this post could be about any of the above or all of them at once. i am short. most kitchens, houses, and furniture aren’t properly fitted for my ergonomics. that’s okay, i’m not bitter. someday maybe i’ll pull a julia childs and have a custom-designed kitchen for my height. but then there’s m who is not as short as i am; therefore, she will need her own kitchen. this idea is not totally unreasonable as we could probably fully use two kitchens. we love kitchens that much. (which is also why it is completely absurd that our current kitchen is the size of a small closet and about as usable, too.)
here’s where i get to the age part: as i grow older, furniture seems to fit me less and less. i love my stua chairs, but they aren’t the right height. i love my fake saarinen table, but it’s not the right height, either, and combined with the stua chairs, nothing fits me at all. doing work on the sofa or in bed is a baaaaad idea. i’ve looked into standing desks here and here. somewhere out there in the internet ether is another desk i saw in an infomercial, but i can’t seem to find it right now. it kind of looks like this but not exactly. i have an adjustable herman miller aeron and an adjustable ikea table at my work office, and this is about as successful a work area as i have ever had. the only exception may be the low slung coffee table and adjustable office chair i had at the chicago historical society – it was a weird looking setup, but kept me from having neck, back, and shoulder strain as i sat on my tushie for almost 8 hours a day. i secretly enjoyed watching my co-workers crouch down to see what i was working on.
m has recently begun working standing up as evidenced in the photo below. who knew a coffee roaster could also be a desk? i have looked around and discovered that the sideboard, with which i have a love/hate relationship, is actually just about the right height for a standing desk (see photo). plus, i have the rice cooker and espresso machinery to keep me well-nourished. upon further investigation, the rolling cart, which has a breakfast bar in the back, is exactly 1/2″ shorter than the sideboard and is the *perfect* height for me as a standing desk. there is, of course, the issue of having to look down at my laptop, but the world isn’t perfect. perhaps an external 27″ apple cinema display will help…
coffee roaster as desk?
sideboard as desk?