I’m a huge fan of Rickshaw Bags. Ever since my first daily-carry Zero Messenger Bag (now 10 years old and still looking great), which has traveled with me to four continents, I’ve found reasons (and excuses) to buy more bags in other colors, sizes, fabrics and styles. I also have several stationery accessories. Handmade in San Francisco, the products are all well made, durable and – the most addictive part – color-customizable!

Rickshaw’s Plush Valet Tray ($34) is not an item that initially struck me as useful. Traditionally, a valet is used by men as a pocket dump. Since I don’t carry coins, keys, knives or anything else in my pockets, I don’t have this need. However, I do have a specific art table need, and when I spotted the cushy valet, I suddenly realized what its purpose is.

When I’m working on a drawing or other project at my desk, I’m constantly picking up and putting down various pencils, pens, scissors or other tools, and I don’t like the noisy clatter they make on my desktop surface or a hard tray. I’d tried paper towels and fabric to set tools down on, but round pencils kept rolling off.

The rectangular 4-by-8-inch valet is an ideal size for giving my currently used tools a soft, silent place to land – it’s plush-lined! Yes, my pencils now have a more comfy seat than I do. I don’t have any of Rickshaw’s gorgeous, plush-lined fountain pen cases or Coozies because I refuse to let my pens be better dressed than I am. OK, I do have one Clover Pen Sleeve (alas, no longer available), seen in this post, which also shows a couple of my many Rickshaw bags. But the Clover has a specific travel purpose beyond keeping my pens warm and stylishly dressed.

I chose Cordura fabric in Iris on the outside (in homage to my original, well-traveled Zero Messenger) and orange plush on the inside. 

The valet has an interesting and functional design: In use, the four corners are snapped together into a simple tray. When unsnapped, the valet goes flat for storage or travel. It’s also available in three square sizes and a slightly less cushy version in waterproof EPX fabric.

This is one of those things that I did not know I needed until I saw it, and now I don’t know how I ever worked at my desk without it! Did I mention that it’s color-customizable? Don’t play with the customizing tool just before bedtime. I guarantee you will stay up too late trying out all the color combos.

Tina Koyama is an urban sketcher in Seattle. Her blog is Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, and you can follow her on Instagram as Miatagrrl.

DISCLAIMER: The items included in this review were provided free of charge by JetPens for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

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Stuff that worked:

Standing Desk from Ikea

I didn’t think I needed an electric powered standing desk but I love it! Yes, Ikea has hand-crank models but do yourself a favor, if you’re considering a standing desk, spend the extra money for an electric powered model. First thing in the morning or late at night, cranking frantically to adjust your desk is not something you want to be doing.

Apple Music and AirPods Pro

After half-heartedly futzing around with Spotify for several years, I bit the bullet and switched to Apple Music. I am an Apple user through-and-through. While Apple Music isn’t perfect, I find it easier to make playlists, add new music  and even find new music. I don’t know why Apple Music is easier for me to use, it just is. I also OD-ed on podcasts using Overcast and a lot of videos on YouTube.

Rediscovering my Filofax

Thanks to some serious housekeeping and mutual enthusiasm over the Filofax from my pal Julia, I rediscovered my old Filofax and have been using it for notes and planning. Like many, my planning needs changed over the past two years. I have gone from working for the same company to freelancing to a new job all in the past two years, all while social distancing and often working from home. My planning needs have changed dramatically, as I’m sure its been for many other people. Switching to a system that allows me to quickly and easily add or remove pages and sections has made it a great new-old option for me.

Office Chair

I tried an assortment of different chairs over the past 18 months since the start of the pandemic and I had yet to find a good one. Like so many people, I grabbed whatever I could find at Ikea initially. As you’d expect, “any old chair” didn’t really work well. I tried a couple random purchases from Amazon and a kitchen chair without much better luck. But lo and behold, as I was planning this post, my DH rolled a secondhand Herman Miller Aeron chair into the office as my Christmas present. He was a little unsure if it would be a good gift but I love it! My chair is the small size, which, to some, will look a chair for a doll but when you’re only 5’4″ on a good day, most chairs are just too big. o, I’ve got my Goldilocks chair… finally.

