Finally! Finally!

Actually it’s been done for too long to admit, but we were out of the country for awhile (getting inspiration for new projects!) and then just really busy and didn’t get to posting the final progress.  It’s about time to start on a new project so figured we should put up the final desk pics.  Here it is!

Background/Problem

Here’s what our desks looked like before.  What was wrong with it?
-It took up a large amount of floorspace upstairs
-The cables were hideous and everywhere
-You could see it from below which was quite unsightly

Solution

-Put workstations side by side and mount monitors to minimize depth of desk
-Move the CPUs into the closet and run all the cables across an I-beam on the ceiling
-If the keyboard drawer is on the bottom it’s not pretty from below, and if it’s on top it’s not pretty from above…  Why not put it in the middle of the desk?

Construction

You can see construction start to finish in these previous blog posts.  It was all done at Club Workshop here in Denver – in total it involved: cutting, milling, and welding metal; building a wood frame for the desktop/bottom; laminate cutting/mounting; mounting keyboard trays & monitors; some cork and fabric; and lots of cable.

When I started it I figured it would cost a few hundred dollars and not take too long, but among other things this project was an exercise in estimation!  I hadn’t ever done most of this stuff before so much of it was learning – how to do it and how to do it better.  I’m pleased overall with the result but if I were to make another one it would be better, faster, and cheaper.

There were some problems along the way – mostly when I did something and later I realized it could have been better.  Why not fix it now rather than forever wonder why I didn’t.

What it took?

Desk cost breakdown I spent more than 120 hours actually working on it at both Club Workshop as well as at the loft.  This doesn’t include the many hours sourcing materials (in person and on the web), researching techniques, and just thinking about how to do it and then how to do it better.

When all was said and done, everything you see here (except for the actual computer equipment we already had) cost just over a thousand dollars.  This doesn’t include having to buy a few tools along the way, and it isn’t reduced by the steel I had left over.  Here’s a breakdown of all the costs.

And some people asked how much it weighs…  I can’t really put it on the scale but based on how much of the materials I used it should weigh just under 200lbs – not including monitors/cables/etc.

Here’s the final result.  It does a great job of solving all of the problems with our old desk and it isn’t something we could have walked in to a store and bought.  Building it was a great experience and everything I’ve learned in this project will be applied to the next one, which won’t take nearly as long!  Picked up some steel this week so stay tuned!

Thanks for checking it out and feel free to use the comments to tell me what you think…