My New Folding Desk

in DIYHub3 years ago

Hello beefriends! I hope everyone is having a great day today. If you follow my blog you know I recently moved apartments, and so since I'm in a smaller space now, I wanted to use an idea I had seen on a minimalist vlogger's YT channel I follow: make a folding desk!

There are these great folding hinges available that you can buy:

So I got a pair of those and used what used to be the top of a large armoir-style desk as my desktop.

Some of the reviews said that using the drywall anchors instead of drilling into studs made it not hold nearly as much as it claimed, and that's what I had to do. I live in a steel-framed apartment building, and tough maybe (?) now that I have a drill I could have drilled into those (but I'm not genuinely sure), I couldn't find studs in the wall where I wanted to put it anyway, so I went ahead and used the drywall anchors.

image from the sales page on Amazon

It should be fine anywho, because I decided to keep my trunk of sewing fabric under there, which will be a support, and then I can slide it out when I need to fold it down for extra room.

desk set up Maggie.jpg
Queen Maggie helped me with installation

So I screwed the brackets onto the desktop first, using the trunk as my "wall" to know where to put them, since I've got heating registers along the bottom of the wall there. This way they are aligned far enough back and straight for when I mount it to the wall itself.

Then I struggled to figure out how to get it onto the wall - the desktop is pretty heavy and it was difficult to keep level when I tried my usual cat shelf-hanging method of balancing it on my head and one hand while I used the drill with the other hand, lol. So that's when I thought of using the trunk:

desk set up 3_LI.jpg

Which turned out to be the perfect height, and my original thought of where to put it (which you can see the pencil line on the wall in that photo) would have been a bit too high, ha ha.

Then I said, Oh No What Have I Done because I realized that I couldn't slide the trunk out with the brackets actually open, and the lip of the desktop was in the way in front. It took me several moments of gnashing my teeth to remember that the lip on the desktop is a separate piece and comes off, so I finally did that today and the trunk indeed does slide out now so I can fold it down when I want:

Yesterday I put up all the accoutrements on the wall above, including my Happy Light and little shelves holding various desk items like pushpins and a stapler and letter paper and whatnot, and some decorations:

desk set up 4.jpg

Even the hexagon shelves went up pretty easily, when in the past I've struggled to align those just right, lol. The cart with my painting supplies went in beside the desk, and I put a crate of notebook/workbook type things that I frequently use as well as my sewing machine underneath.

And now I have a nice, organized work station! :)

Sort:  

You are one who knows that you can't do a proper job without the supervision...

Indeed. I need my furry snoopervisors!

Snoopervisors! LOL! I love it!

Good thing you had Maggie to help!
Very clever idea, and looks smashing.

Thanks! And yes, my kitties help me a lot. 😺

Cudos to you that you managed to set up the desk and to rescue the suitcase (I had images of a sofa and a stairway in my mind… honestly our over neighbors once tried to re-enact Douglas Adams famous stairway situation).
I love how clever you managed the space in your studio. It looks very inviting and inspiring to be creative. Especially the combination of the honeycomb cupboards and the lovely bird.

Ha ha ha, sometimes apartment living has you wondering what on EARTH (or in your case, galaxy) our neighbors are up to. 😂
Thank you! I hope to create all sorts of things here. <3

Nicely done! That looks like an incredibly comfortable room, too.

I happen to balance and measure out surfaces just like you do - I am often finding myself contorted into all sorts of odd positions to finishing hanging things or bolting things together. 😃

Carpentry Yoga is real! LOL 😂

Your place is looking great! I love the new ideas you've been sharing about your blog ideas. If Hive keeps pumping, i will be requesting your help to get myself some fiat! A transaction i haven't done yet! I hope you are really enjoying the shift to your new space! ✌🎵

LOL sure I can help you with that! :)

I am enjoying it - it's a lot of work, but very satisfying! :)

Sweet! Glad to hear you're enjoying the process. Albeit a lot of work!! Moooooving! Is so much work.

Let's watch that hive price, if/ when it gets to 4.44 i will want to sell up a bit! :)

That would be great, eh? 😄

Nicely done, @phoenixwren! You may have inspired me for some folding magic.

untitled.gif

That's a nice room. 😊
I see that you have a tambourine...

Yep! I love playing my tambourine. ^_^ You too?

Well, I don't have a tambourine, but I do have a couple of ukuleles that I like to play... 😀

We could form a band! ;)