Rorton
Established Member
Im guessing a few will cringe at this - I had the need for a new office desk, couldn't find anything pre made to suit, started to draw up plans to make one, and by the time I added up the timber cost, price for soft close draw runners etc, I started to look at what was already available and how I could modify it to suit.
Id put some ikea PAX wardrobes in one of our bedrooms a while back, and they were solid, and cheep, and got me thinking how I could modify them to suit.
I wanted a desk as long as the wall it was going against (so worktop 2.4meters) and 2 'pedestals' with drawers in. Depth was important, 600mm wasn't enough by the time screens were on it, I wanted enough space to stretch arms for typing etc.
One side pedestal was to contain standard drawers to put office stuff in, the other side was a pen tray, then 2 'pull out shelves that I would sit my work laptops on (I dont need to see the screen of the laptops, I remotely control them from my main computer) and then another drawer that was to hold hanging files.
So the plan formed that I was going to buy 2 white ikea wardrobe carcasses in white (these would match the colour of doors I was going to use for some wardrobes I was to fit in the room later), get drawers and pull out shelves for these - and then make drawer fronts as the drawers are usually hidden behind doors in the wardrobe, and route in a profile to match the doors I was buying for the wardrobes to make it look 'the same' and not just stuck on.
Then bought a 'full stave' walnut worktop from an online company at 2.4m x 720mm to sit on top of the pedestals to form the desk.
I did some research into the best heights for the top of the desk etc to make sure it was usable as a desk (I work from home so would be in front of it for 7 hours a day)
This was all done 18 month ago, so I was with limited kit
Initial plan:
View attachment desk1.png
Side panels cut down to size
Base assembled
Drawer boxes installed
Back panels made holes cut in to line up with the pull out shelves for cabling to laptops
Drawer fronts cut from MDF and tested for size before routing profile on the edges
Profile routed, and then panels primed and painted - initially I painted a panel with satin pure white, which was no where near the colour of the side panel ikea material, so I want to Homebase, armed with a wardrobe side offcut, and they scanned the colour, and mixed me some paint that was a perfect match - I was so pleased with that!!
Pedestals done and draw fronts fitted, I wasn't overly happy with the bottom, so made a 'skirt' to go around them which you will see later
Here you can see the pull out drawers that are for the laptops (middle 2) the top one is for pens etc, and the bottom one is a drawer with no base, and some t section rail added to form slides for the hanging files
Next was delivery of the walnut top - I rounded over the edges and sanded ready for OSMO Polyx Satin
Starting to get the desk setup in the office space. I added a brace in the middle, and then started to add some extensions for power for everything (lots of stuff, multiple laptops, monitors, speakers etc)
And this is the desk in place before I put in the skirts on the bottom of the drawer pedestals
Finished, with some of my made picture frames hanging and 'modern' wall art project!
Plinths on the pedestals
Hanging file drawer
I was quite pleased with the outcome, desk is dead solid, I can use the ikea drawer inserts to organise the drawers, worktop is perfect - sorry about the cat tree, the cat tends to hang out most of the day and look out of the window on his cat tree
Like I say, not to everyones taste, but it was a cheeper way of making the units
Id put some ikea PAX wardrobes in one of our bedrooms a while back, and they were solid, and cheep, and got me thinking how I could modify them to suit.
I wanted a desk as long as the wall it was going against (so worktop 2.4meters) and 2 'pedestals' with drawers in. Depth was important, 600mm wasn't enough by the time screens were on it, I wanted enough space to stretch arms for typing etc.
One side pedestal was to contain standard drawers to put office stuff in, the other side was a pen tray, then 2 'pull out shelves that I would sit my work laptops on (I dont need to see the screen of the laptops, I remotely control them from my main computer) and then another drawer that was to hold hanging files.
So the plan formed that I was going to buy 2 white ikea wardrobe carcasses in white (these would match the colour of doors I was going to use for some wardrobes I was to fit in the room later), get drawers and pull out shelves for these - and then make drawer fronts as the drawers are usually hidden behind doors in the wardrobe, and route in a profile to match the doors I was buying for the wardrobes to make it look 'the same' and not just stuck on.
Then bought a 'full stave' walnut worktop from an online company at 2.4m x 720mm to sit on top of the pedestals to form the desk.
I did some research into the best heights for the top of the desk etc to make sure it was usable as a desk (I work from home so would be in front of it for 7 hours a day)
This was all done 18 month ago, so I was with limited kit
Initial plan:
View attachment desk1.png
Side panels cut down to size
Base assembled
Drawer boxes installed
Back panels made holes cut in to line up with the pull out shelves for cabling to laptops
Drawer fronts cut from MDF and tested for size before routing profile on the edges
Profile routed, and then panels primed and painted - initially I painted a panel with satin pure white, which was no where near the colour of the side panel ikea material, so I want to Homebase, armed with a wardrobe side offcut, and they scanned the colour, and mixed me some paint that was a perfect match - I was so pleased with that!!
Pedestals done and draw fronts fitted, I wasn't overly happy with the bottom, so made a 'skirt' to go around them which you will see later
Here you can see the pull out drawers that are for the laptops (middle 2) the top one is for pens etc, and the bottom one is a drawer with no base, and some t section rail added to form slides for the hanging files
Next was delivery of the walnut top - I rounded over the edges and sanded ready for OSMO Polyx Satin
Starting to get the desk setup in the office space. I added a brace in the middle, and then started to add some extensions for power for everything (lots of stuff, multiple laptops, monitors, speakers etc)
And this is the desk in place before I put in the skirts on the bottom of the drawer pedestals
Finished, with some of my made picture frames hanging and 'modern' wall art project!
Plinths on the pedestals
Hanging file drawer
I was quite pleased with the outcome, desk is dead solid, I can use the ikea drawer inserts to organise the drawers, worktop is perfect - sorry about the cat tree, the cat tends to hang out most of the day and look out of the window on his cat tree
Like I say, not to everyones taste, but it was a cheeper way of making the units
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