Smasharoo wrote:
Specifically I rebuilt my long suffering desk
I like the end result. That said, I can't imagine restoring an industrialist desk like that. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a new one? I mean if we were talking a belle epoch chinoiserie, sure. Very possible I'm missing something, I know nothing about furniture like that offhand.
The problem with getting a new one was finding something that large, with a layout I like, that is solid enough to support servers and whatnot that get worked on occasionally and has a decent cable path layout. Cost wasn't the issue, it was more finding something comparable. I looked at many, many desks before I decided to just rebuild it. It's a really, really large desk. I like the way my desk layout works, it's pretty much ideal for my needs. Getting into something similar in size, most of my options are either going to be full on cubicle furnature, which is generally going to have the cubicle walls to contend with, something all up custom, which would be about the same cost, or trying to adapt something piecemeil. I did consider going with a fully built in, braced off the wall unit, but in the end I decided I like the ability to move the desk if I need to.
Plus if I were going with something new I still would have added the custom features like the side slide keyboard tray so I can shove the secondary keyboard over for someone else to use, monitor mount arms, the main keyboard tray itself (almost no one makes a 30" wide keyboard tray in an undermount slide out configuration that is worth anything).
That and getting large things home can be problematic, since delivery to ridgefield is hit or miss. And this way I don't have to get rid of the old desk. Ignoring the cabinits ($240), which I would have put in either way, and the monitor mount arms($200 for both), which I would have bought either way for a new desk or the existing one, the whole project ran me about $350, $100 of which was the laminate trim router. $50 of that was the keyboard tray, then $150 for the 2 laminate sheets, $30 worth of veneer, the rest was glue stain and fastners. A similar sized new desk started at around $500 for a cheap one.