101 uses for an office desk

[Thomzo]

OK guys. I need your help here.

We have over 50 grey office desks at work to dispose of. I had hoped that a charity would take them but even they weren't interested. I have tried freecycling them but have had no response so far.

I have e-mailed various business forums to see if any local small businesses might be interested. So far I have managed to get rid of 3 this way.

We did think about breaking them up and then sending the metal legs for scrap metal but they are too well made.

There is a local company that will take them away but we'd have to pay them.

Any ideas please?

Cheers
Zoe

[the.fee.fairy]

1. Pile them up and call it art.
2. Sell said artwork to the Tate Modern

Sorry...haven't got any sensible ideas!!

[pskipper]

3) if they are wood/laminate topped and rectangular turn them into allotment sheds, chop up the frames, drill holes in them and use them to join the panels together. (well it might work)

[the.fee.fairy]

4. Take the tops off and use as giant bits of wood
5. Are they strong enough to use for craft desks? Admittedly, it'd take a lot of people crafting to use that many desks, but it is a start.
6. Turn onto their sides and paint the tops with blackboard paint for kids

[Cornelian]

Encase their feet in concrete and send them to sleep with the fishes as an artificial reef.

Sorry, I have no ideas either.

[ina]

7. Use them as work tables in the poly tunnel (I'm currently using two for that)
8. Give them to the goats as rock substitute (I still have a photo somewhere of my goats doing "desk work" - pruning the hedge from the elevated position on top of a desk!)
9. Might also do as goat (or other animal) shelter, depending on how much room is underneath these desks

[the.fee.fairy]

10. Do they have shelves?
If so...
make holes in the shelves and fit ladders/tubes. Add a chicken wire front and use for a small animal house - like a mansion!

[red]

11 offer to schools or colleges?

[Thomzo]

Hi Guys
Thanks for the ideas. They gave me a laugh if nothing else.

We've rung a few schools but they don't seem interested. I love the idea of the small animal mansion. They are so sturdy that they'd probably last for years.

We have a couple of guys coming in on Monday to strip them down for the metal legs but the "wooden" bits will probably go in the skip. It's a shame but I really have tried. Not a single bite from freecycle

Zoe

[farmerdrea]

We saw a really cool use for an old office desk, one that we're going to implement next summer: in the garage of a Fijian family's house, they had a gas hob setting in a large rectangle cut out of an old desk. Their tradition food is cooked on a very high heat with lots of spices, which can get very smoky and oil tends to spatter far and wide. So they set up the cooktop in the garage to keep the mess out of their house. The drawers held all utensils and and some ingredients, with the rest of the ingredients (mostly the spices, which are myriad!) in stacking containers on the desktop. Under the desk was the LPG tank. We'd been trying to figure out a way to set up an inexpensive "kitchen" for me in which to do my cheese (much easier to regulate the heat with a gas hob than an electric one), and that's going to be it!

Andrea
NZ

[Milims]

What a pitty you are so far away - I'm sure we could have turned one into a chicken coop!

[Millie]

Hi Guys
Thanks for the ideas. They gave me a laugh if nothing else.

We've rung a few schools but they don't seem interested. I love the idea of the small animal mansion. They are so sturdy that they'd probably last for years.

We have a couple of guys coming in on Monday to strip them down for the metal legs but the "wooden" bits will probably go in the skip. It's a shame but I really have tried. Not a single bite from freecycle

Zoe

ooooooooooo Im on the look out for anything that could be turned into a chicken coop or 3 :D Do you think they would be suitable? Do you have any photos?

[Thomzo]

Hi Millie
You are more than welcome. I would think that you could use them somehow. I will do the photos tomorrow. Could you collect from Swindon?

Zoe

[Millie]

I sure can, what part of swindon are you in? I may have to juggle dates to collect, so it might not be immediate, is that a problem?

[Thurston Garden]

12. Put them outside on the pavement with a big sign on that reads "Do Not Steal".