A Killer Workspace Can Lead to Success but Mine Looks Like a Murder Scene
By: Mary Devries
Tags: Work From Home, Life, Writing, Humor, Self Improvement

Let me help you appreciate the sheer wonder and complexity of my workspace.

First, the desk

Why yes, now that you ask, my desk is made out of an old melamine shelf I found left behind in the garage by the landlord. One leg is a not quite fancy enough for Ikea shelving unit trash picked years ago. This leg doubles as a well-organized linen closet. I assure you I used to neatly and attractively roll and arrange those towels. Then I discovered Medium, started writing a lot, so now who has the time.

The other leg is an empty fan box I hadn’t gotten around to recycling. Good thing too as it was almost the same size as the linen closet. I just had to cut it down a bit. I used a bunch of packing tape to attach it to the shelf and add some stability. I’m pretty crafty that way.

The tech

Yes, that is a MacBook you see to the left of the screen. Why in God’s name am I using this abomination of a workstation if I own a laptop? Fair question.

The laptop is the one we bought our soon to graduate from college daughter when she was in high school. She dropped it about a year ago and now you can only see part of the screen. Still works great though with an external monitor. Honestly, this is a huge step up from the circa 2010 Mac Mini I had been using.

Do you like the corded keyboard and mouse? I think those are an especially nice touch. Does the mouse cord look stretched too tight to actually use? Don’t worry. I don’t actually use the keyboard in that position. I hold it on my lap.

The Seating arrangement

The desk height is all wrong for typing. Plus if I scoot my chair under the desk I invariably stub my toe on the big black transformer and I’m too close to the monitor for comfortable viewing.

Plan A was to put the monitor on the window sill but the perch was too precarious. Instead, I just sit cross-legged in my chair and keep the keyboard on my lap. I still needed somewhere for the mouse though.

I had to raid the bedroom for a spare bedside table which was the perfect height to serve as a mousepad and surplus surface space for important things like my tea mug, notebook, and random bits of junk mail I’ve used as scratch paper.

I could keep things neater if I put them in that handy drawer but that’s where my husband’s underwear lives. A place for everything and everything in its place, right?

It used to be better

I used to have a real desk. Granted it was a simple put-it-together-yourself flat pack desk that we have owned for over a decade and used in three different houses on three different continents. Still, we paid $50 for that thing brand new. It is big enough to hold a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and tea mug all at a comfortable work height.

I miss that desk. It has moved across the hall into the room that used to be our guest room and now serves as my daughter’s dorm room away from college. Which is how I lost my desk.

Her need to complete online coursework from an ocean away trumped my need to write in comfort. Never mind the fact that she does most of her work in bed using the new laptop that replaced the broken screen one I now use.

My current setup is functional if not exactly ideal. Much like all the arrangements we’ve made to switch from being empty nesters to suddenly having adultish children forced back home for unnaturally long periods of time due to the pandemic.

For the most part, I’m cherishing this extra and unexpected bonus time with them.

But I do want my desk back soon.