For a long time, I used a La-Z-Boy recliner as a desk chair. Once you have enjoyed the ergonomics of putting your feet up, it’s really hard to go back. Since I got a normal desk chair that takes up a normal amount of room, I have been using a piano bench as a foot rest under my desk. However, I recently set up a piano stand and needed my piano bench back. So I looked around the house and found some random scrap bits to make a foot rest with.
When we bought our house, there was a built-in bench by the front door with this pleather-upholstered cover. The bench was just a drywall-over-frame box with no storage or anything, so we ripped it out, but I kept the cover plate for a future project.
Taking it apart, it was obvious that the previous owner had it upholstered with fabric to coordinate with the salmon-off-white wall paint, then the company that flipped the house covered that up with black when they painted most of the house bright white.
I marked out the size of foot rest that I wanted, peeled back the cover, and cut the board down to the right size without fully removing the cover.
I put the padding on some stuff under my desk, and decided that this wine bottle shipping box was the right shape and size, if just a little short. I measured it sitting on top of some office-chic cabinet feet we had left over from our garage workspace project at our old house to take up the height. The padding on the shelf caused it to be slightly angled, which is actually perfect because I want it to put pressure on my heel and ankle with my shins angled downwards.
This foot rest may be extra useful later as a box to put stuff in. I may modify it slightly to store unsightly power cables, my 6DOF controller‘s foot pedals when they’re not in use, or a blanket.
This has made my desk very comfortable again using only materials that I already had in the house. Not all “recycled” materials, because the screws were all new, but I already had them on-hand, so I didn’t need to make any trips to the hardware store.
This is a huge improvement because it puts my back in my favorite low-stress position, kinda slouched, knees lifted slightly, legs supported, head angled closer to horizontal with pillows against the lower back of the head, elbows limp, wrists resting on keyboard tray, and the keyboard tray partially supported on my lap. The foot rest is critical, because it assists with keeping the chair in the reclined position, but it isn’t so tall that it locks my knees.