithen counter. I screwed some plywood into the sides to act as legs. Now I can put that on top of the file cabinets and door for a more floor space efficient arrangement.
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
I've made multi-tier computer desks, counterweighted end tables, and other bachelor furniture by going to HomeDepot and buying .75" MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard -- something like particle board, but more attractive, cleaner edge cuts, very smooth, more rigid, and not stinky). You might be able to use .50" stuff, but I say splurge for more weight and rigidity. Do your measurements at home, and as long as you're dealing with rectangular pieces, they'll cut it up for you out of the 4'x8' sheets. (They charge a small, fair fee for cutting on the radial arm saw.) This way you don't have to drag a full sheet home or clean up the sawdust yourself. While you're there, grab a bunch of masonry blocks. (They're dirt cheap and look like this) Two legs of stacked blocks with the wide side down will be enough for a shallow desk. If you do four legs, you can go as deep as you want for tons of monitor space, etc. I generally get out a brush or spray can or whatever is hanging around and paint the MDF before assembling. Instant decor match or personal statement. You can do a multi-tier tables with four legs on the bottom (offset back a bit in the front for more leg room) and two legs on the top tier(s), shoved to the back of the main surface. I've built tables 7' long like this. If your monitors are extremely heavy and you need to place them in the center of a long span, just add another "leg" of masonry blocks in the center at the back.
And it breaks down for easy moving or reconfiguration. The only drag I've found is the masonry blocks will shed a little dust when you move them.
I've got several computers running either windows or linux. Since I rarely need access to them, I put them and the noisy A/C to keep them cool in another room and use a Belkin 2x8 KVM switch (2 kybd/monnitors/mice). One kvm setup is with the equipment for when I need ready access to the hardware, the other is at my desk. I also went to a real office funiture store and bought a very good high end chair. Its the first chair I've had that has lasted more then a year or so. I've had it for over 5 years and its comfortable sitting even on those long 16+ hour days. I've even slept in it a couple times, though not intentionally ;)
The Sligh stuff probably would look a bit out of place next to my plastic drawer set, but obviously plastic drawers means they are out of my range anyway. But if they were in my range, I could imagine fitting them together with other things. And wood is always attractive in a very natural way -- unassuming and undemanding.
OTOH, I'm not a big fan of moulding and , which covers most of Sligh's stuff. But I suppose there's lots of other places with that style too, if you look for it.
I've got a two-tier setup that has space for my monitor, printer, USB hub, Visor dock, external CD burner, external HD, external Zip drive, flatbed scanner, my laptop, keyboard, and still enough space for the phone and two spots for putting all my paperwork and associated crap.
I've had other home desk setups before, usually cheap, one-shot arrangements. But as others have mentioned, the Anthro products are very high-quality, sturdy, and attractive. Think of it this way - if you use your home office for hours on end, day after day, wouldn't you rather invest a bit more money for something that will actually keep you happy?
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
... are my requirements, and I've used the same solution for almost 10 years now: folding tables. For $50 at any office store you can buy large, strong folding tables that are three feet wide, which gives me plenty of depth for a 21" monitor and keyboard. They're surprisingly strong, too, although I find that if I put two large monitors on one, I'm better off separating them a little -- putting both monitors right next to each other in the center of the table tends to produce a little sag. I'm currently using two tables, one is 6' long and the other 9', set in a corner configuration. I've been toying with getting another 9' table to put behind me. I don't find I have much need for drawers, etc.; just lots of table space, one small filing cabinet and, of course, the inevitable bookshelves that cover every spare inch of wall space.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
While they are rather expensive, Techline's offerings are really nice. I bought myself a wrap-around desk for about $1,300 (I spend 8 hours a day here... it is worth it). Everything is so strong that you can walk on any part of it without a second thought, and I have a 17" flatscreen (very worth it) and a !9" monitor in two of the corners, and there is a lot of open space left over. You can customize the design to your heart's (and pocketbook's) content. And best of all, you can take it all apart and set it up somewhere else! It is not like the cheap Sauder-esk stuff that you build once, and then throw away. I will be able to take this desk with me when I move, even overseas if I want to. Here is the url: http://www.techlineusa.com/
Personally, I think that trying to put all that equipment into a single piece of furniture is silly, never mind expensive.
I have a pretty big corner desk I got at Office Depot, with a short bookshelf in matching color sitting on top of the back of one side. Two APC UPSes (one for my dual monitors, one for the computer and some net equipment) act as a stand for a heavy wood platform for both monitors. A second wood platform is supported by a simple pedestal of two 1x6 boards nailed in a "T", standing between the back ends of the monitors, and a 13" TV sits atop that.
