What makes the writing desk unique? A writing desk differs from a standard desk in that it is usually much smaller in size, making it a perfect choice for either a bedroom or a small-office. Originally they were used to pen letters by hand, and to keep communication and writing somewhat private. Many desks had a top that would either slide out or swing up, which was lowered and used to conceal writing, and writing materials, when the desk was not in use. This served a double purpose. It kept the written material private and away from prying eyes and it also helped the room stay neat and tidy.

Most writing desks, both traditional and contemporary, usually have at least two draws set in the desk. Many also have an optional hutch that can be set on top of the desk. These hutches also often have additional drawers or they have small pigeonhole sections where things can be stored.

Traditional Writing Desk

The traditional writing desk is a wonderful piece of furniture that would look lovely in any living room or bedroom and would fit in well with any type of furniture. Traditionally the writing desk was made from hard wood, with a beautiful veneer finish. The finish was either a rich cherry color, a sturdy oak finish, or a darker espresso or black wood color.

Contemporary Writing Desk

Many contemporary writing desks are styled after traditional desks. They remain small sized, and while perfect to set a laptop on, they are not really suitable to use with a desktop computer. Some even have a small sliding section where you can place the keyboard. Many also have provision to add on an optional hutch with either additional drawers or pigeonholes.

Aside from the more traditionally styled wood writing desks, there also some fantastic contemporary desks fitted with a glass desktop. Other styles include writing desks with metal frames or legs.

What to Look for When Buying a Writing Desk

Aside from making sure that it will fit in with the overall décor of the room you will be placing it in, normally people are concerned that the writing desk is sturdy and strong. Another important factor especially if you will be buying a writing desk online is that it is very easy to assemble.

You should decide in advance whether you are going for a more traditional style or a contemporary style writing desk. If you are short on space, you should take a look at the corner writing desk. It is built to fit snugly into the corner, maximizing the use of your space. Make sure when you buy the desk that it has enough drawers to suit your needs. Again, if it does not, you can always invest in a hutch to sit on top of it. In fact many writing desks are sold with the option of buying an additional hutch that matches the color and style of the writing desk perfectly.

Of course cost is also a consideration when buying a writing desk. Is very easy these days to do a simple search for whatever you are looking to buy online, and simply check through the different products and see which ones fall into your price range. Prices will depend on things such as the design the quality of craftsmanship and the materials that the writing desk is made from.

One problem with buying writing desks, or any furniture for that matter, online is that it is very difficult to tell exactly how well it is been made. For example with a writing desk it is very important that the drawers slide in and out very easily, otherwise it’ll be frustrating trying to use it. Obviously, that is very difficult to discover when buying something online. One way around this is to look on different sites that have customer reviews. I always learn a lot about a piece of furniture or other items that I am are going to buy simply by looking at the customer reviews. Generally if there is a problem with a particular piece of furniture or product you will find several people said something about it and it will be noted down in the reviews.

Building your Own Writing Desk

Of course if you are really handy with tools or who have a friend or significant other who is, one option is to build your own writing desk. The great thing about building your own writing desk is that you can design exactly how you would like to be, and if there are any extra additional features you would like you can simply draw them into the plans.

Finding Antique Writing Desks

If you are more the adventurous type, one thing you might want to do is try to locate an antique writing desk. This is really not as difficult as it may seem to be as you can often find antique furniture when you go to garage sales or simply by looking through different second-hand stores.

If you are fortunate enough to find one you can have a lot of fun sanding them down and refinishing them.

Of course, you do have to know a little bit about furniture, as there are also many newer writing desks on the market today that have been intentionally designed to look like antique writing desks.

The Executive Writing Desk

The executive writing desk looks very much like a regular writing desk with one exception. Usually they have more drawers, with some having draws down either side that go all the way down to the floor. They will also often have a larger size hutch. They are still very compact though and great for situations where you do not have a lot of space but you need the work at a desk.

In conclusion, a writing desk is a great addition to any room. Their classic look is perfect for most décor, and they really add a touch of elegance to rooms. They are also very practical and useful to have around your home. If you do not have one and you have space in your sitting room or your bedroom that needs a little something extra, you really should think about investing in a writing desk.

Depending on your level of expertise, there are several options available. You could buy the material yourself and build one from scratch, buy an unassembled desk and put it together yourself, or buy an old or antique writing desk and refinish it yourself. Naturally the most difficult would be to make the desk from scratch, yourself. It is fairly easy to refinish furniture, especially hard-wood furniture, although it does take a bit of time. The easiest route would be to buy an unassembled desk and simply put it together following the instructions that you received with the purchase.

