Kev Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 Starting this thread now as I think it's the next project for the master bedroom. I'm going to try and do something a little different. My "office" space sits in a corner and has some obstacles to work around. These obstacles obviously limit what I can do and get away with. I'll start with my basic design picture and then talk from there.. For starters, the desk top will be supported by a rail on the wall and the 2 cabinets. Each cabinet has a 2" riser block in the middle to give a floating look while still being well supported. The cabinet on the left is for 2 hanging file drawers and a small general purpose drawer. This cabinet is angled and will face directly at the door to the room. My goal was not to look at the side of a cabinet when walking in the room but, rather some curved drawer fronts. The curves will mimic the curves in the top. Note - Immediately off of this end of the desk is a set of French doors that lead to the outside. So, you'll only see the side of this cabinet from my back yard - or my shop. The cabinet on the right is general use desk drawers. Sizes TBD. I had to keep this cabinet small for a couple reasons. 1) I wanted plenty of room to slide my chair in and work at this desk. 2) I have a small heater and an outlet on this wall and this size cabinet will fit between them. I currently have the top at 6/4. I think that should be sufficient but, it is pretty big!.. Additionally, although it will be wasteful, all the boards will run diagonally to maintain grain continuity across the desk and keep it as one piece. No, I'm not looking forward to moving this one either! You'll not that there's no feet on the cabinets. My wife and I had some conversations around this. If I added the feet to match the dresser, we'd lose one drawer in each cabinet. Based on the size of these cabinets, I doubt very much that the Rumba would fit under them so, would just be dust collectors. No center drawer. My biggest complaint about the current desk is that if I remove the arms on my chair, I can roll under. If I leave the arms down, they hit the center drawer. Some other details that I know will need to be addressed: Cord management - There is currently only one outlet that's legitimately useable for my desk area. Although I'm going to leave that plug in place, I'm also going to add some additional plugs above the desk height and try to get away from power strips. Additionally, I'm going to add in-top power and USB charging. Computer Monitor - I recently switched to a curved monitor that splits my screens on one monitor. Unfortunately, the old dual screen set up has an extra bracket on the wall and the current one will most likely be in the wrong location. I'll obviously be fixing holes in the wall so, may add some wall treatment to this area as well. Existing shelf - This was a project I did shortly after moving in - I'll link the project below so that you can see pretty close what the current office area looks like. I'm not sure if this shelf will stay or not. I do know that the sound bar for the TV is going to go as we just don't use it. I'll probably add some small floating shelves for the computer speakers for find a home for them on the desk itself. Sub - There's a sub woofer for the computer speakers. I love the sound of the system for the computer (Klipsch) but, frankly, I don't use them that often. I'm in headphones most of the time. A headphone hanger will be another project for sure but, I will have one. More Cord Management - The current internet actually has a cord running across our floor. It's covered with a carpet but, this will get rerouted under the house. Ok guys.. That's my morning's design work.. Please pick it apart and let me know where the shortcomings are! Feel free to blast me with structural or cosmetic stuff! You guys often see things that I didn't think of! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 23 minutes ago, Kev said: the desk top will be supported by a rail on the wall and the 2 cabinets. Do you think that by supporting the desk top on the rails on the wall that maybe you could make the risers smaller or move them back so so they are less visible. 26 minutes ago, Kev said: You'll not that there's no feet on the cabinets. Would it hurt your drawer depths if you had the cabinets setting on risers also, just high enough to give a floating appearance there also. Depending on the pile depth of your carpet I wouldn't think you would need something much more then an inch or so. It is a nice design. 1 Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenskye (Bryan) Posted January 1, 2021 Share Posted January 1, 2021 Overall I like the design. Your bedroom must be enormous to fit this desk and the COD. I know on the COD you mentioned a place for your printer, any plans to incorporate in this design? As for cord management you could do a trough at the back, should help the floating look. I know you mentioned going away from power strips, but you could hide in the trough I mentioned or maybe in the risers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 12 minutes ago, Chet said: Do you think that by supporting the desk top on the rails on the wall that maybe you could make the risers smaller or move them back so so they are less visible. Would it hurt your drawer depths if you had the cabinets setting on risers also, just high enough to give a floating appearance there also. Depending on the pile depth