When you have a small bedroom, balancing your laptop on books beside you while sitting on your bed feels like your normal work setup. At least, that was how I worked in my bedroom for months until I… finally gave myself a desk. I lived with this desk setup because I had been procrastinating on buying a desk.
Procrastinating might be too generous of a word – I didn’t buy one because I simply didn’t know where I could fit it! My bedroom is around 8 feet by 10 feet, and once I accounted for the bed, dresser, and an absurdly small closet, I didn’t think I had room for a desk. Scouring furniture websites didn’t help; most desks felt like they were made for people with actual bedrooms.
Then I spotted this adorable little writing desk from my local furniture store. Despite being narrow itself, it came with assembly instructions and measurements so I knew I could make it fit.
It was exactly 32 inches wide by 16 inches deep.
I hadn’t realised how narrow that was until I Googled “standard desk depth” and came away terrified that I’d accidentally bought a child-sized desk. After measuring multiple times to ensure I wasn’t going crazy, I became comforted with the fact that every desk I came across listed a depth of around 29 inches. Mine was longer, but not by that much.
The best part wasn’t even the price ($89 isn’t too shabby) but how narrow it was. Most desks are closer to 60 inches wide, so mine would have taken up almost 75% of available wall space. Instead, this writing desk was so slim I could actually envision it tucked between my dresser and window.
Oh man, assembling this was fun. OK, not fun. It’s one of those experiences you have to say you deserve when buying fold-in-half-and-it’s-done furniture.
The instructions look like a typoed language that’s universally used because every desk toy comes with them. You know the ones I’m talking about – where you open the box, find one screwdriver attachment that does every bolt, and see the illustrated people happily snapping their desks together. Real life assembly looked more like me sitting cross-legged on the floor for an hour grappling with way too many flat wooden pieces that all blend together.
Here’s a tip if you buy this desk and struggle to assemble it like I did: don’t force the pieces together! All of the puzzled cursing I did when things didn’t fit was because I was stuck-ending things into the wrong spot. Still took me ages, but at least I didn’t break anything.
One of the first things I loved about my new desk was how it made my bedroom feel more official as a workspace. While working on my bed felt OK at the time, setting up a desk in its place immediately gave me that feeling of having an office. It wasn’t until after I assembled my desk that I truly realised how narrow 16 inches is.
I can still scoot around it with ease when I need to access something on the other side. My desk now houses just my laptop, a notebook, and yeah… my coffee mug. Harmless desk essentials.
One complaint I initially had was the single drawer that came with it. It looked so tiny! I had a drawer, sure, but what on Earth would I put in there?
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More than I expected! Battery chargers, pens, sticky notes, chapstick, you name it. Random junk that doesn’t necessarily have its own home in your bedroom tends to live on my dresser, so now it lives in my drawer.
The one upgrade I did make to the desk wasn’t part of the original plan. The surface of the desk is this really nice looking laminate with a super smooth feel. Except, the super smooth feel gave it more of a cheap-than-you-think quality that I wasn’t the biggest fan of.
After living with it for a couple of weeks, I ordered this gigantic desk pad from Amazon. It’s one of those fuzzy soft faux-leather ones that hangs off the edges ever so slightly. Cost me ~$25, but it was worth every dollar to give my desk a less “got lucky at Target” vibe.
Height wise, this desk is ideal for me. It’s 30 inches tall, which is perfect for me when I’m sitting in my desk chair or lounging on my bed. I actually spent an entire Sunday working at my desk and my neck didn’t feel strained when I was done.
Hallelujah for desks that don’t make you worry about your posture! I don’t have a ton of storage options with this desk, but I got creative. I installed a small floating shelf roughly 18 inches above my desk surface.
It’s the perfect height to store my printer (I print stuff, don’t judge) as well as a couple of books I reference often. Filling the dead space between my desk and ceiling makes the space feel more purposeful than just an empty gap. It also doesn’t take away from my window.
Something I didn’t fully appreciate before my desk was how it changed my bedtime routine. I used to do pretty much everything on my bed. Homework, watching Netflix, eating chocolate – you name it.
As soon as I was done working in bed, I jumped into bed to “relax.” But having a physical area that was just for working helped my brain distinguish work life from sleep life. It makes sense, I know – but it didn’t click until a few weeks in that I was falling asleep quicker and waking up less groggy. There are tradeoffs to the desk being so narrow, of course.
If I need to spread out clothes or papers, I don’t have the room to do so comfortably.
If I’m working on multiple notebooks or documents, I end up spreading out on my bed anyways. And you definitely can’t have friends over and work side by side.
Although that might just be the “working from home” tradeoff in general these days. But for daily computer use, writing, paying bills, or just wanting a desk that felt like it was only mine in a shared flat, it was perfect. And the small size really doesn’t make your room feel cramped like I thought it would.
If anything, it blends nicely in the background. I can’t imagine my bedroom without it now. It’s where I sit and drink my morning coffee while catching up on emails.
It’s where I spend my evenings lounging and answering blog comments. It’s my “work spot” if I need to concentrate on getting something done. My bedroom is still small, but my desk made me feel like I actually utilised the space I had.