Building a Writing Desk from Scratch

You need to be a fairly accomplished carpenter to make a nice-looking writing table from scratch. You may find that the cost of doing this project yourself is much more than you had originally expected to be, mainly because the cost of wood has increased quite a bit lately. Finally, it is unlikely that you will be able to finish the job in one sitting so you need to be prepared that it will take quite a while to finalize the project. First, you need to buy all the material and then you need to prepare the materials you need, such as the tools and then you need to build the writing desk. The final step is to finish the wood, which also takes time.

Having gone over some of the potential cons of building a writing desk from scratch, I would like to address some of the pros. In my case, were I to consider taking on such a project, the main advantage is that I really have a lot of fun making things. I always like to have one project on the go and when I am coming towards the end of one I am usually looking around trying to figure out what I will do next. So to me, the idea of tackling the project of building a writing desk would be something I would look forward to.

On a more practical level, if you design and build your own desk you can decide exactly how you want it. If you want to custom design certain things such as the number of drawers, the location of the drawers or the size of the drawers, you have complete freedom to do so. You can also decide on the choice of material, the wood finish and how you will assemble it.

If you do decide that you would like to make your own desk there a quite a few plans and designs available online many for free, which give really clear instructions step by step on how to go about doing it. Unless you have done this sort of thing before I would suggest that you look for a plan that has already been drawn up and use that. It is much easier to make modifications to a plan than it is to come up with one yourself.

Refinishing a Writing Desk

To me, refinishing furniture is almost as enjoyable as building something myself. This is especially true in cases where the furniture is much more intricately designed and better built than I would ever be able to build.

If you are interested in refinishing a writing desk yourself the first thing you will have to do is find an old desk that you can work on. You can often find these types of items in second-hand furniture stores, at garage sales and sometimes even at the local garbage recycle place. You will have to set aside some time and go to all these different places in search of one, or you will have to keep your eye open as you go, about keeping in the back of your mind that you would like to do this. It is also a good idea to let friends and relatives know that you are interested in doing something like this. I have been able to come by quite a few pieces of furniture by letting other people know what I want.

Once you have your desk I would suggest you set it up in an area where you can leave it, such as a garage or your work area, as you will have to let it sit between each application of paint or stain. The first step is to sand it down. If you have an electric sander this will make the job go so much faster if not, never mind; just think of it as good exercise. I would suggest using fairly fine sandpaper to strip the paint or stain off the desk.

It is always good to wipe the writing desk down with a rag afterwards to get rid of any pieces of dust left lying around. Then you can go ahead and apply your first coat of either paint or stain. Now you will need to leave a fair amount of time between each coat in order for the layer to dry thoroughly. You don’t want to go adding another layer on top of a layer if the bottom layer is not properly dried. Once it is stained or painted to your satisfaction you could go ahead and add a final last layer of varnish, which you could either spray on or brush on.

It is also possible to buy unfinished writing desks. They are new and already assembled but they do not have any stain or paint on them. I really like this idea because you can bring a writing desk home and then decide yourselves exactly what you want to do with it. It gives you the freedom of being able to make the furniture fit in with your other furniture, as you can paint it any color you like. It just gives you so many more options.

Assembling a Writing Desk

Many stores sell unassembled writing desks. Usually these packages come complete with screws and everything that you need to put the desk together and you should be able to assemble it probably within half an hour.

I would recommend that you double check that all the pieces you need are included with the package and make sure the assembly the instructions are very clear before you buy the item.

So there you have a few different options for the DIY enthusiast who would like to put together their own writing desk.

The writing desk has always been highly functional. They have included drawer space, pigeonholes, ink wells, and storage space for papers and other writing material. Basically the idea is that you will have everything you need to write, on hand.

The contemporary writing desk, just like its  predecessors, is still very functional. Storage space is still there, there is plenty of room for writing and storing writing related items, and many modern desks also include a keyboard tray.

If you look around online you will see that many contemporary writing desks are fashioned after the same style as the more traditional or antique styles. There are many replicas which, in my opinion, often look just as good as some of the older antique desks you can buy. So if you are looking for a more classic styled writing desk you would probably want to take a look at some of those.

There also many modern contemporary design and writing desks available. For example you can find stunning glass topped desks, some with clear glass, some with black glass, for fairly reasonable prices. Many of the modern style writing desks have open framing and you can also find quite a few with metal framework or metal legs.

Another neat modern function that some writing desks have is the ability to actually adjust the height of the table top, the length between it and the floor. This is really helpful especially if you also have an adjustable office chair or stool as it can really add to the comfort you experience while sitting at your writing desk. Some people find this is very needful if they are going to be spending a lot of time at their desk.

