Mix and Matching – Creating a Workspace

Finding a desk that is affordable, fits in with your home and has the storage you need, can feel like an impossible task. so why not try a bit of  mix and matching to create a good workspace

Wanting to make a space for my sewing, arts and crafts and a space to teach J to sew, I started on my search to find something that would be perfect. Up until now I had a mix match of furniture, using an old treadle sewing desk, makeshift table on an old set of drawers and a little bench. It was a bit claustrophobic and no storage for my ever growing stash of supplies.

Search for a work area was proving fruitless. Finding the a desk that would fit where I wanted it, have storage, space to work on bigger projects and all within a small budget was just not happening. I then had an idea, why not make something that can fit my requirements. Turning to the idea of wood, DIY, cutting and screwing was exciting me, however realistically wasn’t practical. With my mobility and Daves’s loss of movement and strength in his hand and arm, gave me mental images of a collapsed desk in the middle of a delicate project. ( although I think this wouldn’t have happened and I have an over active imagination! )

Ikea might have then answer.

Then inspiration took hold, lets mix and match some Ikea furniture. Having seen their kallax range had a desk option, I started thinking how it would all come together. 2 lots of 2×2 kallax, with the desk attachment and a board between.  The desk attachmentis designed to go on a shelf rather than the top, but thought I would see if it would work. So off to Ikea we went.

Picking up 2 white units , then  went off to get the attachments to see if it would fit on the top of the units. The reason for not going with a bigger kallax sizes was to give extra usable work surface. I worked out if I turned the attachments around, it would fit but then what board to use, as the ones you use for the desk was too thick to use with the other side of the attachment.

So then I had a brain wave! Sometimes shelves are returned or slightly damaged in the bargain corner, so I might be able to pick up a wardrobe shelf or similar to find what is needed. I found one from a double wardrobe for £5.50. To finish off my shop, I picked up 6 boxes for using in the kallax range for storage.

The shopping list:

2 x kallax 2×2                                         =£40.00
2 sets of 2 attachments                     =£  8.00
Board                                                        =£ 5.50
6 kallax boxes                                       =£15.00

Total                                                          =£68.50

Once home, putting it together was remarkably simple, taking about 50 minutes to put all together on my own – then I had a desk ! It took longer to sort all my supplies out.

So when looking for that perfect workspace, sometimes it’s worth thinking outside the box and go with a bit of mix and matching.

I even set up a travel cot next to my area for Ro, so we could both ‘play’ sometimes.

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