There cannot be a laboratory without a workbench for the Professor to plan his science. Placing this desk in the corner means there’s two walls to work with as well as blocking off a lot of the desk making it easier to fit in with the rest of the laboratory.

Equipment

• Desk: The desk is a desk I’ve had for about 12 years, one of the quick-fabricate-it-yourselfs; like IKEA but with less Alen keys and more particle-board.  Really doesn’t fit the era.  So, the drawers section has been removed and all the visible white panels have had pine wood cut to cover, stained red mahogony.  Darkens the entire desk and actually makes it fit in with the era moderately well.
• Shelf: The shelf was an IKEA find, a metal shelf without anyone to claim it.  Mounted on three electrical pole insulators it definitely looks shelfy.  Plus it provides a conductive surface across the board (to be explained shortly).
• Cabinet: Originally, my neighbour helped me build a cabinet to the exact size to fit into the alcove next to the desk.  I bought a bunch of wood, he cut it to size on his massive sawbench, I stained the wood red mahogony, Scott and I put a red velvet sheet on the backboard and we glued and screwed the whole thing together.  It looked fantastic.  The only problem is that the brickwork is so uneven that in a couple of places the unit didn’t fit, even though it was perfectly sized top, middle and bottom.  Curses.  Still, turned on its side it work fabulously as a display area on the desk itself.  The velvet background is inset a bit from the actual back of the board, so in the future there will be powered ‘thingies’ that will be mounted.  The current mounts include a lot of the samples that were formerly in the Wunderkammer, mounted using Bunnings tool-mounting devicery.
• Books: From the library at work, when they were throwing out some of the outdated collection, I snaffled a bunch of Chemistry books – including a German->English chemistry translation.  Opened books make the place look used.  As long as I remember to dust them.  The leatherbound book from Italy looks good there too.
• SCIENCE THINGS: Over the years, I’ve collected sciency looking things – from the weird letter holder (with two test tubes, I assume for flowers?), to some brass forceps from Industrie, to a replica 1400s syringe from Austria.  This is the perfect place for displays
• Light: As the area was dark and there were no overhead lights in that part of the lab, I added a touch lamp.  Surprise, the touch lamp responds to any touch along the entire metal shelf.  $20AUD, awesome.
• Mist: One of the vodka shotglass containers, plus a mister from a pet store donated by Nel (thanks!) results in misty science occupying one side of the desk
• Plasma ball: Always wanted one of these growing up, now I have an excuse!

The left side of the Professor's desk

The right side of the Professor's desk

Various samples collected by the Professor's friends

The mister's light is a nice touch, it really mists well when left running for a while

The plasma ball is a must for any laboratory