Work From Home (WFH) desk or vanity table - IKEA hack

As a second work from home desk or bedroom vanity table I have managed put up together a very cheap solution, hacking some IKEA furniture. 

This is something temporary as during the pandemic both me and my partner work from home. So, my ambition was to do this with a minimum of investment and also use the furniture piece for it's original purpose once this pandemic is over. 

I needed a desk that has maximum 50cm depth and maximum 80cm width. 

Of course, IKEA has readymade desks that fit my requirements. One option would have been this desk below, but it had a problem for me. 

The tall and long legs people will understand me. This desk has the height 75cm but because of the drawer the available height under the desk for legs is 65cm. Of course, I could have skipped to install the drawer but the esthetic of the desk without the drawer was horrible (because of the hidden cables solution that this desk has in the back).

Then I came up with almost a half price solution using a product that is in the top of all IKEA hack – KALLAX shelving unit. 

The assembly instructions are so simple, just skip most of them. Just do step 1 & 8 partially. 

With this solution the space under the desk for legs is 75cm high, those extra cm make a difference, for tall people. 

The depth problem (this unit has 39cm depth and the wardrobes have 50 cm depth) was fixed by adding the bottom part of the shelving unit on top of the desk after aligning it with the wardrobes in the front.

For a better desk ergonomics (tall people will understand me) I have added this extra bed tray on top for the laptop screen to be at the same level with the eyes and then under the extra tray the extended keyboard and mouse. 

The bed tray I would have added even if I would have chosen a regular desk as I have one for the permanent desk too (makes a huge difference in combination with the extended keyboard and mouse) and this can be used for serving breakfast in bed too. 

 This is the bedroom desk (during the pandemic) or vanity table in the future. 

As the bedroom is quite dark and moody it needed a desk lamp. This is an older IKEA work lamp. A similar one is this one below. This lamp is great because I can easily direct the light where I want it because the arm and head are flexible. 

And voila this is the background when working from the bedroom desk. Light & symmetry accomplished. 

That round thing on the nightstand that breaks the symmetry is a dawn simulator alarm clock (from Philips). In this part of the world winter is quite dark and long.