Ladder shelves with desk

[Stuardo]

No longer working from home so the crowded and messy corner desk could go and be replaced by shelves on the wall and I incorporated a desk for one computer. Being a small area I wanted something open and easy to build.

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Using 42mm x 19mm DAR pine for the two ladders and five hardwood panels 300mm x 1200mm. Doubled the thickness of the rungs and added cross pieces at the back of each panel to make it all sturdy. IMPORTANT Fixed to the wall so it won’t topple over, 

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The piece cut out of the bottom panel for leg room was used to extend the desk panel for the keyboard and mouse then added LED puck lights to finish.

Looks good, functional and not obtrusive, just what I wanted.

Stuart.

[EricL]

Hi @Stuardo

What a fantastic looking ladder shelf and desk. At first glance, I thought it was something you purchased at a store and modified it to suit your needs. Your layout is so neat and effective with enough room for plants and the computer speakers. 

The entire set-up seems quite tall as it almost reaches your ceiling. What is the overall height of the ladder shelf and desk? How much do you reckon should you set aside if you wanted to build this exact setup? Any other extra information you can share without members would be much appreciated. 

Thank you so much for sharing your ladder shelf with desk project.

Eric

[Stuardo]

Hi @EricL 

All up it cost under $200 and would be cheaper if using pine panels instead of hardwood. It's 2300mm high to come in just under the cornice against the wall as I wanted to get the most use out of the space. I started with the height of my current desk at 740mm for the desk shelf then worked out 500mm spaces for the other shelves which fit in well. I could have gone smaller spacing for the upper shelves to fit more in. 

Make sure when building the ladders and rungs to keep them all straight and square. With the shelves on, the piece definately is not sturdy and wants to collapse to either side so it does need bracing with maybe a cross at the back, I added bracing pieces across the back of each shelf to stiffen it up.

It's very important it gets fixed to the wall so found 2 studs that lined up with the ladders and screwed through to them. 

The keyboard extension was an after-thought as I was going to put a slide out piece under the shelf for that but realised when looking at the piece I cut out of the bottom shelf that it would look good there. I joined it with 3 dowels and then 2 pieces underneath for strength.

This project is quite simple and straight forward and scaleable to any space you want it.

Cheers

Stuart

[EricL]

Hi @Stuardo

Thanks for all the extra details on the build. I was so sure that you had that bottom offcut as a part of your overall plan. 

Eric