of your carpet I wouldn't think you would need something much more then an inch or so. It is a nice design. I could potentially make the risers a bit smaller. My goal was create a look but, more importantly, give good support to the top. This will all sit on a hardwood floor. I could potentially place a small riser on the bottom as well. Ultimately the issue was ease of cleaning. With 3 dogs, we do a fair share of cleaning! I don't think they would be "tippy" as long as I didn't go too small. I could also go with a dark wood (Wenge) which would also help with the illusion. For the record, I do think Wenge will be the "secondary" wood in the room. Should go well with the African Mahogany and I really don't want a room full of African Mahogany.. That could end up being "too much wood" in a hurry...lol. So, I'm thinking desk top and cabinet sides all in African Mahogany and drawer front on this one in Wenge.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 1 minute ago, Woodenskye (Bryan) said: Overall I like the design. Your bedroom must be enormous to fit this desk and the COD. I know on the COD you mentioned a place for your printer, any plans to incorporate in this design? As for cord management you could do a trough at the back, should help the floating look. I know you mentioned going away from power strips, but you could hide in the trough I mentioned or maybe in the risers. The room is roughly 17' by 17' so, a decent size. This doesn't include the master bath or the walk in closet. I think the printer is going to live on a stand alone table that has yet to be designed. My wife tends to toss all the mail on the kitchen counter and I find that frustrating. So, a future build will be something that fits in about 4' of space in this room that will hold the printer as well as some organization for mail. If I get the power up to desk height, that should pretty much kill all my cord management issues. My major "cord management" issues mostly revolves around power. There's one cord for the computer speakers and one cord for the router which I will have to deal with. The router cord will get relocated under the house. I can stand up down there so, shouldn't be a major task. The speaker cord should all be above the desk elevation so, I might have to get creative with that! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 After some discussion with my wife, I think we're going to split the riser/support block.. We'll make it 1" on top of the cabinet and add a 1" riser to the bottom of the cabinet to give the illusion that it's floating off of the floor as well as floating the top. I'll use Wenge to help with the illusion. This should also help get the drawer fronts closer to the top which should help highlight the curves that match the top in the drawer fronts. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 I updated the drawing to show the reduced height on top of the cabinets.. I didn't add them to the bottom in the drawing because you can't see them anyway.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 1, 2021 Author Share Posted January 1, 2021 Curious is making the tops of the cabinets out of Wenge would help that illusion ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenskye (Bryan) Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 1 hour ago, Kev said: Curious is making the tops of the cabinets out of Wenge would help that illusion ? I think the shadow lines from the top itself would create the illusion you want. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtairymd Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 Kev, Please post a picture of your current desk/computer setup. BTW, I’ve gone totally away from paper so file storage is less of an issue for me. I would concentrate on wire management to get a really clean look. Have you considered incorporating wireless charging into the top? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 51 minutes ago, mtairmd said: Kev, Please post a picture of your current desk/computer setup. BTW, I’ve gone totally away from paper so file storage is less of an issue for me. I would concentrate on wire management to get a really clean look. Have you considered incorporating wireless charging into the top? I've sourced some "in top" options that will give me both an outlet as well as some USB charging. They only thing that will be visible from a cord perspective on the desk will be the power cord for the computer and the HDMI cable to the computer. I will certainly route those under the desk for the most part but, there will be parts that are visible. By moving the power outlets up the wall behind the monitor mount, the majority of the cords will not be seen. The only cords (currently) that will be difficult are the home router cord, the docking station cord, and the speaker cord. The speaker cord could be done away with if I went wireless on the speakers but, my Klipsch speakers really sound good and they were expensive. Getting the wires off the desk is a high priority in this build to keep the surface clean. As for the wireless charging, I'm just not sure that it's come along enough to be an option. Perhaps it's that I don't trust it yet?? I'm more concerned with reliability than doing something fancy for video sake. Here's the video from 2018 (February) where I revamped my office space.. Jump ahead to near the end to see what the office looks like (for the most part) today. The biggest changes are the single curved monitor that I now use and I've switched to Mac on a laptop. Also, that file cabinet is no longer there but, I wish it was. