DIY desks?
 

has anyone built their own desk? im planning on doing it VERY soon, ive got my plans somewhat written out. if you wanna see them pm me or something. i need some advice, like, general tips for this sorta thing...


any advice?

Maybe this website will help you.

http://www.diynet.com/DIY/searchResu...g=build+a+desk

:D thanks

1. Buy 2x2Drawer file cabinets
2. Buy 1xSmooth door
3. Mix
4.....
5. Profit

ooo Edvard thats an awesome idea... i might have to use that for my desk in my dorm room... or atleast something alongthose lines...

glad I could help :) The nice thing that a lot of people don't realize you also end up with a very deep desk which is ideal for a large CRT monitor

Take a tape to any store that carries desks, get a few measurements has far has hieght goes for desk and KB tray if yu want one. Take those and then add what things you want your desk to do and then you will have exactly what you want.

Short of making a nice piece of furniture, I like using doors for the top. I even like when they already have the doorknob hole drilled in them because you can put this toward the back and run all your 'puter wires through it. You can nail a nice piece of roundish pine stair rail moulding to the edges and it looks sweet. Obviously smooth, luan doors and not panel doors are used. I even use hollow core, just painted white and they hold up fine.

Hi there:

I ended up looking for the perfect desk for our home office for so long that I ended up having to make one that works just right. There was a New Yankee Workshop on TV many years ago in which I recall Norm making one very similar to what I ended up making. Links to pics are here:

http://home.comcast.net/~greycape/Desk/Desk.htm


Best recommendations I can offer are to make sure that you consider what you are going to be doing at the desk. If you have a computer desk at work/school you like the setup of, take a tape measure to it and check out how high the desktop is, the keyboard tray is, and how deep the monitor should be. Also take a tape measure to the chair you will be using to make sure that your knees will clear well below the top or apron of the table.

I'm not sure how the links above will post, so apologies in advance if I really screw something up here.

My desk right now is 3/4" particle board. The edges are reinforced with 5" strips of more of this board. Its VERY fine particleboard, the kind you use for counertops before putting formica on top.

So anyways I spraypainted the top of it all kinds of designs with some left over paint trying to get flares from the spraycan and splatters. Then I painted the outside edge flat black.

I put this 3' 6" x 6' 6" board on top of 6 cinder blocks (3 per side)
It makes a great desk and cheap too. If it needs to be raised higher you can use concrete bricks on top of the blocks for a few more inches.

I used to use a section of formica countertop sitting on cinderblocks. It worked out pretty well, but it lacked in the depth department. It's now setup above a beer/soda fridge with a 70lbs guitar amp on it. So it's strong, relatively cheap, moveable (though that's a pain in the ass), and marginally more attractive than using plywood.

if you're moving a lot I would suggest the "college desk":

A light piece of mdf or some other cheap desk-top material and two file cabinets at either end.

Ikea sells cheap and fairly nice desk legs. They consist of a mount and a screw in leg, which is great for moving the desk.

A steel folding table and some rubbermaid drawers from wal-mart. Suits me just fine.

I bought plans from New Yankee Workshop (http://www.newyankee.com) and built a pretty sweet desk. If somebody can tell me how to post a picture I'd be glad to do it. I'll do a search, but if you don't see an image here that means I didn't find anything, or I got lazy.

I'm a cabinetmaker, pm me your plans and i'll be happy to look them over for ya and give ya a couple pointers if needed.

Ikea and other big stores like that are GREAT for parts....They just opened an IKEA not to far from me and they have a huge "AS IS" section right before the registers. Lots of things that could easily and cheaply be incorporated into a desk. Check it out.

My self I recently built myself an awesome desk/work bench for my office. I'm taller then most and always liked the idea of a stand up desk....i.e. one that I can use from the standing position.

A friend of mine had his kitchen redone and his contractor tried to charge him money to haul away the old one inch marble slabs that were previously his counter tops. I offered to do it for FREE :)

Essentially I walked away with three peices, one about 11 feet long, one about 5 feet and one about 3 feet.

I used 4x4's (for legs) and 2x6's from the local home center and built a sturdy frame for the 11 foot marble and voila with a little effort and creativty an awsome 11 foot marble bench about four feet off the ground. Sanded down all the sharp corners of the lumber and further added some character with a wire wheel on my grinder. A few coats of stain and I now have a custom made, sturdy as hell, huge as shit family heirloom.

I'm quite proud of my creation :)

-bear

PS...still working on plans for additional hierlooms from the remaining two stretches of marble.

j8ear> I'd love to see pics of this if you have them.

I did this a few years ago in my first apartment:

Find a grocery store that has milk crates (i think they're milk crates, maybe egg crates or somehting) hanging around out back. Steal as many as you can get in your car/truck.

Get some wire and tie them together to form two supports. Also, make the openings of the front crates face out to form shelves.

Go to a Home Depot or Lowes and buy a big piece of particle board. Put it on the top of the two milk crates. Presto!

(I also used the same technique to make an entertainment center and coffee table.)

Here's an idea I had, but haven't acted on... Use galvanized steel fence posts for legs. They have these flanges that you can put for the feet, and under the desk top... The cool part of this, I think, is that you could leave the back legs like 5 feet tall and put shelves on those if you wanted. you can customize the desk height and depth simply with your choice of wood decking. I'd cover it with formica or a really good laquer sealant so that I could write and work on the top as well. Should be fairly inexpensive... Just an idea I thought would make a totally modular and custom desk.

theres two things you cant forget. if your going to spend any amount of time at the desk you really need a high quality cup holder and some sort of fancy oreo cookie dispenser.

(duh) If you need to move it around, don't make it (a) heavy, and (b) permanent. (/duh)

My desk uses 4 PVC pipes for risers between the base (floor) and the main desk - PVC pipe <b>caps</b> are screwed to the table, and the pipes just pop in and out when I need to move.

pmj.