Where do I put the desk stuff?

August 6, 2007 1:12 PM

I'm moving to a new place. Previously I had a desk and in this new place, I will not. I'm not sure where to put some things.

My old place had a decent sized bedroom that I divided into two spaces: sleep space and desk/work space as seen in this photo.

Once I purchased a laptop, I never ever sat at my desk. I'm now moving into a new place--a one bedroom. I no longer will be using a desk--I got rid of the external monitor, etc.

However, the new place is sorely lacking in closet space. You can check out the layout here. Where should I put the printer/router/vonage thing? I plan on having bookcases in the livingroom, do I put a printer on a shelf? I don't love that idea. Is there some excellent piece of furniture that would work for this that I'm not thinking of? Thanks for any ideas.

posted by jdl to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

My first thought was a small secretary desk like this one, where your printer and computer peripherals hide in the cabinet below and the laptop rides on top. Because it only needs a chair in front of it when it's open and you're using it, it can do double duty as a landline phone stand, a wannabe mantle with pictures of your mom, a place for a favorite houseplant, or even a bit of a room divider, say between the hall and the living room, or between the dining and living areas. If you're using your laptop somewhere else and everything is wireless, you need not even open the desk to print if there's enough room down below.
posted by mdonley at 1:37 PM on August 6, 2007

I like the secretary idea. It sounds like you want to hide all the techie gadgetry, and I don't blame you. You could also get an armoire for your tv, router & other computer accessories, office-type supplies, dvds, etc. Or even just a small cabinet, if you cut a hole in the back for wires to go through.
posted by tastybrains at 1:57 PM on August 6, 2007

How about in the laundry room? How often do you really use the printer?
posted by rhizome at 2:39 PM on August 6, 2007

You keep a remarkably neat room.

I think the small secretary desk would work well. Or one of those nifty corner desks.
posted by crewshell at 2:42 PM on August 6, 2007

Response by poster: crewshell: thanks, but I must admit I cleaned insanely to take that photo for the realtor when I was selling my place. It rarely looked like that neat.
posted by jdl at 2:58 PM on August 6, 2007

Response by poster: The secretary desk is a great idea, I actually own one. I also like the laundry room idea, it's true I rarely print. I'll have to assess once I move in.
posted by jdl at 3:00 PM on August 6, 2007

Besides the fine options listed already, you could use a small credenza.

You don't say where you are working on your laptop - but please consider laptop ergonomics.
posted by jeri at 3:02 PM on August 6, 2007

Could you put the stuff under your bed? Some sort of rolling shelf or even a sturdy sheet of plastic you could pull out would give you easy access when necessary. And that way you wouldn't have a new piece of furniture taking up floor space.
posted by natabat at 3:44 PM on August 6, 2007

When I lived in an apt. with no space I built a really high platform bed to put everything under it. Instead of a dresser taking up extra floor space it went under the bed flush so easy access to the drawers. There was more room for a desk. I also liked that when I was in bed, visually I looked over top of my desk and so it wasn't like my work was staring at me in bed. Likewise when working at the desk, the bed was out of visual range. Somehow it *felt* like each was its own room, even though it wasn't.
posted by kch at 9:32 PM on August 6, 2007

I had this same issue recently. I have a cabinet thing that previously was an island in my kitchen but in new place serves as the TV stand -- VCR and DVD player, plus cable modem, wireless router, and vonage router go inside; I used a hole-drilling bit to drill several holes out the back of the cabinety thing and also in the shelves to maximize wire consolidation. Now everything is neatly tucked away under my TV. wish I had pictures handy but I'm at work =)
posted by Soulbee at 8:36 AM on August 7, 2007