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I am with Bryan, think the shadow will do it for you. I was also wondering if you could make the risers out of double thick 1/2 play and then just wrap it with wenge. Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 3 minutes ago, Chet said: I am with Bryan, think the shadow will do it for you. I was also wondering if you could make the risers out of double thick 1/2 play and then just wrap it with wenge. I could but, I don't know that the "cost savings" would be that significant. They don't have to be solid risers. They could just be 1" strips glued to the top and bottom of each cabinet. They're only there to support the top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 I should touch on @Mtairymd's comment on file storage as well.. It's a legit observation! Maybe it's because I'm old...lol. There's still a lot of things that we keep in paper copy. Birth certificates, titles to vehicles, tax returns, etc.. We definitely store way less than we used to but, haven't gotten completely away from it yet. In reality, most of what we keep in there should probably be kept in our safe but, there's no room in there.. Might be time for another safe??? In which case, I would simply repurpose the drawers for something else. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 1 minute ago, Kev said: Maybe it's because I'm old...lol. There's still a lot of things that we keep in paper copy. Ditto. I use Quickbooks for the business but still print out paper copies of all the reports. ? 2 Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 35 minutes ago, Chet said: Ditto. I use Quickbooks for the business but still print out paper copies of all the reports. ? I feel better now, yes I do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mtairymd Posted January 2, 2021 Share Posted January 2, 2021 I know I’m different with the paper purge :). I understand keeping paper but most of my important docs are kept in a fire box / safe. Everything else goes to the mysterious cloud. As for wireless charging, I’m curious if anyone has incorporated a design into wood. A simple design is to have the pad visible from the top. A more elaborate design is to pocket from the bottom so there is nothing visible from the top of the desk. I understand the wood would need to be less than 1/4” thick above the pad. Anyway, I agree that it’s pretty new and something else could replace it in a few years. With that said, I wouldn’t cut into your top to add it. Have you considered having having a stand up option? Both my kids like them and they are the rage at work. During normal position, it’s configured as you show it. Press a button or turn a crank and the top moves to stand up height. I know this doesn’t work with how you have it attached to the walls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 2, 2021 Author Share Posted January 2, 2021 1 minute ago, Mtairymd said: I know I’m different with the paper purge :). I understand keeping paper but most of my important docs are kept in a fire box / safe. Everything else goes to the mysterious cloud. As for wireless charging, I’m curious if anyone has incorporated a design into wood. A simple design is to have the pad visible from the top. A more elaborate design is to pocket from the bottom so there is nothing visible from the top of the desk. I understand the wood would need to be less than 1/4” thick above the pad. Anyway, I agree that it’s pretty new and something else could replace it in a few years. With that said, I wouldn’t cut into your top to add it. Have you considered having having a stand up option? Both my kids like them and they are the rage at work. During normal position, it’s configured as you show it. Press a button or turn a crank and the top moves to stand up height. I know this doesn’t work with how you have it attached to the walls. All fair points! Marc did his desk and placed a wireless charger under the (thin) wood. It worked so poorly that he's not using it. Probably a big reason I have my doubts on the technology at this point. Cord management on this project is super high on the priority list! I've been frustrated for quite some time that Mac doesn't have a good "docking station" to help eliminate some of the cords and cables needed to use a laptop as the office computer. This is especially true since they've removed USB from their laptops and gone to all USBC. As for the stand up... I was recently approached by a company to possibly do a review for them in exchange for the hardware. If they meet my terms, I might just do that project this year. Frankly, the hardware isn't that expensive so, might be on the list either way. Regardless, it doesn't really fit my want's and needs for my office space. If it's something I really wanted, I'd probably and a desk mount unit to the current desk design. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted January 29, 2021 Author Share Posted January 29, 2021 Well, I think the end of this job is sneaking up quickly! Looks like I'll be home early in February but, as usual, that's subject to change...lol This (I think) will be the first project I do.. The only part of this I certain of is the top. The rest "could" change on the fly. Like many projects I do for my home, I'll start the build and design/redesign as I go and then develop the plans once all the details are final. Apologies for not being on here much! I've been working nights on this one so, it just seems I don't get much time at the computer. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted January 30, 2021 Share Posted January 30, 2021 Looking forward to the build. Hope you get home early as anticipated. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 As I get closer to getting home, this project is starting to fill my head more and more. I'm grateful that I've had some time to ponder the design concept and think about some details! This was the original design concept... The drawer cabinet on the right is really irrelevant as it just needs to mimic the design of the cabinet on the left which has some specific needs. The cabinet on the left is needed for actual hard copy file storage. I know this is a strange concept to many here but, it's something that I want/need in this cabinet. So, I've created a design that my wife and I really like but, I'm just not sure I can get 2 file drawers in it without being home and grabbing some actual measurements. I know it's close but, I didn't leave a lot of wiggle room so, I'll just have to see when I get home.. Here's the updated file cabinet design. I didn't show the actual drawer fronts but, they should match the dresser nicely... I'm hoping for 2. ? Shortened tapered feet to match the dresser Still a short riser on the top to give the illusion of a floating desk top. - Considering some LEDs in this area as a detail. Interested in thoughts and opinions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chet Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 1 hour ago, Kev said: So, I've created a design that my wife and I really like but, I'm just not sure I can get 2 file drawers in it without being home and grabbing some actual measurements. I know it's close but, I didn't leave a lot of wiggle room so, I'll just have to see when I get home.. If your talking about the height of the drawers being close on getting two drawers, one way to get some space would be to have the drawer bottomless and use the hanging file folders. This might get you a half an inch or more per drawer. But in you plan was to us under mount drawer slides this won't work. 1 hour ago, Kev said: Considering some LEDs in this area as a detail. I am seeing a trend with the LED feature that reminds me of the "make everything out of pallet wood" craze. The other day I was doing a search for LED bulbs that would fit in our bathroom fixture. I while later I was on Youtube clicked on the woodworking button and thanks to the way the internet keeps track of everything we search there were three projects involving LEDs to some extent. Lol Quote "Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for." - Epicurus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev Posted March 13, 2021 Author Share Posted March 13, 2021 14 minutes ago, Chet said: If your talking about the height of the drawers being close on getting two drawers, one way to get some space would be to have the drawer bottomless and use the hanging file folders. This might get you a half an inch or more per drawer. But in you plan was to us under mount drawer slides this won't work. I am seeing a trend with the LED feature that reminds me of the "make everything out of pallet wood" craze. The other day I was doing a search for LED bulbs that would fit in our bathroom fixture. I while later I was on Youtube clicked on the woodworking button and thanks to the way the internet keeps track of everything we search there were three projects involving LEDs to some extent. Lol Both great thoughts and ideas! The first one (bottomless drawers) I hadn't considered.. I'm just now sure how that would work with the under mount glides?? I'll also say that I'm not sure that's a requirement either.. It's an interesting concept I'm looking forward to looking into! As for the LED's, I think you're probably correct! However, since this desk lives in our bedroom and I often work when my wife is trying to sleep, I'm curious if this would create the "ambient" light I'm wanting. My current desk light is simply too bright and my wife often requests that I shut my light off.. I also don't want a "gadget" on the desk that just won't be used.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Posted March 13, 2021 Share Posted March 13, 2021 Kev, I keep hard copies of everything, even after I do a thorough annual "wipe" of my files, I have stuff dating back to the late 60's. My point is I tried the bottomless drawers with hanging folders and it just didn't work. It was too hard for me to keep organized. Not sayin it won't work for you, I would just make sure it is something that meet your needs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted March 14, 2021 Share Posted March 14, 2021 Kev, would you have room to make the right cabinet the same size as the left. Then put a file drawer on the bottom of each and desk drawer(s) above each? I definitely like the new design better. Never did I think you would leave it as simple as the original.? @Bob, not being nosy but just curious. What kind hard copies do you keep for so long? The only thing I can imagine would be old newspaper articles or family memorabilia such as photos, death certificates, marriage license and in my case, divorce decree (just in case?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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