A few months ago we bought a new house and have slowly been settling in. I've always wanted a dedicated home office, but have never "officially" had my own room. It's always been in the living room or dining room, which doesn't really count as a home office.
We bought a 3 bedroom, 3 story "loft-style" townhouse near downtown Houston. You know the type: 3 rooms actually means 1 master bedroom and 2 oversized closets; those extra rooms are pretty much useless. You can fit a bed in there, but nothing else. But it's perfect for an office.
I put a lot of thought into this, because I spend a good chunk of my time behind a computer. The first decision was to paint the walls. I needed a color that was bright, would wake me up, inspire creativity, but not be too painful on the retinas. I went with grass green. It would match the walnut colored stained concrete, and would look super-awesome during Christmas (even though I don't celebrate).
Next up, the desk. Here were my requirements:
- must be cheap: under $150 for everything.
- lots of table-top space.
- easy to clean concrete floors. I hate dust bunnies.
- unique design
- solid enough to bolt my server to in case someone broke in and tried to make a quick grab while the alarm goes off.
So here's what I came up with:
I bought everything from Lowes or Ikea for less than $100. It only has three legs touching the floor so cleaning the floors should be a breeze. The main table is for the display and wireless keyboard/mouse. The lowered table is for the PC and all the typical junk that accumulates on a desk. It's not in the pictures, but I even created one of those 2" capped holes in the back for the cables to go through.
It was a fun DIY project, and only took a couple of hours. The hardest part was sawing the metal legs with a hacksaw. That took at least an hour to complete, and the whole time Sarah was kept reminding me not to hurt myself. Duh! The table is mounted to the wall, and when I bolt my server to the table it will be near-impossible to walk off with. That's my next little project.
follow-up post: physically securing my home server to the desk
Update: Here's a pic taken a few months ago
