The transformation history of the dormitory desk

From a small wooden desk to a larger desk, in the blink of an eye, I too have gone from freshman to junior year veteran.

Starting point: small wooden desk

The dormitory is located in the corner of the school, four people in a small room, bunk beds, small desks, that ...... so just to live through the four years?

Small wooden desk

The dormitory is equipped with a desk that only 60cm x 45cm area can be used, placed on the lamp, monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse, there is little space left, and the keyboard will always fight with the book, want to read a book, you must remove the keyboard and mouse, can not be used at the same time.

Development: large desk

So, in the second semester, a larger folding table was bought from Taobao, which also brought more possibilities.

Three major changes, three styles

After six months of fumbling, trial, and error, the desktop layout was gradually fixed. From the squirrel pie, functional evolution to simplicity, the number of items to subtract, the entire area into three main blocks - storage, work, and temporary areas.

Epidemic at home for most of the year, rethought the current layout, although good-looking, there are some problems:

The bright surface of the items is less, but the need to use, less rummaging, if the "lazy cancer" committed, the used items are not returned promptly, the desktop will be a mess again.

The state of "simplicity" is achieved by restraining the desire, and functionality and aesthetics cannot be well balanced.

The locker behind the display ...... gets in the way, every time you want to get something from it, you have to move the display down.

The space of the locker on the left side cannot be well utilized, only the lower part of each layer is utilized.

The area where it is located is not bright enough, and using the screen for a long time will strain the eyes.

Then let's change it.

Climax: the whole new

The whole process of remodeling

The transformation was based on the original layout, and the previous problems were solved by adding or subtracting objects. The overall layout with vertical storage shelves and desks as the main body, divided into storage areas, work areas, and temporary areas.

Functional partitions

Storage

First is the storage shelf on the left side, using two sizes of storage drawers for filling, the upper layer uses 30cm x 53cm x 18cm, occupying the whole layer, and the lower layer uses 28cm x 15.5cm x 40cm storage drawers, the remaining space is used to place the NUC power supply and router. Four small drawers are placed in the upper bookcase to disperse the items from the original basket.

Comparison of storage shelf changes

After subdivision, the storage shelf is divided into five levels - common items, care products, toolbox, food storage, and miscellaneous storage. Although the storage drawers do not fit perfectly on the shelves, the gaps can be used to store MacBook Air, small drawers, and wet wipes.

Comparison of storage cabinet changes

The storage cabinet behind the display is a big problem. It's outdated, inconvenient, and in the way, and every time you want to get something from it, you have to move the display down. I had thought of two options - installing a hole panel on the door or removing the door and turning it into an open locker, but the cost of option A was higher, and since the locker protruded outward by 10 cm, the door with the hole panel would be closer to the monitor, so the problem of accessing items could not be solved. Back to school to find the lock key can not be found, in a fit of anger will the locker door to remove.

The locker color is red and gray, and the white walls do not fit, the use of door curtains to cover is a good choice, a unified overall style, the use of much more flexible than the cabinet door, open with the use. I customized a door curtain on Taobao according to the size of the locker, patterned after the minority retro style mouse pad (unfortunately, I was not able to buy it before it went out of print, careless), choose some items that are meaningful to you and show your personality, then redraw the shape of the items through Affinity Designer, after sketching 12 sheets of A4 paper, print it out and put it together, and adjust it according to the actual effect. After the sketch was completed and checked with the manufacturer, the finished product could be printed. There were some hiccups in the customization process, because the color of the cabinet curtain pattern is light gray and black, and one manufacturer told me that the gray would be biased into green when checking, and the manufacturer who finally adopted the pattern made a mistake in the first printing, and the original size of 85cm x 110cm was stretched to 85cm x 140cm. clean.

Cabinet curtain

After hanging the cabinet curtain, the original unattractive locker was hidden, but there was a little regret: the folds produced during transportation, the monotonous color of the pattern, and the lack of experience for the first time, the height of the cabinet curtain was only 110cm, which could not cover the socket on the left side of the desk.

Inside the locker

The locker is made of cement coating, which tends to drop dust when rubbing with items, and is glued to the wall with newspaper. A telescopic partition was added to the lower level to enable each storage box to be placed independently and improve storage efficiency. After using the cabinet curtain instead of the cabinet door, it also becomes very convenient to take away items.

Desktop

The design line of the desktop is a neutral and simple style, so the items on the desktop are in black and white, the wall, storage drawers, and cabinet curtain for white, desk table, monitor, monitor stand, mouse pad, and other items placed on the table are mostly black, maintaining a uniform color and look.

