A Writer’s Desk – How to Build one Cheap.

A writer’s desk can be anything you want it to be. It doesn’t have to be an expensive or a creative desk. It could be a DIY writing desk or a very unusual writers desk, like the one I found in the corner of a bookshop in South Thailand. A desk that someone with zero skill could build for a few dollars or less for an office or study.

Why Move Home to Write a Novel

It may sound drastic but I needed time in a peaceful place to finish my first fiction series, Alfie Goes to Thailand. And I knew just the place, because I had visited it a few times. Once, I was just passing through, and twice I stayed for a few days. It was the perfect place where you could rent a modern, one bedroom furnished bungalow for 7000 Baht ($200) a month, a few kilometres from the town and the beach.

Khanom – Nakhon Si Thammarat – Thailand

The small town of Khanom lies peacefully on the coast in the Gulf of Thailand, not far from Koh Samui, its noisy neighbour. It hosts holiday-makers who drive down from Bangkok at weekends. Locals and a few ex-pats have it to themselves the rest of the time.

The long and mostly deserted beach has some resort hotels, restaurants and the odd beach bar. But in the main, pre-Covid19 it had been left to mother nature to fashion as she pleases. There was ample space but I could feel development was on the way.

Khanom had just one of everything. One street, one dentist, one gasoline station, one bakery and of course one bookshop, Khanom Beach Books.

I knew it was for me when I couldn’t find a McDonald’s or KFC.

Khanom Beach Books

When I moved to Khanom to finish writing a series of novels I never expected to find a bookstore on the beach road. But a few hundred metres from the beach in the small fishing town in the South of Thailand I found one. And it had a very unusual writing desk.

The charming couple who owned the shop, Gop and her French husband Nicolas, bought the business from Chonburi, about an hour’s drive East of Bangkok. Instead of running it there they transported more than 20,000 books 800 kilometres South, and set-up the room in the shop as Khanom Beach Books.

After spending some time there, I think 20,000 was an underestimate. The kitchen was stacked from floor to ceiling with unpacked books, and the shop itself was full. Luckily for Gop, Nicolas and their eight-year-old daughter Emma, eating out in Thailand is inexpensive.  

A DIY Writer’s Desk

What grabbed my attention more than anything about Khanom Beach Books was the writer’s desk they had made themselves. The mountain of books they moved from Chonburi proved to be a few more than the shop could handle. So, they took some of the books which were in poor condition and piled them up to form the base of a creative writing desk in the middle of a stack of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.

The top was a laminated kitchen worktop they took from the kitchen at the back of the shop, which had to be used to store books. An old flush door would have been equally as serviceable in the workspace. It was more a table than a desk, as it lacked detail, had no drawer, but a unique style with space to house a laptop computer and other bits and pieces. 

Here is an Idea for Mystery Writers Short of Cash

This ingenious and practical idea is one that creative mystery writers could adopt to make an unusual writing desk for home or office. Particularly if they are embarking on a career as an author and are short of cash. If you have friends, the chances are that most of them will have books gathering dust they may want to get rid of. Give them a call and start collecting. Then find an old worktop or door and clean it up. It won’t be long before you have a functional DIY writing desk, for a few dollars or even free.

When I saw Gop working at the homemade writer’s desk, I started looking out of curiosity at the book titles. I found a copy of John Irving’s – The Cider House Rules, which I hadn’t read, near the top. Gop managed to remove it for me without the desk collapsing, and we did a deal at 50 Baht.

A Writer’s Desk Full of Hidden Treasures

Who knows what Khanom Beach Books will become. Maybe they’ll expand by taking the empty shop next door and start a lending library and coffee shop. When I found it, it was a hobby for the owners and a fun place to visit and search for hidden book gems, like The Cider House Rules.

Unless your first language is Swahili or Xhosa you should find something you can read. The majority of books were English, but I found Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, French, Thai, Mandarin, Japanese and I didn’t look hard. Gop was happy to exchange two books for one, but I didn’t want to take advantage, as the last thing the shop needed was more books.

If you are in the area, you should check it out.

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