Our Office Desk

There are things in my house that I'm willing to pay good money for and there are things that I am not.  For example, I'll pay good money for the perfect kitchen sink faucet.  I spend a lot of time there and it needs to be exactly what I need.  If this house was my office, then the sink would need to be as perfect as my office chair-am I right, ladies?  When it comes to my computer desk, however, I don't need anything fancy.  

With our family growing, every inch in our house has to be working efficiently.  Losing our office to Fern's room, we had to find a new place to store our computer and papers and such.  To be truthful, our "filing system" wasn't that great to begin with.  We needed something different and the requirements were:

it had to be small

it had to fit our computer

it had to store our papers and organize us well

it had to be semi-cute

most importantly, it had to be CHEAP

What I came up with: nothing on my own.  I saw this idea from my friend, Renee, who has great style and a fabulous pinterest account!  Her husband made her a desk using with red file cabinet and a wooden top.  Aborbs {how the cool girls say adorable}!  With a few calls and texts to her on how it was made, John and I figured out how to make our own version with a taupe cabinet and painted-white top.

 

The file cabinet sticks out just a bit in the back, but it isn't noticeable unless I look back there.  The extra room provides space for the thousands of cords.  It almost looks purposeful. 

Here's a hint about the file cabinet: they're easy to find.  Walmart sells them for about $35, they can commonly be found at thrift stores, or someone has one for free.  That's what happened to us.  I put on Facebook that I wanted one, and within 24 hours, I was going to pick one up.  for free.  from someone who was getting rid of theirs.  There is free one out there for everyone, I just know it.

It kind of bugs me that the top of the desk is mostly covered with stuff.  If I had my way, the speakers and printer would be in hiding and the cords would not be there.  Right now, there is no place for any of that to go, so I embraced the cluttered look and put a lamp up there to.  I really love lamps-especially glass based lamps. I got this one in green glass at Ikea - $20.

I like it.  It has served us well for the few months that we've had it.  I would like to redo a chair to put there; paint the legs since we painted the top; and find something creative to do with the cords.  I might get John to make me a cable box like the one that Heidi showed me.

It's nothing fancy, but it works and that's all I wanted.  Even though Pottery Barn has some cute systems, we've got our solution covered.  For less than $30.

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There isn't a step by step tutorial on how to make one.  I figure if someone wants to make one, then they can probably figure it out.  We only bought three things {because the file cabinet was free}:

Home Depot sells small sheets of wood that are almost as big as deep as the cabinet and pretty long. We bought the cheapest piece of wood for around $10.  While we were there, we had them cut it to the exact length that we wanted-something they do for free and saved John some time.

We bought one piece of a square pole thing, that John cut down {with a handsaw} to make the legs.  They are the same height as the cabinet.  Around $5

We also bought a strip of wood that he cut down {with a handsaw} to go around the front and two sides.  It keeps the top from sliding around. Around $5