Stuff that didn’t work:

I tried upgrading my lighting set-up for the blog with some of the more streamlined flat panel LED lights. Worst decision of my blogging career. I am sure that someone else could make them work but I tried recalibrating my set-up repeatedly and still had to retouch my photos to try to get more accurate color to no avail. One morning, practically in tears of frustration, I took the new slimline LED panels and buried them in the basement and reinstalled my giant fluorescent tube-powered soft box lights. While i was disappointed that I couldn’t get the LED panels to work to my satisfaction, reinstalling the old soft boxes was such a relief it was hard to stay too upset at the wasted expenditure.

Did your office set-up change over the last year or so? What has worked for you and what are you still fine-tuning?

The post My Favorite Home Office Items for 2021 appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

From left to right: TWSBI Eco, M Nib; TWSBI Eco Rose Gold, F Nib; Caran D’Ache 849, F nib; Vanness Exclusive Pocket 45 from Franklin Christoph, F Nib

Let’s start with the pens and inks!

TWSBI Eco, M Nib and TWSBI Eco Rose Gold, F Nib

I’m grouping these two together because with the exception of aesthetics, they’re both the same pen. TWSBIs aren’t the most elegant or the most refined, and they don’t have the precision nibs of Sailors. What they do have going for them is that the write every single time. Whether I wrote with them yesterday, or 6 weeks ago, every time I pick up my TWSBIs they’re ready to write. This makes them tops in my desk set, because when I’m on a phone call and need to jot a note down, I don’t want a pen that is a little dry and doesn’t start. Add in that I feel safe putting any ink in them, they’re sturdy and can take a bit of a beating, and I can see exactly how much ink I’ve got left and I love ’em. My clear one is inked with Robert Oster Fire & Ice (from recent Christmas card addressing!) and my Rose Gold is inked with Lamy Vibrant Pink.

Caran D’Ache 849, F Nib

This pen is actually one of the few purchases I made in 2020 and is the newest to the crew so it’s hanging out on my desk. Yes it’s really this bright – I needed something cheerful! I didn’t bother with a converter when I got it, just played cartridge roulette (remember all those random cartridges you have? The ones you throw in a random container? Pick one!) and got going. This one is a quick writer, has a fun snap cap (oh the fidgeting) and can store an extra cartridge in the barrel so you never run out of ink.

Vanness Limited Edition Pocket 45 from Franklin Christoph

This one might be my favorite pen in my entire collection, at least for the joy I get from  writing with it. Like the TWSBIs it is always ready to go as a writer. And between the Jim Rouse nib that was expertly tuned and smoothed by Audrey Matteson, it writes like butter. I went with a darker shade of green for this one – so far I’ve stuck with Colorverse Morningstar since I got the pen.

Notebooks:

I’ve also got a stack of notebooks that I’m using. For the post part, I’ve decided that I like spiral bound the best. I love being able to lay the notebook completely flat, and the spiral keeps things tidy and easy for me to flip between pages. From top to bottom my current notebooks are:

• • Leuchetturm 1917 A6 Dot Grid in a Coal Creek Bainbridge A6 Leather Cover – This notebook carries all my knitting design ideas. Perfect to jot down a quick not.
  • Story Supply Co. Ithaca – This holds all my work notes that I want to keep for future reference. Notes I take at seminars or professional development, procedures I want to document so I don’t forget them, etc. This notebook I’ll be keeping even when it’s full.
  • Write Notepads Dot Steno Notebook, A5 – This one holds all the work notes that I don’t need to keep forever. It’s my notes from phone calls, team meetings, to-dos that I need to add to my calendar, etc. Eventually, when it’s full I’ll throw it away, but it’s still useful to refer to at various time
  • 2021 Year of the Optimist Planner – I wrote about this one last week, so you can find more info and links in that post.

So that’s it for my daily desk set for January of 2021. What are your favorites right now? Do you still do an EDC?

DISCLAIMER: Some of the items included in this review were provided to us free of charge for the purpose of review. Please see the About page for more details.

The post My Daily Desk Set (January 2021) appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

I was recently laid-off from my job of 19 years. This lay-off occurred just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread across the globe. Unlike other people who have lost jobs as a result of the pandemic, I was already unemployed and largely staying at home before our current shelter-at-home policy took effect.

I had not really started thinking about how or where I would work until the shelter-at-home requirements had been put into place. My timing is terrible, I know. The BWI Pen Show and the Arkansas Pen Show were immediately after my lay-off and I hoped they would provide an infusion of funds and much-needed time with friends and penthusiasts.

Once I returned home after the Arkansas Pen Show, I realized it was time to get serious about dusting off my resume and portfolio and start planning for my new life, whatever form that may take.

Part of that planning included needing to set-up an actual work space at home. Previously, I had been making do, working from the kitchen counter or precariously balancing my CINTIQ on the edge of a tiny tabletop when freelance work was needed. This was not comfortable or the least bit ergonomic.

Initially, we were planning to acquire various new pieces from IKEA including an adjustable standing desk, new drawer units and accessories however the whole non-essential travel ban made it necessary to think inside the box. By that I mean, we needed to poke around our packrat house and try to locate items we could use or reuse. Bob found an old, extra-large (30″x40″) drafting board in the basement that he had purchased at a yard sale several years ago. He got out the power sander and some stain and urethane and refinished the drafting board into a new worktop for me. He also found an old set of IKEA legs at the print shop and mounted them on the bottom. Voila! a new-old desk.

It has enough room for my CINTIQ touch screen, laptop, bluetooth keyboard and some pretty bits so that it doesn’t feel too austere.

We rescued an old metal drawer unit from the print shop as well that I could use to put various ephemera bits. It currently has our postal scale (yes, we are still shipping out orders!) and I’ve added a couple of my Dudek pen blocks so I have both beautiful and useful writing tools at the ready.

Also on my desk are:

• Galen Leather washi tape dispenser ($35 via Vanness PenShop)
• Japanese tea warmer ($18.99 via Amazon)
• Bunny Desk Scissors ($29.95 via Amazon)
• Anker Soundcore Boost Bluetooth speaker ($59.99 via Amazon)
• Kathy Weller “We are the Weirdos” mug ($20.50 via Etsy)
• Kate Spade stationery box ($30)
• sheep pushpin keeper ($9.95 via Amazon)
• Pelikan Star Ruby Fountain Pen ($167.95 via Goldspot Pens)
• Lamy 2000 Multi-Color Ballpoint (€56.20 via Appelboom)
• Parker Jotter Fountain Pen ($24 via Goldspot Pens)

And before anyone asks, it looks like the cover on my laptop is no longer available on Amazon but similar designs can be found here.

Have you set-up a work-from-home space? Are you making do on your couch or kitchen table? Or are you still able to go to your job wherever it may be?

Thanks to my sponsors for providing some of the images I use for Fashionable Friday. Please consider making your next purchase from one of the shops that support this blog and let them know you heard about them here. Thanks for your support and for supporting the shops that help keep it running.

DISCLAIMER: The item in this review include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.

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King inspired the nation through his efforts during the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s and his empassioned words. Where did he compose these words?

I didn’t find any specific information on the topic of his desk and workspace but I did find photos of Dr. King in his office or at his desk. I love photos like this, no matter how staged they might be. They have little hints of the way he worked. There is no typewriter in any of the photos I found. Dr. King clearly hand wrote his notes, correspondence and speeches. Someone else (maybe Coretta?) might have typed them up later but this was not something he did.

What is evident from most photos of King’s office is that he liked to surround himself with books.

The photo above looks like it might have been taken at the same time as the last photo below. King is wearing the same shirt. One the desk is a goose-meck lamp, a glass paperweight egg, a bottle of ink and a refillable page-a-day calendar. In his hand is what appears to be a yellow pencil. Like any great thinker, his desk is buried in paper and books.

The cantilevering pile of books on the shelf on the far left of the above photo make me itchy. They look like they will fall over at any minute. I wonder for what occasion he had gotten the large trophy?

I love that there is a photo of Coretta featured prominently on the shelf behind Dr. King. There appear to be two phones behind him.

