Office-in-a-cupboard

electrics being done on tuesday so that'll be a good bit of progress! Will be good to see what the place looks like with that FLOALT panel

Picked up a big chunk of brand new beech worktop from gumtree for 35 quid. Pretty happy with the that. Will use that to make my desk top with.

Slow progress but managed this so far

Got a sparky to do the electrics and I've done the cat6

Two days off in a few weeks so hoping to get the walls sanded and at least first coat of paint

Forgot how awful the walls were in here.

Anyway, most of the wee holes filled, cable trench filled and skirting/inner door frame sanded and repainted today.

Tomorrow, going to paint the walls.

Still missing a wee bit of skirting but people on my street having a refurb and have tossed a bunch of old skirting out. Might see if there is anything that fits...

Where are you getting your pegboard from, or do you intend just to make one?

Haven't decided yet but almost certainly won't be making one. It'd be a fun project but two small kids mean very little time atm, having to use up leave just to get this stuff done as it is.

Peg and board on Instagram might be one I'd consider but it's pretty pricey. Might see if anyone locally will make one for me.

I’ve just converted our box room into an office
(Ok I’ve chucked a kid out of there, removed his guff, decorated and put a desk in) but liked the idea of the peg board behind the desk.

Something I’ll look into further

Paint just about done

Went with something that would hide the state of the walls.

Alright, desk in

Probably used too many Hammer fixings (plus glue) but better safe than sorry. I swear my spirit level is on the wind up, seemed to give me different readings on the same static batten over two days!

Needed a slight extra cut to allow the desk in given the walls aren't very flat.

Fits pretty snug! Decided to cut a section of the frame rather than a) scribe or b) reduce desk depth given I don't have skills, time or tools for a) and b) I didn't want sit too close to my screen.

People on imgur gave me shit within seconds of uploading these images shout lack of scribing but this is not a nice or well preserved frame and it not a frame that faces the rest of the room. Is it really such a cardinal sin to have cut the old beaten up frame?

Next job, planing the edge a bit, then drilling some cable management and then sanding and oiling!

Caulk could be your friend here. It certainly helped me out with my bodged DIY in all the rooms in my house

Oh for sure will be caulking the edges. I object to your use of bodge however! Unusually for me everything went to plan (so far)

Sorry, no offence intended! My skills = a bodge every time

You can get pegboards from IKEA pretty cheaply if I remember correctly

Yeah but they are metal, I have one elsewhere in the flat, but I'm keen for wooden ones for in here I think

Got a pal who'll lend me his router with edge tool.

Suggestions for a comfortable edge profile?

Either use a 45 degree bit and take a sniff off the edge to make a nice angle finish. Or use a rounded one. Either will be fine. But if you are used to working at kitchen table, you might prefer the familiar of the round edge...

Oh and sprit levels aren't always level... Check it for certain of of bothers you that much which it probably won't in s small space like that. Get it level, draw a horizontal line on the wall along the base. Then flip it round so the side that was against the wall is now facing you, and do the same thing as close to the original line as possible.. you want to end up with 2 very close together perfectly parallel lines. When you don't you'll realise that your level is out...

By the way, it looks ace. Tell people on imgur to go fff themselves. It's your house, your project, you do what suits you best. If you ever want to take the desk out, you'll have to patch up the frame, big deal.. you're doing a fun useful project, they're criticising people on the internet.

Looks good. Don't worry about not scribing the desktop to the architrave. What you've done is fine.

My recommendation for the edge profile is practice on some offcuts first! (Speaking as someone who learned to use a router by cutting a rebate into the same worktop material, I got a half decent result but it is difficult and the potential for injury is high)

thanks @whatfriends - appreciate that

@Cupcakes what's this about injury potential being high?

I just mean generally with sharp stuff spinning real fast near fingers etc.

I found the router can "jump" a bit sometimes. Not sure if that's poor tools, poor technique, normal or what. But that was my experience. I've anecdotally heard about a lot of fingers disappearing into router bits, but fortunately I've still got all of mine...

Yea they can be pretty unpleasant sometimes. Couple things to remember though, always always always unplug/take the battery out when adjusting fences or blades. Same deal with any cutty thing really. I know it's boring and sounds patronising but just do it.. especially if it's an on/off switch rather than dead man switch. Secondly, from above, the blade spins clockwise, so when you want to cut that front edge, do it from left to right as you have photographed it. This means that you are pushing the cutting edge into the surface at all times as it spins. This equals better control. If you try it from right to left, you will probably find that the router will jump and skip along the surface edge as the rotation of the blade pulls the router along. Imagine a belt sander switched on and put on the floor... It'll run away. The router will want to do the same and at best it'll all be fine just a surprise, worse than that it can damage the work piece, worse than that it can freak you out and make you jump losing control of the router etc etc. Amazing tools. So versatile. But they do want to chop all your favourite things into small bits so just make sure you don't let it...

Lastly, ear defenders, eye protection, dust mask.... And have fun and see how great it feels to get a great finish..

Thanks pals. I was definitely erring on side of caution with the circular saw, unplugging it etc even though it was a deadmans switch. I'm pretty tall and clumsy albeit my quick reactions seem to mean I catch most stuff before it hits the ground but aware that this approach has limitations with sharp stuff, haha.

One other tip/idea: make sure the workpiece is firmly fixed down to something stable. You won't be able to route the full length of the desktop with it in situ, I don't think, as the body of the router itself will hit the wall. So I'd guess you'll fix it to a workbench or similar. I use a pair of IKEA wooden stools for this sort of thing and they are fine apart from sometimes they get unstable especially with large workpieces. If you're pushing the router down/in and the bench shifts, you'll get a surprise at best. I dealt with this issue by checking it was definitely stable first and then getting my partner to sit on the other end of the workpiece to counterbalance. I was lucky enough to spot this potential screwup whilst only using hand tools :)

Good tip. I have clamps that I used to keep my straight edge firm for circular sawing but maybe partner sitting on the surface makes sense.