“Can I come up the drive? There’s a lot.” Usually, I walk down to the front gate and collect any packages, so this was an unusual request from the UPS man. He reversed ump the drive and opened the side door of the van. Charlie, always keen to escape on a working adventure was instantly in the van, while Spice was, as ever, looking for attention. I was handed eight parcels. Small one and big ones. “Once I put them together, these will be a desk.” “In that case, you are going to be disappointed. Here are eight of nine packages. The last will come on Monday, I expect.” “No problem” I replied, “but come in the afternoon. I’m out in the morning.” “OK.”
At 0830 on Monday, the phone rang. “Hi, it’s UPS. Are you in? I’m outside.” I repressed a sigh. “No, I’m not. But my wife is.” “Can she open the gate please?” “Sure - I’ll call her.” The ninth package arrived.
So, on Monday afternoon, I cleared the office, got some rugs down and began fighting my way through cardboard and tape. Desk assembly day had come at last.
I had gone for a solid oak top, 170 cm by 85 cm, with a desk shelf, modular drawer and modular min-drawer. I have a cable organiser, a headphone hook and a hanging desk organiser. It is the Desk Pro, a motorised sit/stand.
When I buy something from Ikea and prepare to assemble it, the first thing I do is fetch the first aid kit, so I approached my dream desk with a little trepidation. Oakywood is a Polish company, where I imagine everyone is casually competent with a screwdriver.
I needn’t have worried. I was required to put eighteen screws into holes already started. No swearing, no injuries. These desks are designed. They are thought-through. For want of a better phrase, they are bloody beautiful.
The powered element of the desk is provided by a Danish company called Linak. There’s an app. So, I installed the app on my Pixel which didn’t work. I’ve uninstalled and reinstalled it. I’ve dived into settings, searched You Tube. No joy. Likewise on my iPad mini. I’ve reached out to Linak.
Two minutes ago, I opened the non-functioning app to check the name. Suddenly, there was a dialogue box. Sixty seconds later, I’m all set up. My joy is complete. The app allows me to have some presets for sitting and standing and to enable the collision avoidance sensor. Small enhancements, but great nevertheless.
Early days, of course, but I can heartily recommend Oakywood. Their desks are not cheap, (although they do have a laminate version) but if like me, you want an heirloom quality piece of kit, you could do a lot worse.
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