Above King is captured in front of his bookcase. There is evidence of spiritual texts as well as history books.

Above, King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, appear behind his desk. In the forefront of the photo is the same egg shaped paperweight as previous photos as well as a desk pen stand, a refillable calendar and an ashtray. Behind the couple are filing cabinets and barrister bookcases with glass fronts. I wonder what the circumstances that led to this particular photo being taken. While I am certain Mrs. King was an active part of the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King’s work, this photo feels staged. It does give a good idea of the items on King’s desk.

Every photo I’ve ever seen of Martin Luther King, Jr, he always looked so serene. His belief in non-violence seemed to show in his eyes.

While many Americans may look upon today’s “bank holiday” as a bonus 3-day weekend, it’s worth remembering at how MLK, Jr lived and worked. This day should inspire us to reflect on his words, his work and the legacy he left behind.

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Most of us have worked (or will work) in an office environment at some point in our adult life and unless we start our own company, we are likely to end up in an office organized in what is described as an “open office.” You might call it a cube farm, cubicle land, rat maze, or equally derogatory term. Do you know how the cubicle was invented?

Prior to the mid-20th century, clerical workers sat at desks in the middle of what might have once been a factory or warehouse space– just rows and rows of desks in an open room with no privacy or sound dampening. By this time, the type of work was also changing — workers weren’t just typists and computers (in the add-up-this-column-of numbers sense) anymore.  It was becoming apparent that workers needed to be able to interact more as well as have privacy to concentrate.

In 1960 Robert Propst and George Nelson (yes, THAT George Nelson!) at Herman Miller set out to solve the issue by creating the “action office” with desks and work spaces of varying heights (standing desks in 1960!). The AO-1 was a bit too revolutionary for the time and Propst and Nelson set to work on a new version — the AO-2. I work in what I’m pretty sure is an original AO-2 from 1978. It’s since been renamed to “Action Office”  and is still in production.

I think I might like the original Action Office. I love the standing roll top desk!

What was originally conceived for the Action Office and what it devolved into for many of us is pretty strikingly different.

You’re in luck. This week, the folks over at Freakonomics feature Cubicles on their podcast. Go over and add this episode to your playlist and make that Thanksgiving drive to grandma’s house a little more informative.

Are you a cube dweller? Do you work from home? Do you like open office plans?

The post The Desk Set: The History of the Open Office appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

Over the holidays, my husband and I finally decided to overhaul our communal workspace using the Ikea Kallax worktable hack I posted about a few months ago. The room is a medium-sized, guest bedroom that is used as an office/studio/catch-all in our small 2-bedroom house. We replaced a small wall shelf with the largest Kallax wall unit book shelf with a row of cupboard and a row of drawer units in an effort to try to clear away a bunch of small, assorted rolling cabinets. Then we replaced a thrifted oval conference table with the Kallax worktable-on-wheels which also includes several drawer units and usable storage space underneath.

The horror was what the studio looked like before. So here it is:

I always forget what a pain it is to assemble Ikea furniture but its such a sense of accomplishment once its done. And it really is quite sturdy. The key with this Kallax shelf unit was to build it in the room. I’m not sure we could have gotten it into the room assembled as its basically 6 feet square and rigid and would not have fit around the corners of our tiny hallways. So if you are planning a similar project, plan accordingly.

We still need to get a couple good, adjustable stools to use with the table but overall the workspace looks so much better. Its brighter, more organized and so much more usable.

Assembly in progress above.

See how clean and perfectly stained the table top is? Took me less than a week to get an ink stain on it.

Bob used the instructions from the Kallax hack and mitered the trim perfectly. So professional!

No, I do not have a book problem. And those drawers are not full of pens and ink. Nope. Okay, that is a stack of typewriters.

The post Well-Appointed Studio Overhaul appeared first on The Well-Appointed Desk.

While browsing around the Ikea site, I found some great research in their Ideas section. It’s divided into categories for areas of your home, organizing, entertaining, and other pertinent categories and then has some wonderful pictorial essays of real people and idea posts about using Ikea products in your home or office to help. Since most of us have or will end up having Ikea furniture at some point, this is a great way to figure out ways to integrate it into our homes creatively and the aesthetic styling is pretty diverse too.

