I need a desk for my stuff

Organichu

Things that I do not need:

-"media storage", via any sort of slotted area to insert CDs
-a floor compartment to hold a PC tower
-Anything longer than 50 or so inches

I'm looking for a desk for my laptop/24" monitor/360/printer... basically everything not clothes. I don't really need drawers or a keyboard tray, either. I guess I could probably use a table of some kind, but I figure computer desks might be a little more vertical, versus deep. The room's small in general, so if I could find a 45" long desk with a high shelf for the printer, and less than 20" deep... that'd be frigging great.

Budget: hopefully no more than $100 but willing to go above that for a very nice item.

Improvolone

Buy a table and put some shelves up?

Organichu

Improv what's the easiest way to do that without leaving anything permanent on the walls?

Rhino

Go to a thift store if you are on a budget. They have a lot of neat stuff for cheap. I got one table for like $4 and it worked out prefect.

mts

you can always take down shelves its super easy if you take your time.

for a while we used an ikea build your own table as a desk.

Improvolone

Organichu wrote: »

Improv what's the easiest way to do that without leaving anything permanent on the walls?

For the record, nothing is permanent.

Because of my constraints, I am using a 12'' deep shelf for a standing desk and I have two 10'' shelves above that. The long desk shelf uses three brackets, two screws each, each crew going into a 50lb drywall anchor. The two shelves use two brackets, similar setup.
When I move I will unscrew the screws, and either drive the anchors in deeper or try to remove them, and then fill the holes with some wall putty (really really easy).

tools that you will want to make installing shelves easy:
power drill
some drill bits
level
the right anchors and screws

Organichu

I don't think my dad would be cool with me drilling (even if I could assure him that the holes were easily reparable), but I appreciate the info nonetheless.

Improvolone

er, what? Making holes in drywall is a common practice. Is anything anywhere in the house somehow afixed to the wall without one of those 3M adhesive hooks? Maybe speakers, a picture, a clock, etc?
Then a hole was made.

But yes, I don't know your dad and you do. It's just a very very strange concept.

1ddqd

I bought a large tabletop and legs at Ikea for $65 total, holds my tower, 23" monitor, 3 of my 5.1 speakers, and a large stack of books (at the moment).

If you stand the 360 on end, it would hold a normal sized printer as well. The table is very light and very strong - I had a 22" CRT on it in the middle for about 8 months with no sagging. The tabletop was 59" though. If 50 "or so" inches is your absolute max, you won't be able to fit everything on there. Keyboard/mouse takes up a good third of the space, for sure.

Organichu

Improv: basically my dad is as ignorant of construction and DIY as I am, so even something as simple as a simple screw in the wall makes him incredibly nervous that his landlord will suddenly crash upon his head. Considering I'm not paying rent, I'm loathe to be a pest and argue the issue... hence my not having the ISP I'd like, also (since that would require invasive drilling). Thanks for the info, though. Maybe I'll be able to work him over.

1ddqd- I saw a few of those 'legs and tops sold separately' things at Ikea yesterday... are the holes in the table (for the leg clamps/brackets/whatever) already pre drilled? I basically want to be able to open whatever I get, and the only thing I need to do is have a screwdriver.

Organichu

Bah, I'm dumb- I actually clicked on the link and it mentions the leg holes are pre drilled.

Thanks!

Also, Improv- I use a laptop so the keyboard/mouse isn't necessary. Basically, here's my layout:



The desk is going to go along longer western wall. With the space occupied by the door (when open) I have about 54" (though I'm giving myself a few inches just to be safe- that's why I'm saying no longer than 50") of length to be occupied by a desk. It 'can be' more than 22 inches deep, though I don't necessarily want it occupying too much of my tiny room. My bed will be along the wall on the right- the one that's 8'. So, I want to leave some space to move around in the middle.

So, no longer than 50 or so inches is an absolute requirement but I guess it can stand to be kind of deep.

Improvolone

Be very aware of the Ikea table top you choose. Some are solid wood, others are hollow with this weird carbdboard honeycombing in it. They also scratch really fucking easily.
Some Ikea stuff is awesome, but some stuff is just not worth it.

rockmonkey

What about something like this: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=11003011
$66.00 + tax, free site to store shipping (order online and they ship it to your local wal-mart for you to go and pick up).

Kistra

I have this ikea desk and really like it:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90079211

I found the shelves very sturdy (they were full of textbooks for 2 years with no sagging at all) and I put my printer in the cubby where the desktop computer is supposed to go. It does have a drawer and a keyboard tray but you can always not install the keyboard tray and drawers are useful for throwing random crap into when tidying your room. I used the area under the little side shelf as a charging station and had my cell phone, mp3 and camera chargers under there.

I did find the desk a little bit dark because my place only has overhead lighting and the shelves block a lot of that out so I bought a little stick up light and stuck it to the bottom of the lower shelf. That was really my only complaint and it was easily fixed.

The metal things across the top are basically just hoops that stick into little holes in the top. You can use them to organize papers/folders or not use them at all. I took most of them out and had speakers up top (along with some more textbooks).

EDIT I realize this is too late for the OP, but if anyone else is looking for inexpensive furniture, check on craigslist. You can find a lot of ikea stuff for about half off.

Organichu

I actually found a desk today at Staples that I really liked. Thanks for the help, fellas. $<70. It has a shelf for the printer, a hutch thing on top for the monitor (and under that I can put the 360 horizontally... and plenty of room in front of me for my laptop, external KB/mouse if I want them, camera, cell phone, whatever.