I always appreciate folks who write the kind of reviews with photos that answer all my questions as well as offer info I wouldnt have even thought about, so Im writing this one in hopes that it provides that for someone else.
First, I will say that I am having to downsize my office. I had a built/in counter top and shelving, two spots for working, and ample room for daily household tasks, as well as craft and sewing projects. Weve moved, and the area set aside for my office in the new house, while ample, has to be purposed as a guest room as my MIL cannot get up our stairs anymore. I dont see myself running upstairs to pay bills, check a recipe, or answer skype, and I want my kids to be in sight when doing homework on the computer, so we set aside a nook in our entry hall by the garage for a desk and this has become my command center (the kids do homework at the kitchen table now). So its been a struggle to go from what we had previously, to just this little command center space.
With all that in mind, this is a decent desk for the money. It came in undamaged, is the perfect size for the nook I have for it, the drawers are nice and wide (I didnt have to buy new desk drawer organizers) and they operate smoothly. The color is fine, although a littler redder than shown in the product listing photos. It is sturdy enough for the daily gentle use it receives and the desktop is wide and deep enough for my purposes.
However, when putting it together, some pieces were labeled wrong, not labeled at all, and/or had two labels (maybe a label had come off one piece onto another.). Luckily, the pieces labeled wrong were easy to identify per the instructions, but stillit took a few minutes to straighten out.
The drawers will need to be treated with care. while they operate smoothly, if my kids spend too much time messing with them, I think theyll break. This desk is made of particle board covered in a thin veneer. Its not going to stand the test of time without some care. The veneer is easily scratched and I suspect if I clean it with much more than water, it will damage the finish. When you put it together, you wont want to use power tools, as just screwing in a screw to hard by hand made a bit of the veneer surface and the particleboard underneath to buckle a bit.
Probably the most annoying thing about the desk, is that it is not QUITE level, right to left. Unfortunately for me, it makes the difference between my chair pushing all the way under, and not (see photos). The right arm of my chair makes it under, but the left does not. This is the lowest height setting for my chair, so I think Ill try putting some felt pads under the left side of the desk to try to gain that quarter inch I need there to scoot the chair all the way under. There are not adjustable leg caps (the kind you can screw in/unscrew to adjust height) to accomplish this.
SO, in conclusion, I do like the desk. It was fairly easy to assemble (took one person about an hour and a half to get it done), and is decent quality considering it will receive regular gentle use by a careful adult. Because of the mislabeled parts, the inexpensive materials used (meaning its probably not going to last terribly long), and it not being level, Ive taken off a coupla stars. I might have returned it except I had reward money to apply, which made it cheaper (and therefore worth it) for me.
Decent desk, a few issues
I always appreciate folks who write the kind of reviews with photos that answer all my questions as well as offer info I wouldnt have even thought about, so Im writing this one in hopes that it provides that for someone else. First, I will say that I am having to downsize my office. I had a built/in counter top and shelving, two spots for working, and ample room for daily household tasks, as well as craft and sewing projects. Weve moved, and the area set aside for my office in the new house, while ample, has to be purposed as a guest room as my MIL cannot get up our stairs anymore. I dont see myself running upstairs to pay bills, check a recipe, or answer skype, and I want my kids to be in sight when doing homework on the computer, so we set aside a nook in our entry hall by the garage for a desk and this has become my command center (the kids do homework at the kitchen table now). So its been a struggle to go from what we had previously, to just this little command center space. With all that in mind, this is a decent desk for the money. It came in undamaged, is the perfect size for the nook I have for it, the drawers are nice and wide (I didnt have to buy new desk drawer organizers) and they operate smoothly. The color is fine, although a littler redder than shown in the product listing photos. It is sturdy enough for the daily gentle use it receives and the desktop is wide and deep enough for my purposes. However, when putting it together, some pieces were labeled wrong, not labeled at all, and/or had two labels (maybe a label had come off one piece onto another.). Luckily, the pieces labeled wrong were easy to identify per the instructions, but stillit took a few minutes to straighten out. The drawers will need to be treated with care. while they operate smoothly, if my kids spend too much time messing with them, I think theyll break. This desk is made of particle board covered in a thin veneer. Its not going to stand the test of time without some care. The veneer is easily scratched and I suspect if I clean it with much more than water, it will damage the finish. When you put it together, you wont want to use power tools, as just screwing in a screw to hard by hand made a bit of the veneer surface and the particleboard underneath to buckle a bit. Probably the most annoying thing about the desk, is that it is not QUITE level, right to left. Unfortunately for me, it makes the difference between my chair pushing all the way under, and not (see photos). The right arm of my chair makes it under, but the left does not. This is the lowest height setting for my chair, so I think Ill try putting some felt pads under the left side of the desk to try to gain that quarter inch I need there to scoot the chair all the way under. There are not adjustable leg caps (the kind you can screw in/unscrew to adjust height) to accomplish this. SO, in conclusion, I do like the desk. It was fairly easy to assemble (took one person about an hour and a half to get it done), and is decent quality considering it will receive regular gentle use by a careful adult. Because of the mislabeled parts, the inexpensive materials used (meaning its probably not going to last terribly long), and it not being level, Ive taken off a coupla stars. I might have returned it except I had reward money to apply, which made it cheaper (and therefore worth it) for me.