Nearby are two shelving units; one is plastic with a cabinet in the bottom, and holds my printer and various supplies. I picked that up at Target. The second is a heavy wire shelving unit on casters that I picked up at Sam's Club. That shelf holds my other CPUs, as well as open workspace and an extra monitor and keyboard for diagnostic purposes. The power and network wires are routed so I can pull the unit away from the wall for easy cabling access.
Does it sound crowded? Well, yes, it is. But it's a hell of a lot less crowded than if I'd attempted to shoehorn the lot into one desk.
She also has a yen for antique furniture, and insisted on using a 120 year old partner's desk with its matching chair. The desk was a about eight inches too high to comfortably type, and was almost a foot think (so you couldn't solve the problem by jacking up the chair). It was aslo shaped as a square, with the origional idea being that two peopl would work from either side. My mother's solution was to place the desk in the center of the room, and walk around the thing whenever she needed to get to one of the systems on the other side. Needless to say, after every project, she had horrible back pain and aching wrists (bad enough that she couldn't hold a cup of coffee). And yet, she utterly refused to buy a real desk - "I just can't stand modern furniture!" was her reasoning.
In any event, I decided that the only way I was going to get her to use a real desk was if I built the thing myself, thus guilting her into an ergonimic solution. So, I took measurements of her height, the length of her legs to the knees and to the hip, and the length of her arms, and built a desk to her exact measurements. Fortunatly, my high school offered and woodworking evening activity. I spent about seven months building the thing (it had to hold up nearly a 1000 Kg of equipment, not to mention live up to her tasts for good furniture). In the end, it was four feet deep, fourteen feet long, with two sets of drawers and two vented computer cabinets. If anyone's ever built furniture before, you know what a pain in the ass it is to build drawers, especially big ones! Wood expands and contracts by as much as 5% with humidity and temperature, so big drawers are next to impossible to get right without doing all sorts of strange things to compensate for the changes in geometry. I also had the pleasure (?!!) to have had access to a seasoned trunk of red oak, so I milled the desk surface, leggs and other main parts myself. Since the desk had to be so large and hold up so much weight, I actually found all the available plans and project guides to be utterly useless. The main span of the desk is nine feet, and had to be able to support up to two tons (in case, for instance, someone dropped one of those 20" monitors on it from a few feet in the air, the desk wouldn't collapse and destroy the rest of her equipment).
I ended up turning to bridge design for a workable solution. It had to take into account the high loads, vibration and shock, and expansion and contraction of the material. Basically, I went with a box-girder construction, but with suspension cables inside the box. The suspension cables were nessesary becasuse the joints of the box girder could not simply be fixed to one another, or the surface of the desk would split. Each of the joints is made using lateral rails with ballbearings, like the sliders for a drawer, only much larger. Unfortunatly, this leads to a rather unpleasant amount of gear lash since the bearings require a small amount of play. The suspension cables keep the desk arched slightly upward, instead of bowed downward. This insures that the bearings are aways biased in the same direction so there is no gear lash. Also, the suspension cables are mounted to shock absorbers. Any vibration on the surface is transmitted into the shock absorbers. The result is that the desk surface is only four inches thick at the center, but is strong enough to hold up a small car (or withstand the shock of a 150 Kg object droped from two meters), sturdy enough that you can pound a nail into a block of wood and not skip a CD player a foot away, and flexible enough that it expands an contracts lengthwise by about an inch and a half.
In the end, it cost me about $300 to build the desk, if you assume my time was worthless (I was a high school student, so that was pretty much the case) and you don't count the electricity and heating oil I used up. After graduation, my mother shiped it from Vermont to California - all 400 kilograms of it. I'll leave it as an exersize to the reader to figure out how much more it cost to ship than to build.
She is now happily using a desk built to her exact ergonimic requirements, and has not suffered from back or wrist pain in the four years since she's been using it. It's not quite as pretty as the aincent antiques she's got - but hey, it was my first (and thusfar only) attempt at woodworking.
In spite of the suggestions and all the tests that I have made, I have not cavato a spider from the hole.
I have one of the six foot tables I bought, and they are great for everything I got, though a second one would be nice. One thing I did:
I got some dual sided terminal strips, with about six connectors - about 4 or 5 should do. Then, I got some heavy gauge automotive wire, and a Sun power supply. I mounted the power supply on the bottom of the table, hooked an LED to one of the 5v leads, and ran it to the front metal lip, drilled the hole and mounted it. Then, I ran the wires from the 12 and 5 volt lines along different paths on the terminal strips, so I have this "ladder" arrangement of take off points for 12, 7, and 5 volts, to power most devices, like my Zip drive, my phone (office style phone with power), scanner, and a couple of cooling fans. Eliminates the need for all of those wall warts!!!
