DIY Keyboard and Mouse Lap Board

A while back I had to give up my office so our kids could each have their own room. That left me with trying to find an unobtrusive corner of the house to cram all of my stuff into. I wound up getting rid of a lot of stuff and consolidated big time. One point of consolidation was to take an old credenza and turn it into a wing desk for my laptop and game rig. It just tucks in to the right of my chair and shares a small bit of overlapping space with my "big" desk which is just a 3 x 3 foot corner desk itself. I'm making the most of a very small footprint these days!

Well, gaming is one thing I like the PC for. As such, I have usually a full keyboard and mouse in use. The credenza is a bit tight for getting comfortable so typically I wind up sitting back in my chair with the keyboard balanced on my left leg and the mouse pad resting on my right. This leads to some bad game play moments when the keyboard decides to slide out of place.

So, to solve this problem, I wanted a tray for both keyboard and mouse that would not be tied to the desk and could fit the way I use the devices specifically for game play. I envisioned a boomerang shaped desk that could take up the length of my left thigh and allow enough surface on the right for the mouse pad. What I came up with is this:

It's just two pieces of left over 1/4" sub-floor with a hole to allow a small nut and bolt with washers at a single hinge point to allow adjustments.  After making it and using it (and liking it) for a few weeks, I went ahead and made it pretty with some stain to match the majority of the wood-work in the office corner.  I keep calling it a butterfly keyboard tray so I guess that's as good of a name as any.  I think I splashed out about 30 cents on the hardware as everything else was just left over items.   I like quick and easy solutions.