Dec 1, 20213 min read

Building my Dream Home Office

I've always wanted my own desk, not a normal desk for normal people but a really fucking big one! And made of wood.

To me, a large desk looks and feels productive even without being used. It's a blank canvas for creativity, cooperation, cohorting, calling, constructing, careful considerations and well... just about anything else you want. To be the proud owner of a large desk though requires a location in which it can be situated, A desk of such grandeur requires a domain of its own, one that it can rule over, take control of and dictate the look and feel. So what better location for a desk than an office? I hear you say.

So this is where I started then, a recently purchased house (not purchased solely for the desk, I promise) and a room with a plan. I already had a few bits and pieces of furniture like a chair, desk and side unit which I could adorn my newly acquired office space with and at the heart of this new productivity powerhouse was to be my computer. And here valued readers was it...

Now this is not what I would call amazing and it certainly wasn't what I had in mind. In fact it was actually a downgrade from my previous setup in my rented room. However, it was functional, did do the job and kept me going while I deliberated, doodled, doubted and devised what I actually wanted to do with the space.

Some people like to dive right into a project but I have to plan. I'm scared of messing it all up and I couldn't bare it if I got something wrong or left something out of the design and then have to live with it - It's probably the reason why I don't have any tattoos. I'd never be satisfied - The design came together over many hours of browsing Pinterest and walking around the room playing with different ideas in my head, tape measure in hand.

In the end the design was very simple and minimalist. This was partly due to size constraints and needing to be efficient with the space, I'm also partial to a bit of minimalism. That being said, I also like functionality and practicality - there is something about having things to hand in a well designed and organised space that gives me the tingles and a sense of satisfaction.

Caveat - My job has the Twatish title of Augmented Reality Architect. Which basically means I know how to create stuff in augmented reality. So to help me visualise the space and hopefully reduce errors I built a simple AR mock-up of what I wanted.

Look, I was very serious.

Augmented Reality version completed and design ideas chosen, it was time to immerse myself back in the real world. What I would find is a room in need of a good lick of paint, cracks to be filled and new sockets to be installed. I have created a list of the all the paints, furniture items, gadgets and gizmos at the bottom of this post for those that find themselves drawn to any particular item

I will mention at this point that at the time of this office creation I had no intention of starting the website or blog for that matter and therefore the entire process hasn't been fully documented. "Thank god" you are probably thinking it's already long enough.

Anyway, below are some photos of the room being decorated.

Task 1 - Fill and sand all the gaps, holes cracks and dents

Task 2 - Undercoat all the walls with white paint

Task 3 - Two coats of colour (Basically Black & Rock Salt)

On the run up to moving into my new home and getting to work on the office, I made sure to always keep an eye out for bits and pieces that I thought would work with the design style. This meant after decorating I was pretty much ready to go. All I had to do was assemble everything.

The desk which was the driving force behind the rooms revamp is a custom build and is actually a piece of kitchen worktop that has been cut to fit the space. Not the easiest of jobs but with a bit of help from a very practical parent, we got it done in a morning. I may do a more detailed post on the construction of the desk.

And there you have it and I for one couldn't be happier! Unfortunately you all can't come and see it for yourselves but below is a 360 tour of the room, which is next best thing.