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Scappoose, Oregon, 26 Sep 2007—It's always fun to build something for the shop, but my first project of real furniture had a truly useful function inside the house.

We had just moved from California and left our computer setup with our home buyers there. My wife Sue was in desperate need of four major pieces of furniture: a lateral file cabinet, a china display cabinet, a document cabinet, and a computer desk.

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Third Things Third

First was the lateral file, second the china display. Now the desk. Sue's desk is a combination of a knockdown unit we bought from Office Depot and some custom work on my part. The top, left drawers and left carcase are manufactured laminate on an MDF core. I used 3/4" maple ply for the rear modesty panel, the keyboard/mouse tray, the right side panel, and the base on which the computer rests.

Here it is, set up with everything but the chair. This was a major improvement over its six-year-old MDF predecessor with dark gray paint. It's amazing how well the laminate top and drawer fronts match the real maple in the file and display cabinets. Someday I may replace the drawer fronts, but Sue's happy with it as is.

Closeup of the keyboard tray. This turned out rather nicely. The desk top is a good hard surface that supports writing and tea spills and cookie crumbs. (Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell.)

With chair in place.

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I'm pretty happy with how these pieces turned out, and Sue says it's a keeper.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoyed your visit.