1314 A Gift to Myself for My Birthday In 2019

Well, if you know me personally you will probably be bored of me talking about my new desk by now. Although, a lot of you guys and girls will not know so… I bought myself a new desk as my birthday present last year. There are a few different reasons why not that I need an excuse or to explain myself. I don’t like to buy things for the sake of it you know such a waste of money. Reason one, I wanted a new one because my old one was old (about 10 years or more), rickety and days away from collapsing into a pile of dust. It was a sort of make-do desk as I was 12, didn’t have a lot of space and didn’t have money. I may not have had practicality on my mind either. I believe my Grandad bought it for me for £40 from the local independent furnishing shop.

It was a wall desk, tall, and had shelves at the top and doors to open the bottom. For £40 it did surprisingly well because I had it for a good 10 years give or take. I had wanted a new desk for ages. This one just wasn’t practical for me. It was designed for a computer where you keep the printer underneath, there was a keyboard draw, and then the monitor would sit on top. However, because I use a laptop it meant that when I was typing my hands were level with my head which was not comfortable and a bad posture. It did have a shelf on the bottom half (for a printer) but it meant it was also hard to get close enough to the laptop to type comfortably unless the shelf was digging into your knees. I constantly had a line going across my knees from sitting there.

The thing is, I like to write and the final flaw it had, was there was a decent place to do anything that involved writing. The top was too high, the shelf that the keyboard should have sat on didn’t extend far enough to have an A4 book on it without having to move it every time you needed to turn the page (which was extremely annoying), it was constantly moving and juggling things around to get a comfortable and workable space.

I have also been doing a bit of updating of the décor in my room, new bits etc so it just looked old and worn among the new shiny items. I will admit that I spent a lot of time looking at desks, but I like to find one that stands out to me ya now. A word of warning, the styles are all unique. I didn’t know how many different desk styles there were. There is writing, computer, standing, no storage, lots of storage, corner, tall, short, simple, shelves, wood, metal etc.

As you already know I finally found one, it is solid oak (wood), so fingers crossed I have it for a very long time at almost £300. (I am thinking I never have to buy a desk ever again!) The desk, I would describe as ‘Castle’, but I think the correct term is industrial or rustic looking (something you might find at Hogwarts). Either way, I am in love, and it is BEAUTIFUL. I am so glad I waited and bought this one.

When I decided that was the one, I started looking at how I was going to pay for it. Ideally, it wasn’t going to cost much so I could just order it when I wanted but spending £300 in one go takes a bit of planning for me. This was around October 2018 so I decided I would wait to see if I got any money for Christmas presents and hopefully it would go into a sale in the new year. It got to January, and I did get some money for Christmas, but it didn’t go down in the sale. I then decided I would wait for a little while in case I needed the money in an emergency for something else.

It ended up being September 2019 before I thought too much about it, I still had the money from my Christmas presents, my birthday was coming up, and I didn’t feel well (I was sick) so I thought I would treat myself to the desk I had been wanting for about two years now and needing for about three years. I bit the bullet and ordered it, very excited it was due to come the day after my birthday which meant I spent my birthday organising my room to fit it in.

I think in the end I paid about £279 for it. It arrived as planned, my only criticism was that I am a small female person, and they left a solid executive desk outside my front door not knowing if I had anyone to help me bring it in so I would have been stuck if I couldn’t get it in. My dad pretty much got the hint that we were putting it up that day. I started unwrapping it and struggled, it was very well wrapped I will tell you that.

I eventually got it all out and organised it into size piles and pieces that looked the same. Then I got an email to say the lamp that I bought to go with it had arrived so mum and me when to pick that up. When we got home my dad had already got all the draws together. YAY! I was so excited, I always enjoyed building/putting together with my dad. It was nice to see the enjoyment in him and I was also learning.

It was 75% together and annoyingly the desk was wrong, the premade holes to help you put it together were in the wrong place. They were about an inch off on one side of the drawers, so it was a bit like the leaning tower of the desk. I got on to them straight away to which they were very kind to send a new one out to me, in the meantime my dad being a carpenter had managed to fix it which is just as well because they wanted me to wrap it all back up which was not going to happen. Someone turned up the next day to pick it up to which I explained that I got it fixed, so I cancelled the new one and they graciously left, I apologised for the guy still being sent out and he told me not to worry.

