About a year and a half ago I started looking into a better work station system for my office.  The long hours editing photo shoots was beginning to take toll on my body due to the ergonomic nightmare that is the corner desk arrangement I currently have.  I had been reading about the benefits of standing desks and decided to take the plunge.  After searching online off and on for a few months, I became disillusioned with the available choices.  Nothing really fit my need for functionality or style at any price.  I could spend $2000 – $3000 and up for a semi-custom desk that was designed within a unacceptable range of dimensions or a little less for a janky looking one with no style.  I regrettably realized that it was project time.  Regrettably, because projects of this sort take me forever to complete.  On the positive side, I have a couple of architect friends who own a design/build company and a fully decked out fabrication shop.  With the help of my friend Hiro, and his expertise with CAD software, I set out to design a desk that would hopefully meet my expectations.  After a few tweaks here and there we came up with a basic design that would see a few small modification during fabrication.  Next up was buying the basic materials for the frame.  In this case, several sticks of 1.5 inch tube steel, a bunch of weld-on tabs, and a lots of grinder disks.  Over a few weeks, we cut, ground, and dry fit the pieces together.  Next it was a lot of welding and grinding as the basic frame came together.  We did the same for the floating frame that supports the wood top.  Next step was welding all the tabs in place and grinding the welds smooth.  After the steel cooled, we bolted it all together and sent it to the powder coater for nice dark-pewter finish.

Five months went by before I was able to work on it again.  2011 was a very busy year for Ewert Photography, and things didn’t slow down until the end of December.  Taking advantage of the holiday season, I worked for over two weeks to get it finished.  This was the woodwork portion.  The decorative panels are wood floor planks (hand-scraped Acacia) bonded to a melamine sheet.  Getting the spacing right was interesting due to all the planks being different sizes.  Of course, the square footage I needed was slightly more than one box contained, but this gave me enough options so I could choose a decent pattern.  At this point it was really starting to come together, and the light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter.

The top was a bit of a challenge, and the first attempt was going to be three layers of very high quality half-inch maple plywood, but after cutting it all and fitting it into place I didn’t like the size and abandoned the design.  The gluing was going to be a pain anyway.  Enlarging the top enhanced the look to a much greater degree than I expected.  Sometimes you can’t visualize a design until you see it in the flesh.  I bought two new sheets of birch plywood (this time three quarter inch) which meant only one gluing session and less slippage frustration.  To give the top a floating appearance, and keep weight down, only the outer three inches are double thickness.  The finish on the wood was more delicate than anticipated, and in a last minute nod to practicality, I ended up placing a laminate top over the wood for durability.  After a bit of sanding and drilling out the wire holes it was done!

Though it took a long time to complete due to work schedules and other factors, I am very happy with the end result.  It could probably be used as a tornado shelter too.

This is just a very basic overview of the process, and if anyone is interested in more details please feel free to contact me.