I was in the market to buy an office desk for myself for a while now… Though Gumtree is usually my go-to website to find things that I need and I don’t, this time around I couldn’t really make up my mind for a few reasons..

1. I was not sure of the age of a lot of tables advertised on Gumtree
2. I did not want plastic/metal or glass tables
3. The wood tables were very expensive even on Gumtree
4. I would need to rent a van to get one home, as most of these were not flatpacked anymore (Which is how new ones can be picked up), and hence additional cost for transport

I finally decided to buy a new one from POCO… A wood finish Monte Office Desk, originally priced at $199, however available for $120 till stocks lasted, and I managed to get a further $25 off by signing up for the membership… So final price $95, which isn’t too bad considering all decent office desks on Gumtree were also in the same range.

Another advantage with POCO was that they let you use their van for free, for the first one hour if your purchase does not fit into the car. Mine did, as it was flat packed, and I was able to fit it in by laying the rear seat flat… Getting the 48kg pack from my garage to the the 2nd floor apartment is a whole different story, but I managed it alone in about 15 minutes without killing myself or breaking any bones or rupturing any muscles in the process!

The box stayed near the door because I was too lazy to open it and assemble (which I assumed would be amazingly simple) because I was told that all the tools required (basically a hex-key) are inside the packing! Also that this was hard wood and hence this heavy (NO its not wood, it just has a wood finish). I finally opened it a few days ago, and took out a 10 page manual with all the assembly instructions, a time estimate of 2 hours, and that I need a few tools like a measuring tape, a hammer, and a Philips screwdriver to assemble. Now thankfully I had everything but the hammer, but think of someone who would buy this based on the salesman’s comment! Its practically lying to the customer!

I took out all the pieces, sorted them along with the screws etc, and got to work… About 2.5 hours later the desk was ready for use! First I messed up with some screws for the top, and also realised that I had put in the drawers wrong way during the final assembly. This is a good desk, and I would recommend it to someone who is looking for a new office or working desk 🙂

However I would still want Poco to stick a note about an estimated assembly time, and the tools needed next to all display furniture in the showroom. Also the weight of boxes (I know they don’t do this because it would scare away customers, but still)

Photos below (Oh and because I didn’t have a hammer handy, a plumbing wrench was used)

Its usually good to separate out these things from the packet, and then pick up only what you need for a step while doing DIY projects

Yup.. that Wrench did help 🙂

My little helper giving it the final touches 🙂 and assembly instructions on top

There we go! All set!