Dream Desk

I designed this desk back in October at the beginning of the course. I designed it in a way that would utilize all the skills I had learned thus far, without incorporating anything new, like I had been doing with the other projects. I knew it would be a huge undertaking, so I wanted to keep the processes required to make it simple. I didn't realize it would be as intensive as it ended up being though. In my inexperience, I completely forgot to factor in sanding and gluing up such a huge piece. The sanding of each component actually took weeks. I had to ask friends for help in holding pieces together to glue them, and used way too many clamps. Probably more than I needed, in retrospect. ​​But I could never be too sure. Sadly, I ran out of time to construct my drawers for my final show, so I quickly built a shelf mock up to slot inside the empty space. Even though I intended the desk to be a culmination of my learning, I still ended up learning a lot more while building it. I started with a to scale mock up, which taught me that most of my design didn't work.

I troubleshooted constantly while making the desk. I needed to make sure each part, especially the middle piece, could be structurally sound on their own. I also needed to make sure they would come together and lock as one large corner desk.

My biggest goal and challenge was to construct the center so I could sit in it, with the desk primarily being supported by the back weight of the plywood sheets on the back, and the cabinets on either end of the side desks. While mocking it up, I was surprised by my final design. The center of gravity of the center desk ended up working out perfectly, leaning back and standing up on its own. Using it without the side desks though wasn't too sturdy. But once I connected the desks together, they fit perfectly and no matter how hard I press down on the center desk, it doesn't budge. I designed the foot rests to the perfect height for when I lean back, and even measuring that out was an adventure.

​This desk took a lot of trial and error. I rehearsed multiple times before gluing any pieces up. This project felt so different from all my previous ones mostly because of the size, but also because the actual milling was so easy and familiar. I had all the pieces ready for my desk by February. Yet the actual desk was only ready for the show a couple hours before I had to set it up. Even then I only had the drawer fronts with no actual drawers installed.

For the construction of the desk, I used biscuits and dowels to secure the joinery. As you can see in the photos, the birch plywood was edged up by a thick teak plank I milled down for all the edges of my desk. I joined it with biscuits and left a shoulder to attach my cabinetry and table legs to. I drilled two holes in the top of each leg to attach to the table top with dowels. The supports across each side desk were also connected with dowels. For the bottom of the cabinets, I created a mitered frame from the teak to protect the plywood and also to maintain a nice symmetrical look fro the finished product. I cut grooves along the whole frame so that I could slide the tightly fitting plywood in place as I glued it up to make sure everything fit snugly. I finished the edge of the cabinet plywood with birch edging strips. It was the first time I had used the material, and it was very fun ironing it on. I surprised myself with how precise my measurements ended up being. I expected to have to cut down the legs or the plywood backing the center desk, but it ended up landing perfectly flush on the ground when I threw everything together.

This long project was a test of my patience. Back when I didn't have a full grasp of how long it took to build furniture, and all the time consuming yet simple processes involved, I thought I'd have this desk done by December 2018. Boy was I wrong. Now that I know how long sanding, polishing, and finishing really take, I'm so proud of my efforts under large time crunches. The desk ended up working out perfectly for all my needs, and it really is my dream desk. I ended up scrapping a lot of plans for my final show in order to finish the stools and desk on time, but the experience as a whole was definitely worth it. And who knows, maybe those ideas will show up in other forms some time in the future! For now, click through the slide shows at the bottom for the finished desk and more work in progress images. If you click through all the way to the end, you'll see the finished desk in use! Thank you for following along on my journey in Oberlin College's Senior Studio course, I'll be posting a reflection soon!