When Markus moved from Düsseldorf to Hamburg, he needed a desk that could hide all his peripherals to keep his tabletop clear of clutter. Since he couldn't find one that was already made he decided to build his own. "I had the idea to build a space into the desk where I could keep stuff, like my Macbook. A simple drawer was too easy." Markus used the frame from an old clerical desk his dad found and built onto it a table top. He decided to create an open top leaf, which features two holes, one for the power cable and the other for his peripherals that are hidden under the top leaf...

He counterbore all the screws used to build the desk so that he could then plug them up and paint over them. He polished and sanded the table, then primed, varnished, and polished again. He repeated this process 2-3 times.

He installed a power strip inside the desk that can be turned on and off. The strip is powered by the red power cord that snakes out of the desk. The costs were relativly low, because the frame was for free. The wood to make the tabletop cost about $35, then screws, varnish, hinges, power cord, and strip totaled about $130.

"The work was totally worth it." We totally agree.

photos: markus