The next day, a new desk arrived, and I told them that I don’t want it because I have cancelled the item and I was forced to take it. I called the company and had a moan because now I have two huge boxes sitting in my living room even though I cancelled the delivery, and I was annoyed that I was pretty much forced to take them. They said they would call me in two days to check it had been picked up, which they didn’t so I still have the desk sitting in my living room. I don’t have the time to sit on hold with them for 30 minutes every time, so I am waiting for them to call me back still.

Can I just say, I love my new desk, I have been driving everyone up the wall by telling them how good it is?

The Desk - Wayfair

Here is the link to the desk if you would like to look. Right, so I can’t find the same colour that I bought so that tells me that I bought it at the best time. I think this one is the same in style, size, and design just different colours.

Now, I don’t know about you but if you are buying a new desk, you need a couple of bits to go with it right? I bought a lamp, a new bin, a rug, a chair, pen pots and a candle holder. Later, I got a one-of-a-kind jewellery box made of marble. The wallpaper in my bedroom is black, grey, cream, silver, and glitter. It is nice; well, I think it is of course. It was a limited edition and £20 a roll (I got it at 50% off). With that in mind, I had to find things that would work with my desk and my wallpaper. I decided I would base the theme on grey/silver and then dark to match the hardware (handles).

My lamp – John Lewis

I have wanted a desk lamp for a long time, I just figured it would be easy as you can change the direction and where it is so easy. The desk I have got is quite big so I wanted one that would be moved easily, I ideally wanted a tough one, but it wasn’t vital. I spent ages trying to find one that I liked, would work, and didn’t cost a bomb. Now, I ended up splurging a bit, but it was the perfect lamp and high quality. It was £30, a shiny grey colour, the official name of it was a Pewter (the colour) House by John Lewis Tony Task Lamp. It has a 5-year guarantee included. I did click and collect because it was cheaper than getting it delivered.

Again, unfortunately, I haven’t managed to find the exact one but here is a very close one. The make and model are the same it is just a slightly different grey, mine is more metallic grey.

A bin – Amazon

I mean, it is a bin, right? Up until I bought a desk, I was just using the latest plastic bag that was available and plonking it around the room depending on where I was using it more and where my desk was etc. Now that I have bought a desk, I thought I should probably get a bin to go with it, and get rid of the plastic bags just hanging around.

I ended up going with black to match the hardware on my desk and the pen pots. I believe I bought this with the voucher that I got from work for my birthday, so it was a free bin. If you have been in a stationary shop, you will know the faux leather-looking stationary, it is that fabric.

The Rug – B&M

Eventually, I want to get a much bigger rug but for now, I got a small one mostly to just my chair up. I have wooden flooring in my office (which is my bedroom) so moving the chair around is noisy. The only way I could think of stopping this is by getting a fill-in rug, but I have got to be honest, I sort of love the one I got. It is the perfect colour, the perfect size for my desk and its style of it matches everything in my room. I know you can’t purchase online from B&M but here is a rug like the one I got.

A Desk Chair – Amazon

To be honest, when I first got a desk, I needed a chair to sit on it. I got the cheapest one I could find which happened to be a dining room table chair. I was 16 so I didn’t have much of a choice. It lasted well considering, don’t you think? It was just not very comfortable, and it made a lot of noise. I found this chair on various online websites but eventually, I bought it from Amazon. It is comfy, I was a little worried it wouldn’t be for the price. It is super easy to assemble; it matches well and has been great so far. It isn’t a bad price either which makes it all the greater.

Pen Pots – Amazon

Again, I was looking for something to match my desk which meant they had to be grey, silver (yes, they are different) or dark. I ended up going with a black metal cut-out design. There is not a lot to say about pen pots is there? They are still holding up well which is a good thing I suppose.

A Hedgehog Candle Holder – Sainsbury’s

I bought it in my local Sainsburys store, but I couldn’t find it on their website to show you. However, I haven’t found the same one (or at least it looks like it) in Argos. This one was a complete accident if I am being honest. I wasn’t even looking for a candle holder but when I walked past it, I couldn’t leave it as it goes so well with my desk. I have a bit of an animal theme going on.