Friday, May 16, 2014

A cheap and attractive DIY standing desk option

About two months ago I looked into buying a wall cabinet standing desk like this:


But it was only available through Amazon.com and the shipping was going to be more than the GDP of Guam. Plus it was a bit too big for what I needed.

Then I realized I could build one, thanks in large part to some blueprints I had for a wall mounted bar cabinet from an ancient copy of Readymade magazine. I had to modify the plans somewhat, but it was pretty straightforward:




I designed the size of the work surface to match an image size offered by Posterjack for peel and stick photo posters (19 x 13 inches). I'm fairly proud of that brainwave. I was going to use magnetic clasps mounted inside the cabinet, but the hinges were too strong. Turns out I had a brand new cabinet clasp in a parts box in the basement that looks pretty darn good.


I remembered to drill a hole for the power cord.


Hinges courtesy of Lee Valley. To my surprise they weren't very expensive and are rated at over 50 pounds. Also bought a very nice and very reasonably priced piano hinge that I was able to cut to size with a hacksaw. The wood itself was cheap too -- Home Depot, less than $20.


I was going to paint the exterior of the cabinet white, but decided to leave it as is. The wood is nothing fancy but looks good, and there's a nice contrast between the shiny modern laptop and the grain of wood.

Not pictured here are the dozens of mistakes, large and small, that I made along the way. Thank goodness I have 100 grit sandpaper and a palm sander. But every time I open up the cabinet, I think to myself "I made this. I made this standing desk." And that's a pretty awesome feeling.

-----------------------------------
Readymade blueprint: