diff --git a/.bin/scratchpad b/.bin/scratchpad
index 29a74ed..cbd67cb 100755
--- a/.bin/scratchpad
+++ b/.bin/scratchpad
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ GAP=$(( RESH / 12 ))
 H=$(( RESH - 2 * GAP ))
 V=$(( RESV - 2 * GAP ))
 
+COLUMNS=144
+ROWS=29
+
 # set the quirk in .config/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf
 # quirk[scratchpad] = FLOAT + ANYWHERE + FOCUSPREV
 
@@ -23,7 +26,7 @@ WID=$(wmctrl -x -l scratchpad | fgrep '.scratchpad' | cut -d" " -f1)
 if [ -z "$WID" ]
 then
     # start terminal (sterm is st.suckless.org)
-    sterm -c scratchpad -g 159x42+$GAP+$GAP &
+    sterm -c scratchpad -g ${COLUMNS}x${ROWS}+${GAP}+${GAP} &
     # XXX we cannot resize with wmctrl here, because the window is not
     # mapped yet. Adding a sleep here and resize then is visually
     # unpleasant. Therefore st is started with hardcoded dimensions