A few weeks ago I was at an evening gathering of young people at someone’s residence. Someone called it a “house party” or something. Anyways, it was basically a day after I barely escaped the layoffs at Black Box. With my good fortune, I knew I was going to be able to go through with my apartment purchase.
At the party, I saw a young married I couple I know, “Dave” and “Joyce”. They had recently just bought a place themselves, so we had lots of stuff to talk about. The conversation turned to furniture, specifically placement of said furniture. I explained to Joyce that despite the absence of a den, I was still planning on having a modestly-sized desk (with my computer) in my apartment. Joyce was adamant about not placing the desk in my bedroom. She said a desk in the bedroom evokes images of a university student who studies and sleeps in the same room. I believe Joyce said the bedroom should be the place for only three things: sleeping, watching porn, or having sex. Joyce also said that no woman would take me seriously if she saw a desk in my bedroom. She said to get a small corner desk and place it in the living room.
I was slightly skeptical about her claims but then again, I have no idea what women are thinking about 99% of the time and here was a woman telling me what other women would be thinking, so I had to give it some serious thought.
To get another opinion, I spoke to my very good friend “Ron”. Ron flat out said Joyce was crazy and not to listen to her. He said that I should place my desk anywhere that I wanted to because after all, it’s my apartment, not Joyce’s. Ron then also gave quite the compelling statement:
“If you found a girl that was willing to reject you based purely on where your desk was in your apartment, then that girl really wasn’t the one you deserved in the first place.”
It was if I was back in a small mud hut on Dagobah again. I could not find any argument against Ron’s wisdom.
So here’s my thoughts on this. I don’t like the idea of placing a desk in my living room. I’ve seen it done in other places and it looks very messy. The living room is for entertaining, it should be kept neat, tidy, and clean. I also imagine I’ll be doing most of my guest entertaining in the living room, so I want it to be a nicely decorated space. Having even a small but random desk in a corner doesn’t help me achieve that goal. While I do think a desk in the bedroom is a better choice, keep in mind the desk size and shape will be respectful of the space it occupies. It won’t have tons of papers or crap on it. It’ll have my monitor, a keyboard, a mouse, maybe a book or two, and perhaps a few papers I’ll be reading at the time. I plan on keeping it clean and minimal.
I’d like to open up this topic for discussion among my readers. Where do you think my desk should go? Please leave your thoughts as a comment. I’d like to hear what you have to say about this.
I have my desk in my living room, mostly because that is where my stereo and music are and the natural light is much better than my bedroom.On the other hand, Alana, my girlfriend has hers in her bedroom…seemingly taking a different view than Joyce. I think hers is there mainly because that is where there is more room and she is a designer and is very meticulous about her apartment’s appearance, at least the entertaining parts of her condo.I think that you should follow your heart on this one, just make sure it isn’t too close to the stripper pole.
Put your desk wherever you want. As a woman, I can tell you, I have never given desk placement in a man’s apartment any thought whatsoever. Maybe Joyce is just fussy.
Why not buy a computer cabinet instead? That way, you can close the doors and nobody can see your computer. We have one from Ikea that is moderately okay. (It’s functional, if not somewhat plain.)Did you happen to discuss electric egg cooking appliances with “Dave” and “Joyce”?