Submitted by Barrett Morgan ... on
In college I stood up to study, do homework, pace around, invent things, it was a habit that I thoroughly enjoyed.
While starting up the business I tried to find the most appropriate good looking desk I could find. It had curves, storage, and was a corner desk that acted like a mini L shaped desk. It worked great in our little 11x7 closet office.
The problem with that little desk is that I sat all day long. I gained a good 15lbs after starting my own web design business. It wasn’t healthy.
After moving to a bigger office and realizing the opportunity I had to finally have enough room to play with multiple work spaces and see what I really needed, I built a standing desk.
This isn’t your ordinary standing desk, it’s a drafting table too. The whole front of the top rests on an aluminum pipe, and the back latches down to a 2x4 so it doesn’t flip up on you randomly. So when I want off of the computer to go back to the stone-age of pencil and paper, I unlatch the table locks, prop the top on some books, and have a drafting table to work with. I often have the computer on it while it’s tilted to raise my screen up a little bit.
The whole frame is made from cedar 4x4 posts. It’s beefy. I used pocket holes and wood glue to put the rectangle sides together. The horizontal piece on the floor is just held in with 7” long lag bolts that are maybe 1/2” thick.
How did I figure out the measurements? The height is up to my elbows (almost) and the width was just the size of that top piece of inch thick butcher block-ish board. They sell those big pieces at the major orange and blue handyman stores.
So far I love it. A friend gave me an old drafting chair that helps alleviate some back pain throughout the day. I feel more active standing up and I don’t go home feeling worthless. I walk around my office randomly and I feel like I get a lot more done. I’ve even lost 10lbs by not sitting on my butt all day (and taking my own lunch to work).
I kept the design very minimal. I wanted it to look a little contemporary and not like anything you could find in the stores. Hopefully I can wrap the walls in a counter top the same height as the desk to make the workspace in the office HUGE.
Down with the cube, down with sitting all day, hooray for standing desks and good health!!!
