Home Work

When school started at the end of August, Benjamin started asking me when I was going to get him a desk to do his homework at. I guess he remembered the one time I had casually mentioned that "someday when the basement is finished" I'd like to turn the loft into a homework area.

Benjamin kept asking about it. At first I told him it wasn't necessarily going to happen any time soon -- the kitchen table is a fine place to do homework! But then the wheels started turning and I realized that I am tired of waiting for "when the basement is finished" to do all of my decorating plans!

So about the middle of September, I started looking for desks that would be a good fit for our space and would allow more than one child to do homework at the same time. I had a rough mental picture, but had a hard time finding exactly what I wanted. Manufacturers don't really cater to a really long L-shaped desk that isn't too deep and also has a lot of drawers! And real wood/custom-made was way too pricey for something the kids will be using! (And we are still working on being able to finish that basement!)

After a few days of intense searching, we found an option that I got excited about. Office Max had a line of desks; I realized we could get one regular desk and one L-desk and put them right next to each other to get the effect I wanted. And one of them was on sale :)

Ryan worked really hard to assemble them, which was a process since there were two to do! I love that he took the time to let the boys help a little. They loved it and they all learned a few things!
Here is the before picture. This desk has been good to us for the last 9 years, but it was just too wide for the loft, and wasn't conducive to homework. Don't let the picture fool you -- I had just cleaned up so I could take pictures to start selling it online. Normally it is much messier!


Here is the after! I love that there are 7 drawers between the 2 desks. Two of those are for hanging files. Then each of the boys have claimed one for all of their stuff. And then we have a few drawers for all of the other stuff, like paper clips and pens and such. There are also 2 keyboard trays. Since we only need to use one, we use the other one for the stapler and hole puncher. And there is also a cupboard for the bigger items. I love all the storage! Also there are 2 stations in the L part of the desk; you can either work at the computer, or you can turn the chair and have a space to do homework.

We've had our new loft area set up for about a week and a half now, and everyone in the family loves it! Benjamin and Nathan love doing their homework upstairs now.

These pictures were taken when only the first desk was built. They were so excited to use it, they didn't want to wait another week for the other desk to be done!

Joshua doesn't use it as much, but he loves having "his drawer" to put things in and a place to keep his school books.

Elizabeth discovered the markers in Benjamin's drawer (luckily she can't get the lids off yet), but overall she leaves this desk alone more than she did the old desk.

In this picture, she is playing with the tape I used to mark off the area. I mapped out the space to make sure I'd like it before we bought the desks.

Ryan has enjoyed having room to set up his laptop to work on the bills and such instead of having to bring everything to the kitchen table. And I love the layout and the aesthetic, too!

I have plans for all the wall space above the desks, but I'll wait a little while to work on those. (The names on the wall were there before, and will probably be moving to the bedrooms.) Basically it will be a little decoration and a lot of room to hang school papers and post calendars and such.

Thanks for the great idea, Benjamin! And thanks, Ryan, for being a willing participant in the remodel!