At some point, some years ago, like 15 or more, we decided Jess needed a computer desk of her own. The previous set-up, where we were sharing a medium sized table, wasn’t going to work anymore, we were going dual monitor. Being pressed for time (and money), I threw together something temporary out of a couple of 2x4s, some scrap poplar boards scavenged from a display and a piece of MDF.
No, this wasn’t the most attractive thing I’ve ever made, but it was sturdy and functional. Time goes by and I made a modification where the PC now sits on a shelf off of the floor. This was an important change. You see, it’s a hardwood floor, and we have many huskies. So the chassis fan was ingesting an inordinate amount of dog fur. Husky fur is especially adept at hold in heat. Good for dogs, very very bad for computers.And one of the dogs, Rigo of the 100 lbs, likes to be at her feet under the desk and flops. Against the computer case. So I had to secure the case to the table so he wouldn’t knock it off the shelf. Here’s a picture of it as of last week.
Now this was a really unattractive arrangement and it eventually exceeded my ability to ignore it. Especially in light of all the work I’ve done on the house since the start of WFH. The place is looking pretty good except for the office and the tool room, time to start working on these places. The first thing that needed to go is that ugly table. It was fine 15 years ago, but my skills and funding have improved quite a bit.
The new one is oak, of course, in a somewhat Arts & Crafts style, since the computers of that time were people, not little boxes. There was a board I had been saving for a special project. Red oak, 15″ wide and 12′ long, clear as day, no knots or checks. The first 5 feet of that became the top of the new desk as the top is 60″ x 18″. The glue up went so well, it’s hard to tell there are two boards in the top and it’s the back of the top anyway. A built-in monitor stand, integral wiring channels, etc. Basically incorporating all the I’ve learned holding together the old one and making mods.
So, here it is. Also sporting a new PC, purple of course. That’s the defining feature. If you ask Jess what kind of computer she has, she’ll say purple. I’ll tell you it’s an i5-12600K with 32GB of DDR5 RAM, a 1TB M.2 SSD, and a RTX 2060 6GB video card. All crammed into a SFF CoolerMaster case which required using a mini-ITX sized motherboard. Still with me? Ha!
Of course the feature that stands out when looking at the computer, besides the purpleness, is the vulgar display of pixels on top. At some point last year, maybe anniversary, I forget exactly, I ran across a too good to pass up deal on an LG 49″ super wide curved monitor. It’s 5120×1440 pixels and quite awesome for running two game clients side by side.
Above is a 43″ 4K TV that’s mounted to the wall, I know it looks like it’s on the monitor mount, but it’s not. The only mount I could find that would hold the heavy monitor was way taller than I needed, but the hardware is arranged such that I couldn’t really cut it short. Anyway, it’s usually off except for hockey season, now sadly over.
Pardon the crappy white balance. The room is a sunflowery yellow, is being top lit by 5000K LEDs and daylight (overcast thankfully) from behind. The rug is a deeper red than it seems, though it’s often hard to tell given the husky fur.
Finally some glamor shots from my photo studio (aka the living room). I don’t bother with this often because it’s such a PITA to drag the light stands, backdrop (and stands), tripod, etc. out and move all the furniture around. Gah. While it was set up, I also shot the A&C sofa from last year. I didn’t have good pictures of that at all.
