{"id":6264,"date":"2016-01-01T17:38:41","date_gmt":"2016-01-01T17:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?p=6264"},"modified":"2016-02-07T19:27:12","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T19:27:12","slug":"compact-and-bijou-my-home-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2016\/01\/compact-and-bijou-my-home-office.htm","title":{"rendered":"Compact and bijou – my home office!"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Christmas holidays draw to a close (and they have certainly rushed by), I’m reminded to write about how\u00a0I spent my previous “holiday”.\u00a0October half term was a busy one as we swapped my eldest son’s bedroom and our home office, redecorating and refitting along the way… or, as I wrote on Facebook at the time:<\/p>\n

“1 half term: 9 days of DIY; 3 visits to IKEA; 40+ boxes of flat-packs; 2 trips to the tip; a car full of cardboard; 11 sacks for the bin men…<\/p>\n

…a new (smaller) office for us and two happy boys – one with a much bigger bedroom!<\/p>\n

Back to work for a rest tomorrow!”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, where’s the relevance of all that for my blog? Well, I thought I might write some notes on how we converted the smallest bedroom in the house (approx. 2.15×2.59m) into a reasonable workspace for two people.<\/p>\n

Decorating<\/h3>\n

First up – making good any damage to walls, etc.\u00a0A plasterer once recommended Gyproc Easi-Fill<\/a> to me and it’s wonderful stuff. Easy to work with, and sands to a smooth finish.<\/p>\n

Next, white paint.<\/p>\n

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Made mistake of buying Berger paint from local hardware store (matt white emulsion). Now off to buy something that sticks to the wall…<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) October 24, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe Garry Martin’s comment\u00a0on an earlier post<\/a>, more that I’d had limited time to prepare and that I thought I’d support a local business instead of my usual decorators merchant. Hey, ho!<\/p>\n

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Buy cheap. Buy twice :-(<\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) October 24, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Luckily Homebase had an offer on Dulux white emulsion, although I actually used a couple of coats of their own-brand high opacity paint in the end…<\/p>\n

Fitting out<\/h3>\n

With the room repainted (albeit\u00a0taking more time than I hoped), my attention could turn to fitting things out.\u00a0My previous office had a length of IKEA\u00a0Pragel kitchen counter installed as a desk (my son has it in his bedroom now). IKEA\u00a0don’t make that counter any more, but they do make some good table-tops \u00a0(Linnmon)<\/a> that are very reasonably priced (and also a lot lighter to carry, because the centre\u00a0filling is basically cardboard – not chipboard).<\/p>\n

I needed to cut the table-tops<\/a> to fit the room\u00a0and make an L shape, and I also decided to fix them to the wall – lengths of\u00a050x25mm (planed) timber screwed to the wall as battens\u00a0did the trick there (no need to paint as they are out of sight), with strategically-placed\u00a0IKEA Adils legs<\/a>\u00a0and some brackets to fix the table-tops to the battens (and to hold the table-tops together). The Linnmon tops are also pre-drilled with holes for the Adils legs, which makes things a little easier. \u00a0I found some good advice for setting the desk\u00a0height too<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"IKEANext came cable-management. My previous desk had used IKEA Signum desk grommets but they’ve been discontinued. Luckily they are the same size (65mm) as\u00a0a spare I had from an old desk, so that could be used in my son’s room, whilst I\u00a0recovered a matching\u00a0set of 3 for the office.<\/p>\n

I also used some IKEA Koppla extension leads with built-in USB ports<\/a> to provide some above-desk power.\u00a0Cheaper alternatives are available, but I think they look good screwed to the wall just above the desk.<\/p>\n

Shelving came in the form of the ubiquitous Billy bookcase<\/a> (re-using an existing set of shelves), added to which I put a Best\u00e5 frame<\/a> with a shelf<\/a> under my desk. \u00a0A Stuva wall-cupboard<\/a> lets me hide away most of my clutter, and some Mosslanda picture ledges<\/a>\u00a0finish things off\u00a0for personal odds and ends around the workspace with a Jansj\u00f6 LED lamp<\/a>\u00a0for desk lighting.<\/p>\n

Fixing the cupboard to the wall was a challenge. The wall it’s fixed to is just a stud wall with plasterboard and normal fixings were not really up to the task. \u00a0I picked up some 25mm GripIt fixings<\/a> from my local DIY store that claim to be good for 180kgs each. These fixings (featured on Dragons’ Den<\/a>) are really strong and easy to use<\/a> (although drilling a 25mm hole in my wall did fill me with some trepidation at first).\u00a0I haven’t tested the load\u00a0up to the full weight\u00a0but I can say that the cupboard is fixed really solidly now (although I did use\u00a0some longer M6 bolts to make up for the gap between the back of the cupboard and the wall).<\/p>\n

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The tidiest my desk gets! #NewHomeOffice<\/a> starting to come together now; nice view of the birds in the garden too! pic.twitter.com\/NwhM5G6OiS<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) October 28, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n