Thea Harrison

I’ll confess:  I am a most reluctant DIYer.  My ultimate goal is to make a salary where I can pay someone else to put things together or fix things for me.

I suppose I don’t mind buying a kit of something to put together, although I’m a bit burned out on that with my recent move, but when I walk into Home Depot with nothing more than a few measurements scribbled on a Post-It Note, I run the danger of hyperventilating.

So as you can imagine, I tried everything else first to construct my own treadmill desk but for some reason nothing quite came together for me.  Part of it is my work space, which will change when I move.  Part of it is I’m not prepared to spend $2,500–$4,500 for a premade treadmill desk.

I started out by ordering a Nordic Track treadmill for $599 (along with a warranty, since the belts are awfully expensive).  Then I looked at a Trek Desk for an awfully long time.  The only problem is that my work space is not quite big enough for one.  I still might buy one of those when I live in a place with a bigger office.

Then I looked at IKEA’s height adjustable workstation—but found out they discontinued it a few weeks ago.  Author Courtney Milan suggested a Geek Desk, but they’re expensive with several week’s delay in delivery (it still is an option, just not one I have taken yet).  Another writer friend Dan O’Shea built his own treadmill desk station, but while his idea was ingenious, his solution was again, too big for my work space and… so much work.

Meanwhile my treadmill got delivered and assembled today.  So close, and yet so far away from my treadmill desk!  Desperately I turned to YouTube and watched videos of what other people did.  I did not trust myself to figure out how to fasten a board onto my treadmill safely with bungee cords, so I settled on this guy’s option:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx0b75E5j50.  He claims it is how to set up a treadmill desk in under 30 minutes for under $25.

Well, as for the first part of his claim, it took much longer for me, but the second half of his claim was true for me.  My Home Depot bill came to $23.95.  But because I avoid Home Depot like the plague, I first had to stop at Office Depot (across the street) to see if THEY had any height adjustable work stations that didn’t take up too much room.  FIY, at this point in time, they don’t.

So I slunk into Home Depot, my scribbled buy list in one hand.  I wandered around and looked pathetic enough until a store employee asked if I needed help.  Oh yes, I did.

They cut a piece of shelf board to fit my length requirement of 43 inches, and the very nice young man helped me get all the other pieces I needed.  Then I came home tonight and managed to bash and screw the thing together.

You can see where I screwed it up and had to redo it in the second photo, but thankfully, it doesn’t matter what it looks like underneath the board.

And I attached it with zip cords, just like the YouTube guy did.

One thing is for sure–this puppy feels secure and it’s not coming off by accident, which is GOOD for the health and safety of my precious laptop and its contents.  I still have my small sit down computer workstation to use when needed.  And I’ve not given up on getting another, more permanent solution… perhaps one of the smaller Geek Desks after all.  But for now I have somewhere to work so I can learn how to type as I walk.

Tomorrow, I begin.