Building Your Own Office Computer Desk That Suits Your Taste
Office Computer Desk. There are an infinite number of ways to construct a desk. But for this particular project, I have four criteria I need my diy computer desk to hit.
Large: The vast majority of desks you’ll find in the store are 60 inches long or less. I needed a large computer desk at least 80 inches across to fit all my gear, and the few store-bought options I found just didn’t cut it. They were either ugly and cheaply made, or too expensive—a large, decent-quality one will run you at least $400.
Cheap: Making something yourself instead of buying it almost always saves some money—in this case, it’s going to cut hundreds of dollars from the price. Our materials cost about $250 new, but depending on your deal-hunting skills and the parts you already have lying around, you’ll hopefully be able to get everything for $150 or less. That’s about half the price of most store-bought desks this size. Since there are so many different options for materials, make sure you pick the best wood for desktop. The type of wood you choose can depend on what color or design you’re going for as well as how much weight it will have to support.
Easy: You can fabricate an entire desk out of a single sheet of plywood for under $100, but doing so requires a lot of tools and know-how. We want our project to be accessible to anyone, including those without lots of woodworking experience—even if that boosts the price a little.
Ergonomic: Too many people ignore the difference between a custom “computer desk” and a “writing desk.” Over time, those differences can wreak havoc on your body. In this project, I’m going to mix the sleek look of the latter with the ergonomics of the former to get the best of both worlds.
After lots of research, I decided to construct my desk out of a door slab and some adjustable desk legs from Ikea. It knocks all four goals out of the park, and as a bonus, you should be able to find the parts easily, no matter where you live. Here’s what I used.
The surface
For a big piece of furniture like this, you need a spacious desktop. And there are a few slabs you could try.
The Ikea KARLBY countertop has become insanely popular due to its large size and relative affordability—it costs between $100 and $200, depending on the size and color. Although you could use one with this guide, I wanted to go even cheaper. So I got a big door for my tabletop.
Doors have very reasonable price points, with new ones selling for $50 to $100. If you scour Craigslist, you can probably find some that cost even less, or pick up a free one if you’re really lucky. A door won’t be quite as polished around the edges as the KARLBY, and it may require extra work to stain or paint, but I dig the more industrial look. Keep an eye out for something that’s solid core (not hollow) and has a width that matches your ideal desk depth—most doors range from 24 to 36 inches wide. If you have a circular saw, you can always cut a larger slab down to size, but for a patient shopper, that shouldn’t be necessary.
I opted for with a door that shows off the wood grain. Then I sanded, stained, and finished it myself. If you end up using a secondhand door, you may have to deal with a hole where the handle used to be, though you can always use it for cable management in the back. In my case, I hid the hole under my mouse and keyboard mat.
The legs
This is the other half of this desk’s special sauce. You’ll need four or five support legs, with the total number depending on whether you want to add a set of drawers to your workspace.
While most people would recommend standard desk legs or industrial pipe, I chose Ikea’s OLOV legs. At $15 apiece, they’re a bit more expensive than Ikea’s regular table legs, but they’re adjustable, which means you can find the perfect height for you. This is crucial for good ergonomics, so it’s well worth the extra cost.
Again, hunt Craigslist to see if you can find cheaper legs. I bought a used table containing five OLOVs from a neighbor. It cost $30 total—much less than the $75 Ikea would charge for five new legs.
The drawers
No workspace is complete without a place to stash your flash drives, sticky notes, and other miscellanea. I recommend that you fulfill this requirement with a filing cabinet or set of drawers that matches your ideal desk height (for a guide to calculating that height, see the next section) so you can use it as one of the legs. Because it depends on your own size, this component will be very personal.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but Craigslist is your friend here—though Wayfair will also do if you don’t have a bustling secondhand market in your area. I used a filing cabinet I already had in my house with one of these organizers jury-rigged into the top drawer to hold all my stuff.
Everything else
Those are the bones of our build, but you’ll probably want a few other things to pull it all together. I highly recommend two of these anti-sag stiffeners, which are important for large pieces of furniture that tend to sink under their own weight. I bought an unfinished door and stained it myself, so I also needed wood stain and a semi-gloss polyurethane.
Last, you’ll need two tools: a drill and a screwdriver (or a drive bit for your drill). You must attach everything to the wood with screws, but you’ll want a drill to create pilot holes, and a drive bit will make it much easier to put the pieces together. If you don’t own one, borrow a drill from a neighbor
