SauderMiscellaneous Office Home Office Desk, Laurel Oak Finish

TLDR: I did it! A very sturdy and beautiful desk is completed. Recommend going into this knowing it will take some time. Have a large carpeted space to work on. Watch a few old movies while you are at it. It is worth the effort!11:30 am. I use a hand truck to scoot the box into my apartment. I open the box next to my door because I can’t move it any farther. As I take the pieces out one by one, fear grips me. What if I get 90% done and realize I am missing a part? Next thought – these Styrofoam pieces are cool; I wonder if I can use them for something. Next thought, stop saving trash and move on! I start laying out pieces. Most are labeled with a sticker or by etching or stamping on the part A few have nothing as far as a label. I become confident in my power of deduction and elimination to identify the mystery parts. The instructions and illustrations seem to be written at my level, which is beginner level. Next, ooh, I find the packet of hardware. It is so cute, all bubble wrapped and sorted. My confidence grows. Next, I find the metal pieces for the slides for the pull-out tray. They are impressively heavy. At the bottom is the big piece, EE. EE is heavy! 11:45. Hmm, that big piece of cardboard it was packed in, I wonder...oh yeah, “Stop saving trash”.Off to the recycling bin and to buy a Phillips head screw driver and measuring tape. I have those somewhere, but apparently, I need two, so they can keep each other company, because the first set is hiding from me.I am back from the hardware store, our local Farm and Fleet. It took a while. There is some cute stuff there. I spent $23.00 on the tools. And two bags of hips. And a bag of caramel corn. I will cook carrots and tofu later – it will even out.While shopping, I realized there are some fun people here, and I should have showered first. I came home and showered. You never know when you will need to go to the hardware store again.12:45 and back at it. Not really, I Googled “Crafts with packing styrofoam.” Not helpful. But I did learn not to recycle the styrofoam, as it takes a lot of energy to process. Better in the trash. Wait, I already said that.1:00 and back at it.Sorted the big pieces. It appears the two unlabeled pieces are D260 and D263 Large drawer sides, right and left.I see that a No.2 Phillips screwdriver is required. I did buy a No. 2. Whew!Okay, now sorting the hardware. It is 1:45 and I do not know where the time has gone.2:30. Why, yes. I can confirm that all parts are present and counted. I got a little confused so labeled them with sticky notes. Fear grips me again. What if I drop and loose an essential screw or nail and I can’t finish. Why, yes. That has happened to me in the past. Well, actually, I just had to go to the hardware store in shame. But I have learned. I have a good feeling about this time.Sad discovery. Part B has a small chip on one edge. I took a picture. I am too far in to give up now. We will see if it shows in the finished project.3:17 First step done. DO I have the Hidden Cams in straight and the Cam Dowels in far enough. I have no reference point. It’s hopeful though. At least, per instructions, I did not tighten the HIDDEN CAMS in this step.4:00 step 2 is completed. I checked the list twice more than Santa would have. It was a little hard. Taking a break.5:50 and my break is over and I fastened the six angel brackets. Step three done.Step four was nerve wracking and step five was hard. I don’t want to talk about it...6:25 and I am determined. One step at a time.Step 6. More hidden cams. There is a nice illustration for how tight is too tight, and a warning for not going tight enough. But I would need to stand on my head, with a flashlight, to see the tiny guide clearly. So I am continuing to go by feel plus a little crank a little bit tighter. 6:55 and done with step 6 and step 7.Good news, the little chip is on the back and inside. That ended up okay.Step 8 is attaching the bases. They are cute arched pieces, so this is satisfying. And so now finally I see what those angle brackets are for. Bracket to desk, Bracket to arch. Attached. They slide in the groove of the arch pieces, so easily, with a little tapping, align with the holes of the desk.Step 9 is easy. Extra heavy pressed board is nailed to the backs. Hmm. This is supposed to add substantial stability. Okay? It looks good though.I wonder if I can tip this upright by myself. Meanwhile, I will construct the drawers while enjoying a movie. I am glad to be done with big pieces on the floor. Now I am working with small pieces on my ottoman. It’s 8:00 pm. There are several tricky steps with the drawers which are manageable because of the small size and weight.9:45. I am on the second movie. I am not going for speed at this point. Putting on the hinges and attaching the door was easy peasy! Believe those instructions that tell you how to adjust up and down and in and out. You get a perfect close.10:45. Here I am with completed Deskie. I named her Deskie after spending the day building our relationship. Building – get it! She is sturdy and sharp looking.

Great, heavy, sturdy desk for the price. The drawer glide is decent, and the assembly wasn't complicated if you've built anything like this before. Would definitely recommend to someone looking for a desk at this price point.

I bought this desk for its traditional yet modern look, the wide keyboard tray and not too deep top. I play a few flight simulation games and needed a desk that would allow me easy access to the keyboard while using a HOTAS joystick and throttle controller combination. This desk fits the bill very well and looks nice in our home filled with older, more traditional furniture.The first thing you notice when it arrives is that it is heavy. This is because it’s made of particle board. The instructions are concise though there are a lot more pieces than I anticipated. It was daunting when all the pieces were laid out but it was easy to assemble if you follow the instructions methodically.Modern gaming rigs and airflow:I was a little worried about the CPU in the desk’s cabinet. I have a large desktop computer with a big P180 case. It is a gaming rig that produces a lot of heat. So I left the backing at the rear of the CPU cupboard off for easier airflow. Since most modern gaming systems have airflow coming in from the front and exhaust out the rear there was the issue of getting cool air through the front with the door closed.In the end I had to prop it ajar about an inch with a piece of rubber. That proved sufficient to get cooler air inside and removing the backing gave plenty of room for air to leave the system and provide easier access to all the cables of which I have many. The only other thing I did was to separate the front and rear of the cabinet to prevent hot air being sucked back into the front. So I inserted some 3x2x30” foam to isolate the two sides. After that all went well.If you want to run a high power desktop in this desk with the door closed, you might want to modify the floor just inside the door by drilling an opening that lets the computer suck in air from underneath. The foot of the desk has an arched opening that would provide plenty of air. It’s something I’m considering, but at the moment keeping it ajar seems to be working out fine.The keyboard tray is large with a smooth slide that accommodates my oversize gaming keyboard well with just enough room for my mouse to be used beside it.The rear of the desk top does has about 3” of clamping space and I was able to fasten my 30” monitor to the desk with my nice 3M articulated stand.Since this desk is designed for use in a modern work space it is not as deep as ab old fashioned desk. The keyboard tray means makes up for this and when the keyboard is pushed in, there is a foot or two more space in the room. If you are in a smaller office space, that makes a difference.The finish of the desk is decent. The coating on the particle board does look like brushed maple, has a hint of grain in it and an eggshell sheen. It’s also very resistant to adhesives and tack. I tried to mount my controllers with Velcro but none of the adhesives work. I found a solution with their reusable sticky pads which were the only thing that provided adequate holding power. One positive to this is that the desk is very easy to dust and wipe down.The two drawers work well, though I haven’t set up the bottom one as a file cabinet it does come with rails for that purpose. Cable management is good and the vanity board at the back hides a plethora of wires as well as keeping them out of reach from my three puppies that seem to like to hang out under there when I’m working.Overall it’s a very nice design that looks good in the room. I’ve had it a month or so now and there is no sign of wear on the front edge of the keyboard tray despite my jacket zipper sometimes dragging on it when I sit in my chair.And the price is reasonable.