Over the past two years, I've been looking for a new writing desk. I had for over fifteen years a large desk with a hutch made from compressed board – see the picture below. During my ownership of that desk, I earned an MBA and wrote twelve novels, so I guess it had good karma. Now that my book business is my full-time job, I wanted a real wood desk. I use an empty bedroom and have the space to support a large desk, but I didn't want to spend a fortune on a new executive desk.
Finally, in July, I found the perfect desk. It was from the 1950s, 30x60 and all wood. I found it at Restore, which is the charitable store of Habitat for Humanity for $30! What a bargain. I also found a glass top for it there as well for $19. I stripped, sanded, and stained it to the Kono color. I wanted a dark Mahogany finish, and I added new knobs.
Alas, a desk made in the 1950s is not constructed for today's work. It has a middle drawer instead of a keyboard shelf, so it took me a while to figure out what to do with the keyboard. I installed brackets under the middle drawer, but the clearance between the top of my thighs and the bottom of the drawer was insufficient. I looked at some shelves that fit under the desk and then spring up, but they're not recommended to be attached to the bottom of a drawer and besides they were in the $50-75 – more than the actual price of the desk. Ouch.
I eventually settled for facing my window and using the sideboard for the keyboard, and it's working fine – no strain on anything. You can also see my large dog curled up on my ottoman, keeping me company. The noise of my mechanical keyboard doesn't interrupt his snoring, lol.
The final question was the missing hutch. I shopped around for a wood desk hutch and couldn't find one. I also liked the openness of the desktop. In the end, I bought a small bookcase for $15 from Target and organized the hutch materials in it.
I think this is the last desk I'll ever own as it's solid structure, color, and history suit me. Now, all I need to do is find my writing mojo and get OPUS Murder finished!
Happy Fall,
Alec Peche