Door or desk?

Captain’s Log, Supplemental

I can’t really complain much about my desk because it was free. A company was going out of business, and they had left their office desks out in the parking lot for anyone to take. So, naturally, we did. :)

It’s a cheap desk, heavy and relatively large. The two file drawers are starting to sag, and the bottoms of the drawers are coming off again (we’d had to nail them in when we first got the desk).

The biggest problem is that the desk is too tall. I have a footrest and I raise my ergonomic chair up to its tallest height, but my chair is still too low for me to comfortably type with the keyboard on the desk.

I shifted the keyboard to my lap, but my trackball is still on the desk.

I like change. Especially when it occurs in my workspace. So I’ve been toying with the idea of what I can do about this problem.

We considered one of those keyboard/mouse drawers that can be attached to the bottom of the desk, which would solve the ergonomic problem.

However, I want to try something I heard about a long time ago but never did—a writer once suggested buying a flat (not beveled) door and raising it to the proper height on cinderblocks.

The hole for the doorknob is perfect for the computer cords to run down under the door. The door also has a larger surface area than my desk now.

I have a desk organizer with drawers for all my pens and things that are in the desk drawers now. I also have a tall file cabinet for the files in my file drawers (which aren’t very many, since the files are mostly in the tall cabinet).

I think it’s a wonderful idea. It’ll also enable me to get rid of a low table I’ve been putting my printer and PC tower on, and once the low table is gone, the door will fit in the same spot as my desk with about six inches to spare. I can also get a narrow bookshelf to enable me to get more vertical storage space.

So, Captain Caffeine is searching on Craigslist for anyone selling a door. Now I only have to worry about not buying one with termites!

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