$20 Standing Desk

I’m no longer frustrated that I’m not comfortable in the chair
– I got rid of it.

A couple months back, I started a serious and deliberate re-work of my office. While the introduction of a monitor extension arm helped – I was still uncomfortable. By the end of the day, I was achey, cranky, short-tempered, generally more in a mood to take a nap than be a dad.

On a whim, I stopped at IKEA and checked out their AS-IS section where I met a 17″x33″ kitchen wall cabinet for $20. Set sideways on my desk – it was the perfect height for a standing desk.

Plus, the pre-drilled holes were perfect for sending USB and power cables through.

The monitor peeks just over the top of the cabinet at an viewing angle that feels much more natural to me. My optometrist recommended that I relax my eyes throughout the day by not look a the screen – instead look at something a couple feet away (like the blank wall across the room). With this angle and height of the monitor, I can easily remove the monitor from my field of vision

The top (cabinet’s side) is just big enough for my notebook, keyboard, and trackpad. Nothing more. No room for clutter. Everything else that I might need – pens, notecards, test computers, storage drives – are all tucked inside the cabinet.

On the floor – an old yoga mat folded in half.

The lack of a chair keeps me free to wiggle, fidget, lean, stretch, and think, in a way that allows me to get into, and maintain, the flow of work very easily.

After working on at the standing desk for a just few weeks the thought of sitting down in a chair for long periods of times sounds hot, restrictive, and a form of entrapment.

Oh, the cute cat picture, in the corner , that’s the HP TouchPad blasting jungletrain.net.