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>> You probably don't need a $1000 aeron chair... my most productive setup is a self-made workshop desk and a $40 craftsman workshop stool :)

throwanem 9y ago
Not gonna lie, I'm in love with my Aeron at home. I've never had such a comfortable chair. But I'm building a desk from scratch to go with it - just a few more coats of polyurethane and a weekend spent getting it set up, and I'm good to go. Tips from the process: - The "get a solid core door and stick legs on it" process really works. You don't need to get fancy unless you want to - legs can be as simple as chunks of 4x4 cut to length and mounted with right-angle brackets and lag screws, and you don't need to be remotely competent at carpentry to get a solid result. (But if possible, get a door that isn't veneered, because that'll have a microscopically thin layer of wood veneer over several layers of what's basically cardboard, which is just terrible to try and work. $70 versus $300 isn't nothing, though, and you can work with a veneered door if you have to.) - Iron acetate stain really works, too, but you need to know what you're doing, and you need to test on a scratch piece of the same wood first. I let the steel wool soak about 18 hours and got a very handsome steel-gray result. Then I stupidly put on a second coat without testing, and got a medium brown that's still decent but not what I was going for. - If you don't have shop space, you can get away without it, but be prepared to put in more effort as a consequence. I'm doing all the work, including staining and sealing, in my ~600sf one-bedroom apartment's living room. A circular saw is pretty much a non-starter, but that's okay; a miter saw will go through 4x4s with enough effort, and you can hand-drill pilot holes for lag screws. (A drill press stand is preferable, though.) A dropcloth or two preserves the carpet from stain and sealer drips. The only hard part was getting an eighty-pound door up three flights of stairs - I don't want to do that again! - Iron acetate-stained wood will smell of rust to the touch forever, so you really need to seal it. General Finishes water-based polyurethane is effectively odorless; where the vinegar reek of the stain lingered for hours even with the windows open, the sealant doesn't smell at all even while it's being applied. - It's a really nice feeling to build a piece of really solid furniture out of wood with your own two hands and have it exactly meet your needs. I highly recommend it!
- jdmichal 9y ago
  You can also get something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-Workbench-or-Shelving-Hardware-Kit-WBSK/205177374 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-Workbench-or-S... Comes with brackets and screws for all the joints. You just buy the wood and make the cuts. I got some thick MDF for the top and shelf instead of plywood, which is something I definitely recommend if you're going to use it as a desk-type surface instead of a working surface.
- ChemicalWarfare 9y ago
  Very cool info. I'm not that handy though. My setup is basically an L-shape plywood top with rubberized covering.

throwanem 9y ago

Not gonna lie, I'm in love with my Aeron at home. I've never had such a comfortable chair. But I'm building a desk from scratch to go with it - just a few more coats of polyurethane and a weekend spent getting it set up, and I'm good to go. Tips from the process: - The "get a solid core door and stick legs on it" process really works. You don't need to get fancy unless you want to - legs can be as simple as chunks of 4x4 cut to length and mounted with right-angle brackets and lag screws, and you don't need to be remotely competent at carpentry to get a solid result. (But if possible, get a door that isn't veneered, because that'll have a microscopically thin layer of wood veneer over several layers of what's basically cardboard, which is just terrible to try and work. $70 versus $300 isn't nothing, though, and you can work with a veneered door if you have to.) - Iron acetate stain really works, too, but you need to know what you're doing, and you need to test on a scratch piece of the same wood first. I let the steel wool soak about 18 hours and got a very handsome steel-gray result. Then I stupidly put on a second coat without testing, and got a medium brown that's still decent but not what I was going for. - If you don't have shop space, you can get away without it, but be prepared to put in more effort as a consequence. I'm doing all the work, including staining and sealing, in my ~600sf one-bedroom apartment's living room. A circular saw is pretty much a non-starter, but that's okay; a miter saw will go through 4x4s with enough effort, and you can hand-drill pilot holes for lag screws. (A drill press stand is preferable, though.) A dropcloth or two preserves the carpet from stain and sealer drips. The only hard part was getting an eighty-pound door up three flights of stairs - I don't want to do that again! - Iron acetate-stained wood will smell of rust to the touch forever, so you really need to seal it. General Finishes water-based polyurethane is effectively odorless; where the vinegar reek of the stain lingered for hours even with the windows open, the sealant doesn't smell at all even while it's being applied. - It's a really nice feeling to build a piece of really solid furniture out of wood with your own two hands and have it exactly meet your needs. I highly recommend it!

jdmichal 9y ago
You can also get something like this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-Workbench-or-Shelving-Hardware-Kit-WBSK/205177374 http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-Workbench-or-S... Comes with brackets and screws for all the joints. You just buy the wood and make the cuts. I got some thick MDF for the top and shelf instead of plywood, which is something I definitely recommend if you're going to use it as a desk-type surface instead of a working surface.
ChemicalWarfare 9y ago
Very cool info. I'm not that handy though. My setup is basically an L-shape plywood top with rubberized covering.