I reviewed lots and lots of hacks, and the most interesting involved IKEA parts. The closest IKEA is 90 minutes from here outside Montreal, so I researched other options. I looked at new and used coffee tables whose legs might be chopped off. I thought about building a shelf. I considered raising my entire desk, instead of adding on top of it. Then, thinking back to my university cement-block-and-salvaged-wood bookshelves, I looked around for what was on hand.

Turns out that Long Trail Ale and Angry Orchard Cider (and most other craft brews) 12-pack boxes are exactly the height I needed to raise my keyboard and monitors — 9 inches above the desk top. I knew that stored up in the rafters of our cellar we had some old melamine-covered shelves we hadn’t used for years. Putting it all together (using, of course, duct tape to create the whole thing as a single unit to place on my the existing IKEA desk top), I now have a wonderful standing desk, at exactly the correct height, with plenty of room for my monitors, keyboard and mouse pad, and for my elbows to rest on while I’m typing.

I still have space on the right side for when I want to sit and work. The low profile and compact size of my HP P1006 laserjet printer means it fits nicely underneath the new “desk top,” saving me more surface space.

To get the depth I needed to hold screens, keyboard and have enough room for my arms to rest, I used two 12-inch wide boards (Duck taped together lengthwise, so there’s no slipping.) That meant using four 12-pack boxes.

Cost: $0. (And a pantry full of ale and cider in bottles that are returnable for deposit.)

So far, I’m really loving this. It keeps me moving while I’m working, I can shake my booty to the music I play while I work, and the research shows that by doing this, I might have a couple more years alive here instead of in Purgatory….