Desktop left and right side items

To facilitate daily use, NUC is placed in the middle of the desk. A single monitor stand in a darker shade was chosen here to heighten the monitor while the space underneath is used for the computer and wireless charging pad, the latter for charging AirPods Pro. The area on either side of the desk still serves as a temporary area, with a few books stacked on the right side to add a bit of "culture" and relieve pressure on the bookshelf. On the left side, Adobe's Year of the Rat desk calendar and a couple of desktop fans are placed to decorate the door.

Behind the table

Under the table

The original use of a closed wire slot under the table, into which all kinds of wires are tucked, is simple, and you will not see any wires exposed when you look down. But when there is equipment to move, such as this renovation, wire management becomes a hassle, not to mention the exhaustion of alignment -- unravel, hold, and smooth over, and when the wire exceeds the volume of the slot can accommodate, want to pull out or add a ... ... heh heh. So I switched to IKEA's Signa wire channel, which is cheap, open, and easy to maintain later.

Signa wire slots are divided into three compartments, the two sides for alignment, the middle of a compartment to place the plug, and too long wire. I will be under the table plug fixed on the left side of one table leg, the wire by the direction of the distribution on both sides of the slot, arranged and fixed with Velcro on the slot. Looking down from the front, although the wire will be exposed, compared to the original slot will be messier, of course, you can also use the cable management tube to wrap the wire, and then placed it on the cable slot, so it will be much more beautiful. The slot of the table leg is still the hardest hit area, and after tying it up with a tie, I don't want to move it, so I'll just let it go.

Because the brightness of the lamp in the dorm room is low and the light is yellowish, I added a YeeLight floodlight strip behind the desk to light up the wall behind the monitor to reduce eye fatigue caused by high monitor brightness + insufficient ambient light, but of course, the more correct approach should be more rest. I'm not interested in RGB, so I only chose the white version of the strip. With weight and Mi Home Smart Ecology, you can use the Mi Home App and HomeKit to achieve intelligence, such as light on when people come and light off when they leave.

Results

After the change, the effect is not bad, much better than before. According to the experience a week, the most satisfactory in this transformation is the cabinet curtain and storage drawer, blocking the ugly locker behind, the used items can be returned to the original position in time, and the shark feels quite good.

Final results

List of items

Desk

Monitor: Dell P2418D

Computer: Intel NUC8i7HVK

Lighting: BenQ ScreenBar Plus, YeeLight floodlight strip

Speaker: Tmall Genie Square Candy

Accessories: Purple Rice 65W desktop charger, Adobe Year of the Rat calendar, a few elements x minority desk fan, IKEA Klock's clock, Xiaomi wireless charging pad, a few books borrowed from the library

Under the table

Power supply: Bulls 6 position plug, Anker USB Hub, Hongyan smart socket

Others: IKEA Signum cable management sink, Fuji Xerox printer

Storage Shelves

Storage: Storage drawers * 4

Others: several mugs, Bull 4-port extension socket, router and NUC power adapter hidden in the back of the drawer, Snail Star

Some tips

A neat, good-looking, practical desktop can make people happy, improve the efficiency of learning and work, and a harmonious relationship with the dormitory can even benefit you for life. Considering the time, energy, and financial ability, I divided the desktop transformation and dormitory transformation into two levels -- major transformation and minor changes, across freshman, sophomore, and junior years, each semester changes can make the desktop more vibrant, and will not be boring with the long-term unchanged desktop.

Time desktop storage function freshman year first semester to explore the transformation of small changes next semester to start the transformation of transformation trahomore year for first-semester all change / change small change / change small change / change small change / change small change next semester / change small change / change small change / change small change / change small change junior year first semester no change / small change no change / small change next semester no change no for year / ready to graduate, streamline items

In addition to your desktop, if conditions allow, you may want to negotiate with your roommate. My roommate, at my urging, took the lead and replaced the table together. The original layout was three people sitting side-by-side + one person on the bed, but after replacing the desk with a larger one, the layout of the dormitory was adjusted somewhat, with the indoor shelves moved to the outdoor balcony and each desk placed separately to increase the space for each person. After replacing the desk, I felt only one thing - extremely comfortable.

Comparison of layout changes

At university, everyone's accommodation is different, and everyone's financial ability is also different. Even though I am in a poor room, I will not compromise. The desk is too small - get a bigger one, the locker is too ugly - use a curtain to block it, there is too little space to put things - make the best use of it. Learn to store. Under limited conditions, endless imagination and creativity may be the meaning of "infinite desktop". No matter how bad I feel when I live in the place I made for myself, I can put on my headphones and close my eyes and still feel relieved. When my roommate saw me tossing and turning again, she asked me, "Why are you still doing it? The remodeling process is indeed quite tiring, costly, time-consuming, and energy-consuming, but it's good that I'm having fun, using it conveniently, and living comfortably.