DIY home office desk

[marliemakesit]

After moving house and finding myself with a bigger WFH space I was excited to create a more functional and beautiful home office nook. High quality desks from a furniture store are quite expensive and I really couldn’t find anything I liked that offered a decent amount of storage and plenty of desktop area. Using Jenna Sue Design’s work/playroom renovation as inspiration I decided to build a custom desk using IKEA drawers and a timber project panel.

Materials

• IKEA SMASTAD / PLASTA Chest of 3 Drawers 60x57x63cm

• Specrite Merbau Project Panel (2600 x 600 x 26mm)  

• Framing Timber (90x35mm)

• Easycraft VJ Panel

• Aluminium Trim

• Silicone Sealant

• Caulk

• Cabinet Knobs - I used Prestige 34mm Antique Iron Knob

• Primer

• Enamel Paint

• Clear Polyurethane (or wood stain of choice)

Tools

• Timber Screws & Pin Nails

• Circular Saw & Mitre Saw

• Drill, Driver, Hammer

• Sandpaper & Painting Equipment

Steps

Step 1

Start by assembling your IKEA SMASTAD / PLASTA drawers.

Step 2

Now onto the build. To hold up the opposite end of the desktop we built a simple frame using 90x35mm framing timber. Here you will need your mitre saw (or circular saw) and timber screws (or nail gun if you have one).

Step 3

We then cladded the frame with VJ panelling leftover from another project. This is a great way to use up offcuts! We used screws on the internal piece so that it could be removable and allow us to attach the frame to the wall and also the desktop. We attached the external panel using pin nails.

Step 4

Cut your desktop to size using a circular saw and attach the desktop to the frame and the drawers from underneath using timber screws.

Step 5

To finish the front of the table ‘leg’ we simply used a piece of VJ panel but installed it with the back side facing out. Using silicone sealant, we installed aluminium trim to finish the edges.

Step 6

To create the baseboards and give the IKEA drawers a built-in look, we also used pieces of VJ panel installed back side facing out. We cut the pieces at a 45 degree mitre for a more seamless looking corner join. We nailed these into the drawer legs using small pin nails.

Step 7

Use paintable caulk to fill any gaps e.g. between the baseboards and the drawers, and along the aluminium trim.

Step 8

Now it’s time to prime and paint. I used one coat of Zinsser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 primer and two coats of Dulux enamel in the colour Limed White.

Step 9

To protect the desktop apply two coats of Cabots clear polyurethane. Install cabinet knobs. 

Step 10

BONUS (optional): With my offcut from the desktop I decided to make a laptop stand. I cut two side pieces and the top using a circular saw and joined using pocket hole screws. I also applied two coats of clear polyurethane.

[EricL]

Hello @marliemakesit 

Thanks for sharing the steps for your home office desk project. It's well thought out and comes with a lot of storage space. I love the bonus project of having enough timber to create a laptop stand, it's a nice add on to your office desk.

Many thanks for sharing.

Eric

[marliemakesit]

Thanks Eric!