Sometimes it really pays to know creative people. Case in point, I’ve had the same, crappy IKEA desks since I moved to Los Angeles, which I’m sure many of you out there do too. They’re cheap, they’re reasonably sturdy and more important, they’re functional. But since Kyle and I moved into a new place I’ve been craving a new desk, something super wide that we can both work at and still have room sprawl all over our desktop. Thankfully, my good buddy Eric Trine is one talented guy. You might remember Eric’s name from the Los Angeles, I’m Yours art/flea market that I put on with Poketo. He was our go-to carpenter who built/found/created so much of what made the show special, and we were so indebted to him. So when I wanted a table made, I knew exactly who to go to.
He ended up using some local, reclaimed beech wood which he found here in Downtown Los Angeles. The desk is really large at 8 feet wide, to fill a great big wall in our apartment. We have an eclectic range of woods in our apartment but I wanted the desk to have a darker surface. It looks cleaner for longer, in my opinion. He also did this really cool thing where he patched the random little holes and tiny gaps with yellow resin, which works really well with our place (our palette is very warm, with lots of reds and oranges and yellows). He also designed great, stylish legs that support the 200 lb. desk. By no means are they “standard” desk legs.
One side effect that I didn’t think of is the smell of real wood. When you go to IKEA, it just smells like particle board and a bit of nothing. Having real wood is a treat on it’s own, as silly as that sounds to say. Did my desk cost way more than one from IKEA? Definitely. But I’d rather pay more for something that can last for generations than a piece of particle board that, with faith and glue, lasts you 10 years. It also makes me happy that I can support a local craftsmen, who also happens to be a good friend.
Please check out more of Eric’s work by clicking here.
Bobby
