Wasted Efforts

One of my major complaints about my apartment is that I didn't have room for the size of computer desk I used to have.  It was this big, glorious, L-shaped corner unit with a hutch.  Just huge.  Had space for everything I needed.  Of course, it took up most of the room it was in, but that was okay, because that room was "the office."  The room my computer is in now is better known as "my bedroom."  And so I'm back to using the much smaller (less than half the size) desk I'd had before the big one.

It's a hand-me-down desk, given to Lorelei and me by her older sister and her husband.  They didn't need it, but didn't want to throw it out.  It's not in the best of shape, either, having been moved many times.  It's banged up, kinda ugly, and not horribly sturdy.  And it just doesn't have enough space for my needs.

I'd been trying to figure out how I could get a larger desk in here, and finally gave up.  It just isn't gonna happen.  Oh, sure, I could get a slightly bigger desk that I could make fit.  But that's not worth the investment.  Nor could I find anything of suitable size that would let me relocate, for example, the printer and/or CPU unit, thus freeing up desk space.

Until last night, when it suddenly occurred to me that I might be able to remove the desk's single file drawer without ruining the integrity of the desk.  So I did.  Mostly.

Turns out the integrity of the desk wasn't ruined, but it was definitely compromised.  As I sat down, after removing the drawer, enjoying the luxury of not banging my right knee all the time, I noticed that my monitor seemed a bit crooked.  Then I noticed why.

In the center of the desk is a vertical board that supports the middle of the hutch.  And up where it connected with the hutch (via metal posts, not an actual firm connection), it was sagging.  There was a quarter-inch gap between the top of the board and the bottom of the hutch.  And if I pushed down on the middle of the desk, the gap increased.

Yikes.

Now, I'm no engineer.  But it occurred to me that I needed something underneath the desk surface to hold up the desk.  And maybe something to help secure that board, maybe in the back, out of sight.  So I emptied the hutch of fifty pounds of books, cleared off the entire desk of stuff, and moved the desk away from the wall.  Naturally, this gave me the opportunity to dust the sucker off, which I did.

And in the process of dusting, I took note of one of the "boo-boos" that happened the last time the desk was put together.  The vertical board in question, as I said, was held upright by two metal posts that were inserted into the top of the board, and they fit into the bottom shelf of the hutch.  Well, for reasons I can't recall, somehow those posts got pushed through the bottom shelf of the hutch, making a mess of the particle board.  I frowned, being reminded of this.  But then I realized this actually offered a solution to my problem.

I drilled down through the holes-that-shouldn't-be-there, deeper into the vertical board.  Then I inserted long wood screws, securing the heads with washers, and screwed them tightly into the board.  Sure enough, that gap disappeared, and the desk was sturdy once again.

Very cool.  Except that now I'd completely emptied the desk and hutch for no good reason, other than to dust it.

Either way, it's now loaded back up, with the CPU unit underneath, where the file drawer used to be.  I have lots more space to use, now, and while it's far from ideal, it's at least a great relief.  This should work well, at least until I move to a larger place.