Project House Update: Den of Desks

In the next step of our den redo (actually, it was Step 4, but why do step 2 when you can do step 4, right?), we bought a desk!

1. Replace the window. Done! 
2. Remove the built-in desks
3. Buy and install cabinets in place of the built-in desks
4. Buy a floating desk. Done!

Our new desk had several requirements. One, since we wanted to place the desk in the center of the room, it had to look good from all angles.

Two, the desk had to have a lot of computer storage. Since the desk would be in the center of the room, we wanted to be able to house all of the computer 'stuff' in the desk itself. This meant drawers and cabinets either meant for a desktop tower or one that could be modified to accommodate one. A nice place to hide all of the electronic crap. Wires stress me out. Clean and calm space, the opposite of the one below.

So when you cut out desks meant to be pushed up against walls and 'desks' that are really just expensive tables, you're left with the term "executive desk". Executive desks, oddly enough, are usually made for executives, therefore expensive. And to be honest, overcompensating.

Originally I had my eye on the Liatorp from Ikea. I was so convinced that it would work for us that I talked Dan into stopping at Ikea on the way home from visiting his parents at Christmas. While it's a nice desk, we couldn't picture it in our den. To be the centerpiece of the room, it just wasn't 'special' enough. It was a nice desk, but just a desk.

As much as I hate it, Dan found the one we fell in love with. This one from Sauder. It was simple, yet classy. Pretty from all angles. Seven drawers with the potential to fit a large desktop tower. We hunted around and found it on sale for roughly $400 with shipping. Not as cheap as Ikea, but pretty damn close. 

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A few weeks later, it arrived! And since Dan has no patience, unless it's something I'm asking him to do it, he got to work putting it together. Why wait to take out the old desk when you can see how many desks one room can hold?

Here's the finished desk! It's just so pretty. It's simple and pretty, yet the drawer fronts have just enough mid-century modern quirk. The beige drawers have a fabric-texture front. I was worried about it being cheap and poorly done, but the fronts are very well executed. And since the drawers face the window, not the doorway, it's like the quirks are my own little secret. You have to make an effort to get to see them. That and the cats can run back and forth under it to their hearts' content. They love it more than we do. 

Sam loves sitting on top of it. It's his new favorite thing, especially biting me when I try to pet him on it. While my husband is a sweetheart and assembled the desk as a surprise for me, it's so in the way right now. I have to walk around it to feed the cats and it's a feat on my part that I still have hip bones. Maybe Dan's plan was to make the desk inconvenient as motivation for us to make progress on the room. It hasn't been working, but it's a nice idea.

The only thing holding us back from tearing out the old built-in desks is figuring out what to do with our computers. Originally, Dan was on board with installing the desktop in one of the drawers of the new desk, but now he's changing his mind. He wants ALL THE TECH while I want it very streamlined and clean. I'll convince him. It'll just take me some time.