Bob’s stand-up desk

Yesterday as I was trying to write my blog Bob was building his stand-up desk. Nothing like trying to write with the sound of a drill next to you. 😉 It got to the point where it needed both of us to assemble so my writing didn’t get done. I told you about our attempt at ordering the wood and what fun that was with the language barrier and then told you that we were waiting for it to be delivered.

Well, when the truck arrived last Friday and Bob saw this huge piece of wood covering the whole back of the truck he thought,  “oh crap! this is not going to be good.”

Thankfully and amazingly, the pieces we ordered were under this and were correct, what he ordered is what he got. The wood for the legs turned out larger than Bob really expected. What he wanted was 2″ x 4″ dressed. In the U.S. the “dressing” or smoothing of the wood reduces its actual size to about 1.5″ x 3.5″. Of course in Spain there is no 2″ x 4″ and what they offered was 59mm x 95mm which is a bit over 2 inches by just under 4 inches. Sounds okay in the store, but the catch was these are dressed at that size, so quite a bit heavier than expected. But it gives the desk a nice chunky look even if it was hard to pick up.

Monday he measured and cut the supports and legs and yesterday morning we went off to the Ferreteria to buy nuts, bolts, screws and glue. Unfortunately they did not have the right length bolts so we had to buy threaded rod and use a hacksaw to get the right size.

Because of the size and weight of this desk he had to assemble/build it in the office as there is no way we could get it down the stairs and into the office.

Several years ago Bob saw a stand-up desk in a Pottery Barn catalog for almost $800 and figured he could build one for a lot less. He did and it was one of the last things that we gave away before we moved. This design is simpler as it is not made to adjust in height and he didn’t have to varnish the top.

This is the finished product. Gorgeous.