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Home office custom furniture build

ogosh
Having an Impact

Home office custom furniture build

My partner and I were lucky enough to move into a beautifully renovated 1914 Spanish Mission house in September 2017, and since then have set about turning it into a home. A few window locks, a side gate to keep the dog in, getting all the original internal doors swinging smoothly and a few new bathroom fixtures.... and we were done!

 

With no kids yet, we have a few spare rooms, so I decided to turn what was a formal lounge into a home office.

dressy estate agent "before shot"dressy estate agent "before shot"

After some inspiration from a local trendy cafe, it was straight onto pinterest and google and then down to bunnings with some measurements and plans in hand to pick up a few bits and pieces.

plans.jpg 20mm Galvanised pipe20mm Galvanised pipe Acacia bench/panel 2200 x 600 x26Acacia bench/panel 2200 x 600 x26

Then off to complete our gumtree purchase/pick-up and we were ready to begin:

cabinet.jpg Photo 22-3-18, 3 52 25 pm.jpg

First step was to pull apart the filling cabinet sand back flaking paint & rust then taping up the shiny bits ready for primer and paint.

Photo 22-3-18, 4 13 25 pm.jpg sanded and taped upsanded and taped up  first coat of primerfirst coat of primer

The galvanised pipe comes with an oily coating and barcode stickers, which had to be soaked and scrubbed off with hot soapy water and turpentine:

hot soapy soakinghot soapy soaking  more bucketsmore buckets on the turpson the turps 115 pieces all up115 pieces all up

Then it was time for a basic assembly for a test fit...

constructing the legsconstructing the legs  shelf supports coming togethershelf supports coming together  test fit - frametest fit - frame  test fit - desktoptest fit - desktop  Photo 12-3-18, 11 19 21 am.jpg

Next step was some basic asembly and to prime and paint all the pipe and fittings - 115 pieces all up! :shocked:

homemade mini spray-boothhomemade mini spray-booth primerprimer 2nd coat of primer2nd coat of primer more primingmore priming priming shelf uprightspriming shelf uprights

After the last coat of primer it was time for 2-3 coats of matt black spray enamel.

 

last coat of primerlast coat of primer  Photo 28-4-18, 5 22 17 pm.jpg

Once all the coats of spray enamel had dried it was onto final assembly.

 

THE FILLING CABINET was the easiest job with just a soak and wpe down of the polished handles and fittings in vinegar solution.

THE DESK legs and feet were adjusted for level, a few mini coach screws from underneath the table top and that was done.

BOOKSHELF was the last to be assembled ... First the uprights were grouped in 4's of the same height to aid in levelling the unit, then with only 96 holes drilled and filled with 96 specially ordered matt black nuts and bolts it was all done...AND....

 

The final product is below....

 

Lower leg & footingLower leg & footing  Leg uprightLeg upright  ShelvesShelvesPhoto 2-7-18, 12 44 16 am.jpg   Photo 2-7-18, 12 43 19 am.jpg   Photo 2-7-18, 12 42 32 am.jpgPhoto 2-7-18, 12 42 20 am.jpg

Only additional bit of work was to bring in an electrician who put in some down lights:

Photo 28-5-18, 12 02 53 pm.jpg

Jason
Community Manager
Community Manager

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Fantastic project, many thanks for sharing with us @ogosh. The final result looks fantastic. 

 

It must have been a very exciting 12 months for you - congratulations on the new home. 

 

Let me also extend a very warm welcome to the Workshop community. We're really pleased you could join us and look forward to reading more about your projects and plans. We hope you get loads of inspiration and helpful information from our community members for your work around the house and garden. Feel free post whenever you need a hand or have a new project to share. 

 

Jason

 

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Isobel
Amassing an Audience

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Well done @ogosh. Love the industrial look. And that timber benchtop looks beautiful. Great choice.

 

Can I suggest you invest in some cable management? It would finish off the project if you could find a way to hide all the cabling. 

 

Something like this against the wall would help - https://www.bunnings.com.au/d-line-2m-white-mini-adhesive-cover-cable-management_p4430324

 

Or there's something like this if you want to get more serious and go through the wall - https://www.bunnings.com.au/cableclear-50mm-wall-cavity-cable-management-duct_p4430714

Itai
Becoming a Leader

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Hi @ogosh

It looks awesome, and you've done really well.
I agree with Isobel around the cable management, as you have a very "exposed" setup now, so cables are easily noticeable. Depending on your willingness to pull apart, you could potentially use the piping for cable management. By threading some USB extension cables through them and also some power and HDMI extension cables.

And if you are willing to do that, depending on your comfort levels of the desk, you might consider at the same time moving the lower support crossbar to the back, so that it doesn't get into the way of your foot. But that's merely personal preference :smile:

Regards

Itai
Jason
Community Manager
Community Manager

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Thanks for joining in the discussion @Itai. Great to have you as one of our latest Workshop community members. A very warm welcome to you. I trust you will receive lots of advice and inspiration from our members and it looks like you have plenty of knowledge and experience that you can share, too. I look forward to reading about your projects and plans. Please post whenever you need a hand or have a project to share. 

 

Thanks again,

 

Jason

 

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ogosh
Having an Impact

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Hi @Isobel thanks for your suggestions, I had the same thought of tidying up the cables to give it that clean open industrial look and went with this cable caddy from Ikea.... as you can tell from the photos in my post its pretty useless!

cable management.JPG

Annoyingly, I'm unable to really tidy it up properly by going through the wall, as its a double brick. Also something I neglected to mention in my original post is that the whole project is designed to be portable/free-standing so it can be moved into another room/space quite easily. Otherwise I would have just used a substantial wall cleat and some nice angled brackets for a really clean open finish look.

 

Alas I am yet to find a cable management solution that is perfect. On the one hand I need it to house a 6 gang powerboard with space for 5 bulky transformers (printer, phone, laptop, modem, router)... but at the same time be something I can use to tuck away a few extra long USB cables..... yet also have access to be cables to unplug a laptop & phone charger easily enough when I work out of the office or travel etc.

 

Might look into something like an opened up section of PVC pipe, or even just using washi tape to brighten up and make a feature of the cables thay I just can't tuck away.

 

The other option would be to screw the powerboard into the underside of the table and use some sort of cable management clips/cable ties to keep it all tucked up...

 

Might start a new post asking about peopls cable management tips and tricks, otherwise it could be a lot of trial-and-error

ogosh
Having an Impact

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Thanks @Itai,

On this one I cant ues extension cables as Im trying to keep all the cables up as high as possible to keep them out of view rather than running them down to the ground or through the pipe etc, although switching to all black cables and running them beind the legs would camouflage them pretty well.

 

My original plan was to have the cross beam running along the back between and connecting all 4 of the rear legs but I couldnt get any 4-way connectors even though bunings does advertise them. In any case it turned out to be a bit of good luck having them centred as when I sit at the desk it works perfectly as a foot rest and if im at a join with a connector it makes a good foot massager as well :cheeky:

Itai
Becoming a Leader

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Thanks Jason :smile:

Mhall
Just Starting Out

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Inspiring @ogosh.
ogosh
Having an Impact

Re: Home office custom furniture build

Hi @Mhall

 

Thanks mate!

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