Sunday, May 02, 2010
Built-Ins!
Okay, built-in...this weekend I decided to tackle a long-term problem. One of the things you learn in a smaller house is to really make the most of all space. In one of my secondary bedrooms there is an awkward little corner between the closet and a floor-to-ceiling window. To put it in perspective, the area you see below is about 28" wide and about 30" deep from the center divider of the window. I decided that this might be a nice spot for a built-in desk.
Below I'm making the ledgers for the top to sit on. Sometimes it's the little details that can make the difference. Normally, you would only see the bottom of this desk when hooking up your computer. However, being that we're near a full-height window and there's glass down below, it seemed like I should spend a little extra care. On the ledgers I drew the center line, laid out my screws, and pre-drilled before installation. It made them a lot easier to mount and they look a lot nicer.
The almost-finished product turned out pretty well. The angle was added because it's gives just a little extra width for a keyboard / mouse and also aligns your chair with the open window to take advantage of nice breezes. The top of the desk was also painted with high-gloss enamel to make for easier cleaning. I still need to cut in the wall-color and finish painting the window frame.
Here's the underneath. All of the ledgers have also been properly caulked so there are no gaps. Again, it's really the little things that can make the difference. There are two things that give the built-in look: 1. items that are custom-sized / proportions for a specific space and 2. No gaps between the unit and the house. I've still got some more painting to do here.
Ultimately, I was able to get rid of a large, bulky desk and replace it with this...in a space that wasn't being used for anything. In a small room that also has a tv and queen size bed, it makes a big difference. # posted by Stephen @ 10:26 PM 