Ikea is great at showing reuse, repurposing and people finding ways to use spaces dual-purpose which is so refreshing.  Above is one of their dining tables that has been repainted and trimmed with washi tape. Add a few layers of sealant to keep the tape from peeling if you really like how it looks. Or leave the tape on the top layer and peel it off after a festive dinner party and replace it with different designs in a couple weeks. Its a great way to use up those rolls and change up your decor quickly.

The other two pics above show a woman who uses her bedroom as a space for her creative work too. Its a lovely article under the “bedrooms” header for creative uses of space.

Above are two different home office spaces; one is a shared bedroom/office and one is a dedicated office space but both are open, airy, functional and gender-neutral. You gotta love Ikea for that.

The two photos above are more creative uses for tight spaces. The top image is the space for a young man whose space is his bedroom, study space and hang out space. The use of the bunk bed helped to give him room for his desk and chair and allowed him to keep his vintage family furniture pieces too so their is some warm, bold color as well as modern styling. The perfect space for a young man.

The next photo is a rolling art tabouret in a hallway near a bright window perfect for painting. And shows how creative we can be in finding a little corner to work when there isn’t much space in out homes!

These last three photos are just more great inspiration and show the range of aesthetic, from masculine to feminine. I liked the article about other uses for the magnetic knife holder (lower left photo) like holding paint brushes for artists, scissors for crafters or as a photo magnet rail to hold photos, recipes or inspiration.

I thought I’d already mentioned my plans for my new office/studio redo. I plan on building (with the help of my handy husband!) a Kallax Island for the middle of our office/studio using plans from the Family Handyman. I like having a standing desk/worktable and this will have tons of storage too.

Do you have a lot of Ikea stuff in your home? Have you hacked any Ikea pieces to work for you?

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After I wrote my post on the new Facebook office spaces, my friend Andy made me put my money where my mouth was and invited me to Facebook to tour the offices for myself. Since that was one of my most commented upon posts I couldn’t pass up the chance to see the campus for myself.

Was the campus overwhelmingly large? Yes. So much so that there are shuttle buses and bicycles to get people from building to building. But is also filled with light and art and posters and a sense of play. It was also a lot quieter than I expected it to be. People were very respectful of the open seating and kept their voices down in the open areas. They used the closed conference rooms and outdoor areas, the coffee shops and other communal areas for conversations. It was actually a very congenial environment and not at all what I was expecting.

There was so much art. And posters and graphics all pinned haphazardly to the walls which gave the space a casual vibe and made it feel partially like a college campus and partially like Disneyland for coders.

I also work in a large office with tons of cubicles and an ongoing attempt to have “open seating” despite the photo from the previous post, Facebook’s space actually has a warm comfortable vibe of a loft apartment rather than a corporate office that stripped all the walls out of the cubicles. Each employees space has personal touches that show their personality, some more than others, of course. Some folks work on large desktop machines while others work on laptops to be more mobile. Some people work on mobile apps and just wander around with their phone in their hands. What a way to function!

All in all, it was an inspiring day and I feel quite differently about the landscape, both inside and out, of the Facebook offices. And I’m supremely jealous that the weather is such in California that Facebook employees can essentially work outside in the roof garden 11 months out of the year. Makes me dread January in KC.

For even more photos, check out my full Facebook HQ album on Flickr. And yes, I’m eating my words a little now. At least they taste like asian noodle bowl and mint chocolate chip ice cream.

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A post shared by Andy Welfle (@awelfle)

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I loved seeing these pastel bright desks full of great organizational and storage ideas. I particularly like the the pegboard is just propped up behind the desk instead of needing to be mounted to the wall making it a good solution for renters and space to hide cords. While originally designed for a kid’s room, it doesn’t look all that different from my desk, I have my own stash of ponies and dolls too!

Images from:
Petit & Small
Love Print Studio
Marie Mersier

For more desk inspiration, be sure to check out The Well-Appointed Desk Pinterest board.

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