by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
With apartments and homes getting smaller but still the need for a desk, in fact with some people working from home more than ever, the writing bureau is coming back into its own.
Even the big houses often had writing bureaus rather than other kind of desks, aside from in the estate offices, and both the Lord of the Manor and the Lady had their own bureau where there tended to their private and business correspondence, wrote their diaries and much more.
When our homes got bigger and bigger the bureau's popularity declined as we incorporated smaller and larger studies and home offices into the houses with “proper” desks and filing cabinets, etc.
Now that homes are beginning to “shrink” again and the extra room for a study or home office no longer is there but still people wanting to have a desk the bureau is making slowly a comeback and many different styles, from old-fashioned to modern contemporary, can be found.
However, none of the modern, whether old style or modern contemporary, writing bureaus are cheap, as in easily affordable, and if you are good with your hands and have the tools readily available them I am sure using some pallet lumber such a writing desk – depending on the difficulty of design – is not all that difficult to make.
Welcome back bureau... you have been missed.
© 2013
