The Secret Life of the Desk

I recently acquired a new desk.

This was an important purchase for a few reasons:

• I was starting to suffer from Repetitive Strain Injury, yes, yes very funny but seriously it ain’t a pleasant feeling.  One afternoon, after having spent all day on my laptop (from the comfort of my sofa) the index finger of my right hand had a throbbing (stoppit!), pain and then began to swell like, 3 times its size.  Ok, maybe 2 times its normal size.  Either way, it was sore.  And my finger stayed like that for 3/4 days.
• I needed some sort of separation of space; so that every time I lounged on my sofa, I wasn’t constantly reminded of my procrastination where my studies and blog was concerned.
• I liked the idea of having an industrious looking vibe in my apartment, in a Carrie Bradshaw kind of way, minus all the relationship bulls**t, although I live in Belfast and not NYC.  I also don’t have Mr Big lusting after me either.  So basically, my Carrie Bradshaw vibe would have absolutely nothing to do with Carrie Bradshaw.

The Great Carrie. I’m clearly the essence of her in every way, now that I have a desk in my open-plan apartment too. Clearly.

So the hunt began.

This desk had to be special.  It had to be symbolic of my creative pain, joy, triumph, perceived shortcomings and everything in between.  Yes, on any given day my opinion and mood regarding my creative ability can be that changeable.

It also had to be ridiculously cheap.  Actually, this was the most important factor.  Reality sucks, right?  But it also HAD to offer a little bit of a designer edge.  That’s who I am.  I can’t have ‘ordinary’, or ‘average’.  No, sir.

There’s only one place that can offer cheap, mixed with a little bit of the ‘funky’.

And that’s IKEA.

I’ve rambled previously about the wonder and awe of IKEA.  Check it out here.

I also enjoy building stuff.  There’s nothing better than digging out my ‘single girlie DIY survival pack’ of multifunction screwdriver, cordless drill and loads of other stuff – I would list them but I don’t know what they’re called.  Plugs?  That sounds wrong but I’m almost sure there’s plugs in there, although maybe I’m getting that confused with an entirely different ‘single girlie survival pack’….moving swiftly on.

Anyway, my DIY assembly techniques always involve background music, a glass of wine, with sheer and utter chaos strewn all over my living room floor.  It’s how I like it.

So, without further ado, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to my super duper, life enhancing desk.

I need to talk about design aesthetics here for a second.  So please humour me while I do just that.

This desk appealed to me because of its space saving design.  I HATE spaces that utilise every morsel of space and therein make a room appear smaller and cluttered.  HUGE pet-hate!!

It’s dark brown.  I dig dark brown furniture (I ain’t a pink and frilly type of gal).  I’m attracted to the strong, imposing masculine connotations of dark furniture, especially when its positioned in a neutral backdrop, it’s a very rich combination.  This particular desk also has metal detailing on one side, I felt it complimented the whole industrial vibe I have going on, especially when paired with the Tolix.  Yes, I mentioned Tolix again.  I’m sorry, I can’t help it!

The desk even has a cute little drawer.

Listen, don’t judge me, us creatives have to get our inspiration from somewhere.
Ok, sometimes we need A LOT of inspiration.
Notice how IKEA very kindly supplied 3 extra screw things. How thoughtful.

But I have to be honest, my desk doesn’t always reflect my organised, sensible and very ‘together’ lifestyle and outlook.

I’m intentionally avoiding ALL reference to rubber gloves.
I was so sure that I removed those.

It might be an unwilling participant but my desk is central to all of my creative highs, lows and certain periods of tipsy procrastination.  Actually, it’s the most stable and reliable force in my life at the minute.

I should really polish it more often.