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Weekend project: the study

27th August 2023

Originally posted on Discuit
It's a bank holiday weekend in England, and while yesterday was a write-off in terms of Doing Things, today we bought a new desk to go with husband's new-to-him PC that his friend dropped off earlier in the week. So we finally have a good excuse to clear out the study, give it a proper clean (blegh), and sort it the fuck out.

I give you, Before Pictures:
A very poorly-lit shot of the room from the door. On the far left behind the door is the edge of a bookshelf. Against the opposite wall is a very worn chipboard desk bearing a monitor, keyboard, and cylindrical fan. Also in the room is a large office chair and, mostly-hidden behind it, an armchair. At the far end of the room is a standing-desk-table next to a small window.
The view from the armchair. On the left is the desk, on the right now visible against the bookshelf is a tall, flattened cardboard box, an over-door clothes airer, my work bag, and an under-desk exercise pedal-thing.
View of the corner with the standing desk. Between the desk and the window is a dog carrier crate with a shoebox and plastic tub stacked on top. The desk has a cardboard box under it on the floor, two shelves with (full) storage boxes on them, and the desktop is cluttered with papers. The bookshelf - a cabinet base with shelves above, each shelf full of books, game cases, and ring-bound folders with extra items - boxes, more folders, photo frames - stacked in front.


It's probably the worst room in the house, and I even cheated a little by emptying the overflowing recycling tub and throwing away some of the trash on the floor before taking the pictures.

It was already evening when we started, so a quick in-progress shot from the end of the day:

View from the door, the desk has been dismantled into a pile of chipboard panels that are leant against the wall, revealing a large black PC case. The office chair is not in the room, revealing the armchair piled high with boxes and smaller clutter. The carpet has been hoovered and the handheld hoover is on the floor.

Old desk has been dismantled, everything on that side of the room taken out, floor cleaned as best we could (under the desk was suuuuuuper gross), some stuff put back. Tomorrow will make the real difference when I put together the new desk and start actually going through the junk.

For now, I need a shower!

Update 28 Oct 2023:

View from the door, a new, larger desk stands in place of the old one, surface clear but for monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and an empty 500ml Dr Pepper bottle. The standing desk surface still has some clutter but much less, and the armchair appears to be empty.

The new desk has been built, and this one has drawers, so most of the detritus that was cluttering the old desk is now hidden away - success!

Husband even took the old desk bits to the tip, along with a broken suitcase that's been needing to go for months - more success!

What is less of a success is my pile of stuff to sort, and that doesn't even include the stuff from the bookshelf... I suspect I will be very unproductive working from home tomorrow.

The two storage boxes from the standing desk and two cardboard boxes, all brimming with things to sort out.