And for shelves, I have used several el-cheapo steel shelving units. They were 4 foot tall units, so I bolted two atop one another, to make 8 foot units, bolted them to the wall, and next to each other, and bolted them all together, for a wall of bookshelf space, and other things. Impressive as hell.
Oh yeah, my desk is in the center of the room, chair facing door (hey, I am paranoid). I routed power with extension cords from plugs on the wall, across the ceiling and down to the table, and covered them with plastic cable wrap. By having everything out in the middle of the floor, it makes it super, ultra easy to pull a box out, pop the top, and fiddle with it, which I tend to be very prone to doing...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
http://www.tema-usa.com has some really sweet SOHO office furniture. I bought a desk from their Wall street line, and I love it. I have 2 21" Monitors side by side on it, keyboard tray which is large enough for my ergo keyboard and MS optical trackball, and a side thingy that I have my scanner and printer on. Everything is modular and you can configure it just about any way you like. It's heavy, high quality stuff too. The price isn't bad either, about $350-$400 for what I have, much cheaper than alot of other solutions out there, but more expensive than a sheet of plywood on top of 2 filing cabinets.
I bought mine at a store called Elements, so I didn't have to pay shipping, but you can order the stuff right off their site. Although, the pricing at Elements was actually a little less than the website pricing, go figure. They also have tons of matching furniture, like filing cabinets (I have one, it's built like a brick shithouse), bookcases, etc.
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Automotive carpet is an ideal way to cover up plywood creations. At work, there is a bunch of deep (24") benches running around the shop, with 2x4's on the edge for support, and angled 2x4's that run diagonally towards the wall for additional bracing. It has been covered in off-gray automotive carpeting. Looks wonderful. The automotive carpet isn't plush, and static hasn't been a problem at all (I've built many computers on one of the benches). The only thing I might mention is that if you tend to spill things, this might not be the ideal solution.
PS - File cabinets are wonderful to reduce clutter. As well as shelves that are a higher height then normal, and runs around the room. A bookshelf is often useful. Also, try to arrange the work area in a U-shape, its more efficient. And throw ethernet connections EVERYWHERE. If you have a lot of computers, consider investing in a rack, its worth it.
I've seen a lot of great ideas for DIY'ers and this topic has gotten me motivated to do something with my mess of a home office. But I'm amazed at the lack of pictures! You'd think geeks would be proud enough of the solutions they've come up with to snap a few digital pics or at least scan a photograph. I'd like to see some of these self-built setups, words can only describe the details to a point.
About the same time, I got to tinker with my mom's house, where I stash most of my servers. Her "sewing room" added:
While we were at it, we redid the rest of the house. Every room now has at least one cat5e drop and a coax cable feed (yes, including her desk). The whole house runs switched 100TX. Oh yes, and we threw 4200w of solar cells on the roof and about 24 KwH of battery storage in the garage, to help with those wonderful brownouts. Even with everything running full blast (inc. 12 servers + switch + 2 routers) we pretty much balance out.
Another person mentioned IKEA furniture. If you're in an apartment, their office stuff seems like it offers some pretty good possibilities and options - I was quite impressed, esp. with value-for-money.
Just wait until April 20th, 2002...
18th birthday coming up that soon?
Metro also has a Rack Mount solution for their shelving system. Metro's computer shelving products are here. When you see a product you want, be sure the get the spec sheet, they are .pdf docs.
Personally, I think the Metro brand is the best out there. I can see the reduced quality in the knock-off brands. YMMV.
All 4 desktop systems and 2 laptops were stored on my Metro shelving next to my desk. I used one KVM switch for all 7 systems. I used a regular desk for my work surface, monitor, keyboard & files. Plus I had another monitor & keyboard for the Sparc. This leaves a clean work surface for me, which is important. I do a lot of document creation and still like working with paper. Also, having a mostly clear desk helps me focus on the tasks at hand.
The Metro shelving also held my fax, laser printer, power strips and networking devices. The cables were kept clean using black velcro strips. The shelves were black too. Metro's Heavy Duty castors let me easily pull the shelving out to manage the cables when needed.
Two shelves held 4 rows of books, back-to-back. I also stored my printer paper on the bottom (increased stability). My working file folders and incoming mail were on side-attached accessories.
All of this stuff used to take up 3 desks, a bookshelf and some floor space. Pretty slick.