I have always dreamt of having a "couple's desk". However, every apartment we've had hasn't given us the proper space for this to happen. Luckily, for Valentine's Day my guy surprised me with a rearranged space and enough room for my dream double desk to finally happen!
In the before photo above, you can see our original desk. It housed his cluttered workstation and was large — but not large enough for two people. The space is nearly seven feet wide — perfect for two workspaces! All it took was a trip to IKEA for a 78" tabletop and five legs. The tin boxes on the desk house a lot of our typical office clutter. We're both huge collectors of prints, so we were able to finally showcase the ones that had been tucked away in storage.
In the end, we had a great workspace for two. Now when we work at the same time we can share things and talk about our day. What's better than working next to your loved one?
Images: Meg Lewis
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I guess sitting this close to someone is just weird....haven't done it since high school. I can find time to talk to my loved one at other times of the day - we've even been known to talk before bed. Occasionally we just like to goof off online and it's hard to concentrate with someone else's clicking and tapping and whatever. Unless there is absolutely no other space for a workspot, this shouldn't be done.
That is awesome, Meg! Something you wanted and now you have it. I'm also trying to go from a corner desk to a regular desk and I have 48" to work with. Your 'old' desk looks like what I had in mind...is that a small dinning table used as a desk?
My bf and I just recently combined desks - and we love it! We play video games a lot, so we've been enjoying sitting closer together. It beats yelling across the apartment for gaming strategies. :D
We've been thinking of investing in a longer table like the one you've posted. Thanks!
I think this looks great and is a sweet idea.
a very very sweet idea. lovely.
I like it. The color is great! We've been wanting to do this in our space.
Awesome! Great job, and such a simple fix (a slightly longer table).
love the chairs..
excellent, excellent gift. such a sweet labor of love.
ChrisGal, what is so strange about it? My fiancé have a similar set up, although with about 18" more than shown above to house an additional monitor for watching movies & TV together. It's never posed a problem for us.
There's nothing like a new 27" iMac to prompt a desk reconfiguration! (I'm just guessing based on the photos, but that is what would motivate my guy too.)
This is the first step in the demise of your relationship:)
My husband and I love sharing a workspace. It was great when we were mmo players. We kept it up even afterward. And no, it was never the "first step in the demise of (our) relationship."
@danze: I'm pretty sure that's IKEA VIKA number. They have a 47" version that would suit your space perfectly.
Part of me REALLY wants the orange chair to match the blue one. But another part thinks that the fact that the chairs are slightly different reflects the different coputers and their different users.
i think it looks great! the bigger desk looks better and the dual comp station is great!
Looks great. Remember peoples everyone is different. :)
That's so perfect! We're minimalists with our desks... hopefully, we can make something like this work sometime. :D
very sweet. And they're not that close, it's just that the screens are huge, had they been laptops no one would have commented.
awww... looks lovely !
My casual, sturdy, old rubberwood 36" X 58" dining table seats four comfortably. Its twin is an office loaded corner work station. An older, similar dining table is the work table in the workshop. This sort of piece is flexible in function and appearance, and can be a relatively cheap option.
asciident -- Every couple needs downtime away from each other whether they are reading a book, doing something online, whatever. I'm with biggygreg - it is the first step in the demise of a relationship. At some point the other person is going to get sick of you being able to see every single key they type and every single thing they click on a computer. If you must combine workspaces it should be set up like on opposite ends of a table where the people face each other but the computers don't.
If they find that they don't like the furniture arrangement after all, then they can just rearrange the furniture and keep the relationship. The guy sounds like a sweetheart.:)
ChrisGal- lighten up, if this works for them then great! Everyone is different, has different needs ect. How are you so sure this will be the demise of ANYTHING? Do you really have to be reminded that not everyone shares your point of view? To say it should "never be done" is ridiculous and also pointless.
I'd paint the table legs white.
how sweet! when we moved into our current apartment and i was out of town one weekend, my husband surprised me by unpacking and arranging our office/library (with its hundreds of books, CDs and movies). he wrote a sweet note about how he hoped the space would inspire encourage my work (which i currently do at home). a labor of love indeed... except i can't stop thinking of ways to rearrange the space so it looks less cluttered and we can each have our individual desks, instead of the single, large corner desk he figured we could share easily but in practice is quite awkward. (sigh) rearranging the room all at once is a whole weekend's job and means spending on new furniture. and each time i do a small change towards my own idea of the room i think of his lovely gesture and feel guilty. ah, individual versus couple needs can be a tough balance. well, every person and couple is different and i'm happy to see from this post that some can share work space happily and beautifully. :)
we used to rock the bicycle built for 2 style desk. Then 2 desk because we needed more space for each of them, then realized why do we even have 2 computers. we rarely need 2 at the same time. So we ditched the one, made a super nice setup for the keeper and have never looked back. I am actually taking my old one to my brother in law this weekend to part it out.
I love the idea of hanging your prints along a piece of string. It is so easy to switch out your prints and saves you from putting holes in your prints and your walls. Genius!
no way I could work that close to someone, I need all that space and more just for my jobs and projects, but good for you for trying!
It's really cute, but I can't imagine having that set up in my own home and using it. If you're both gamers, I can definitely see how that would work. However I can't imagine my sig other trying to edit his film work with me sitting right next to him trying to edit audio. It wouldn't be noise (we both edit in headphones anyway), but it would hard to get totally absorbed in your work knowing someone was essentially right over your shoulder.
Thanks, LovieDovie! I'll check it out.
Heja Sverige!
jennyp - Maybe you should actually learn to read the posts and not just hunt for people you want to diss. Biggygreg, Terry Clark, and SonicPersephone are some of the others - if you want to whine at people, whine at us all :).
Meg, I have the exact same orange chair. I got mine at a flea market in Chicago a couple years ago. Do you know anything about it? I'd love to know who made it and when!
P.S. I love the desk setup!
CHRISGAL- WHAT????????????
I'm saying you search out those you want to diss no matter how many people are already agreeing with them. But tired of you and this post already.
Chrisgal- I disagree.
WOW! I have exactly 78" for my home office desk so my husband and I were trying to figure out how to fit 2 computers there. Thanks for the idea! :D