Desk Hack Featured on Unplggd!

Not only was our July mission featured on Ikea Hacker, we're also featured on Unplggd, too. Now our mission video has over 3,000 views! Yeah, our desk gets around.

Ikea Mission Featured on Ikea Hacker!

Our July Mission is featured this week on ikeahacker.blogspot.com, the foremost collection of ikea hacks on the web! Thanks to Jules for posting it.

We forgot to post our third Ikea Hack blog which outlines why our desk is ergonomic, so we apologize. It's hard to focus on the blog when you're having way too much taking the Fiesta for a spin.



To make any desk ergonomic, the monitor must be at eye level or slightly below. It must also be 18-22 inches from the eyes. With our design, we can pull the monitor closer depending on the person, and push it back if we need to use the desk surface.



Your back must make full contact with the backrest, and you must sit all the way back in your chair. Your lower back must fit into the curved lumbar support. Tilting back is permitted, as it is better for your back to be fully rested on the back of the chair rather than hunched forward.



Thighs should be parallel to the floor and feet should be flat. My thighs could be a bit more parallel, so I could slip a footrest under to bring my knees up an inch or two. This desk and chair combo is customizable for Joel as well, and he's 6' 3".



When typing, forearms must be parallel to the floor. Keyboard must be at elbow height. Elbows and forearms rest comfortably on the arms of the chair.


And that's about it! You can get even more technical if you want, but these are the specs given to me by my physical therapist. Once I started using this desk, I have not had any back problems. That's worth all the extra effort!

Ikea Hack Part 2 - Cables and Paint

So now that we had our basic pieces, the details were starting to come together. The magazine file boxes have holes in them, which was perfect for running cables through to the devices inside. One magazine file has an external hard drive in it, and the other can be used as a charging station:

That was a pretty good start, but we really don't like having untidy cables running to and fro. We left the back off of our Vika Furusund drawer unit and side-mounted a power strip behind the drawers. Excess cable slack was wrapped around the support bracket we built into the unit. A power brick sits nicely behind the bottom drawer.

To accommodate the wires running from the top of the desk, Joel found an old crash bar from a commercial door in our garage. After he took out the push part, a nice 29" aluminum U channel remained. It even had a few places for screws that worked out great for securing it to the underside of the desk. (Just make sure any screws you use aren't too long so they don't poke through the table top!)

The channel had plenty of room to run all of the cables from the back of the computer, plus he was able to hide the slack inside as well. He cut a few notches to accommodate the cables coming from different angles. It worked perfectly:



You can use a number of different things as a U channel: U-shaped brackets, plastic tubing, etc. Just take a look around your hardware store and see what you can find.

Next, we decided to paint our desk. If you're going to paint, make sure you allow plenty of time for each coat to dry. This is very important if you want your desk to look and feel good. For example, this project took about a week to complete with adequate dry time.

If your desk is already the color/finish you want, skip to Part 3, otherwise, read on!

Start by painting with a good primer. For this project we used Kilz 2. Painting with a primer ensures that all of your pieces will look the same color when you're done. Don't worry if the primer is a little uneven. Just make sure there are no drips at the edges or runs. Let dry overnight.



Next, sand the primer with a fine grit sandpaper. Use a damp cloth to remove any dust, and apply a thin first coat of paint. Let dry overnight.



You'll probably want at least one more coat, and possibly a third depending on how things are looking. Make sure to lightly sand in between coats and use a damp cloth to remove dust. (Ikea furniture tends to need several sandings.)

There's no race here, so remember to apply thin coats of paint since it's easier to control drips and runs. To let the pieces dry, set up a drying station in a dust free, cat free, and friends-who-can't-resist-touching-and-asking-is-it-dry-yet free zone.



Once you are satisfied with the paint job, allow at least 48 hours for the final coat to fully dry and harden before assembling the desk or setting anything on it. Don't let any of the painted pieces touch each other (drawers, doors, etc) since they might be slightly tacky and the paint will bond them together. Our desk took about 3 days before it was no longer tacky!

If you really want to go that extra step, You can apply a clear coat to protect against water marks and spills. I like Minwax Polycrylic Protective Finish. It's water based and fast drying.

So now that our wires are taken care of, and the pieces are all painted and dried, it's time to put the desk together. Check back for Part 3 on how to make your desk ergonomic.

Attack of the Ikea Hack! (MST3K Style)

Our latest video: a time-lapse-esque escapade of Ikea Hackery, with a little Mystery Science Theater 3000 flair. Laugh, cry, poke fun... whatever flips your switch!

Ikea Hack Part 1 - Designing the Desk

For our style and design mission, we decided to fashicate a new desk that would meet our needs. Mandy does a lot of work at the computer, and the lack of ergonomics is starting to take a toll. Here's the first part of our guide to hack several pieces of Ikea furniture.

1. Evaluate what your current desk is lacking. Is it ergonomic? Do you have accessible storage? Is it sturdy? We found our existing desk inadequate in several areas:

- after one year, it was rickety and unstable
- it was not even close to ergonomic
- there was very little workspace
- and while the doors were great at covering up the mess, there wasn't any accessible storage while seated at the desk

Here's a photo of our old desk (complete with cat accessory).
   

We looked at many desks at Ikea, but couldn't find one that met all of our requirements. We decided to come up with our own design.

2. The basic pieces in this hack are still used for their intended purposes (desktop, legs, drawer unit), but we added several details to make the desk our own.

First, I noticed that the keyboard trays that Ikea sells were kind of flimsy. You can make a much better one yourself. All you need is a piece of wood and a sturdy pair of keyboard slides (both available at your local hardware store). Mandy wrapped the wood with leather like vinyl, using a staple gun to tack the material to the underside of the keyboard tray. This turned out great! The texture is so smooth and soft that we don't even need a mouse pad anymore.


The next detail we added was a second tier on the desktop. I really wanted quick access to several items like my firewire drive, and at the same time liked how the raised level looked. Mandy found solid wood magazine file boxes at Ikea (Knuff) that worked out perfectly. The curved edges match the curves of the desk legs.


Check back for Part 2 tomorrow and learn about exciting cable management and how to paint your desk. In Part 3, we'll explore the proper setup for an ergonomic desk. A fun filled time for all ages!