Of course, as with any contemporary furniture you can also find some absolutely amazing designs. You can find desks painted many different colors, with patterns on the top. Some are made from folded plastic sheets, and there is really no end of designs out there. So if you are looking for something very contemporary it should not be too difficult for you to find it. Of course some of the more contemporary designed writing desks are quite expensive so if you are looking for something along that line you may need to be prepared to spend quite a bit of money for it.

While we’re on the subject of cost it’s great to see that there is a really wide range of prices when it comes to contemporary desks. You can buy a very simple but nicely crafted modern writing desk for as little as $70 or you can spend up to $700 for a very modern, contemporary design writing desk.

Basically, whatever type of writing desk you would like, it is out there. You can choose between antique style writing desks or very modernistic designed writing desks, and there is a wide range in between.

You do not have to limit yourself to only putting them in a study or bedroom or to using them only for writing. If you have a large hallway or passageway that looks very empty you can even put a small writing desk along the wall and put some nice decorations, such as a small, ornate flowerpot with flowers on top of it. It takes away the emptiness of that area.

Of course traditionally writing desks were used for writing. They are still great for that these days. Probably most people type e-mails or letters rather than writing them out by hand but there are still some tasks that people need to do by hand.  For example often you need to fill out forms by hand, fill out tax returns, work on your personal finances, write checks, etc. and a writing desk is great to use for this type of thing. It has drawers where you can file papers, and you can usually lock the drawers.

Many people use laptops today. While the writing desk is usually too small to put a desktop computer on, it is perfect for setting a laptop on. Some contemporary writing desks also include a slide out tray for the keyboard.

I have also seen writing desks put to good use in children’s bedrooms. The writing desks themselves are quite small and petite thus they do not look at all overwhelming in a child’s bedroom. They are perfect for the child to do their homework at, or for them to use for their different projects, painting, artwork etc. if you are planning on putting one into a child’s bedroom you may want to go for a white table desk as opposed to a dark wood stained desk. Of course perhaps the dark desk would fit in perfectly with the child’s room décor, but if not there are plenty of other styles to choose from. You could even buy an unfinished writing desk and paint it whatever color you would like so that it matches the other furniture in the room.

The writing desk is also perfect to use in small offices, whether it’s a small home office or just a small general office. This is especially true if the person working at the desk will work mainly from a laptop for example, and they do not have a lot of paperwork to contend with. They are also great to use for part-time workers who may not need a full sized office desk.

As you can see there are many different uses for a writing desk. The great thing is that when you no longer need them to be used as a desk they can become a very nice piece of furniture that can showcase some of your decorations.

One thing that is always good to take into consideration when you are thinking about adding some antique style furniture to your home or office is whether or not it has actually be antique furniture or if antique style furniture would be sufficient. In other words, it is very easy to purchase antique style furniture; most furniture shops sell antique style desks that are often times almost exact replicas of the original desk but of course they are a lot cheaper.

Some of the properties of antique writing desks which make them different from their contemporary models are things such as having a leather writing insert on top of the desk. Many antique writing desks also have a raised shaped pen and ink holder at the back of the desk or at the back corner of the desk. Some even slant downwards for better ease of writing. Most of these details are missing from more modern style writing desks although of course it is possible to find them, especially with the desks that are trying to replicate closely the older styled antique desks.

There a few different favourite styles of antique writing desks that I have seen people buy. There is the regular flat, small writing desk that most people are very familiar with which has a few small drawers along the front and four legs that are very often slightly curved.

The cylinder desk is also a very common style of writing desk. It has a rounded lid that rolls back and rotates into the actual desk, revealing the writing section of the desk as it does so. It usually has pigeonholes at the back or a small draws built into the recessed part of desk. This is a very common style and it is great to work on, because if you want to leave your writing all work out but you do not want anyone to be able to see what you have been working on, you can simply just roll down the cylinder lid and everything is immediately out of sight.

The bureau writing desk, sometimes referred to as the drop lid writing desk, has a lid that drops down towards you. To me, this isn’t as convenient as the cylinder desk because you have to actually stack up your papers or whatever you are working on and then stick them back inside the bureau so that you can flip the writing desk back up to close the bureau. One good point with this style of desk, though, is that it takes up a lot less room when it is not in use yet still gives you plenty of writing space when the lid is down.

If you are interested in finding out about the different types of antique writing desks I would suggest you do a search online. There are some excellent sites that give very detailed information on the history of the writing desk and desks in general, and other sites that explain more specifically the details about furniture from different periods of history and what it was like.

Naturally it is not very cheap to buy genuine antique writing desks. Prices vary according to how old the desk is, what state it is in, whether it still has all the original latches, keys and other peripheral items. You can either buy these from online antique dealers or even occasionally find them on eBay for example.