I forgot to share some after pictures of my studio bench work. So. here they are:
I think the color match came out pretty well between the new bench and my old desk (You can just get a peek at the old desk in lower right-hand corner). The new bench is Birch finished plywood, finished with Golden Pecan stain and polyurethane varnish.
The over-sized keyboard tray allows me to extend the mixing controls for proper distance to the monitors. I used a piece of laminated pine that comes in 2-ft x 4-ft sections at Home Depot and trimmed it to a 3-ft length.
My new padded drafting stool (with back) has just arrived, and it will accommodate the higher altitude just fine.
The next task will be constructing the matching wood pedestal for the left side monitor. It will be a 19-inch wide slant-front rack for my Presonus A/D unit.
I will eventually make other improvements and additions, but for now, this should work fine.