Decent Standing Desk for less than $20

Materials: IKEA Lack Side Table, 2 Spruces 2x2, 1 Spruce 1x2, Acrylic Paint

Description: For standing desks lovers, this is a practical one for laptop or other uses for less than $20.

First, price breakdown (in Canadian Dollars):

IKEA Lack Side Table ($10)
2 Spruces 2x2 ($4)
1 Spruce 1x2 ($1)
Acrylic Paint ($1)

Second, steps:

1. Cut the 2x2 spruce to the desired height (1 meter for me to rest my elbow flat on the top for comfortable and healthy use)

2. Drill holes on top of the new legs to allow the original two sided screws to screw in

3. Assemble legs on table top exactly like the original legs

4. Based on the measure between two legs, cut the 2x1 spruce

5. Drill holes for the joint screws between legs.

6. Attach the supporting 1x2 spruces and screw them in

7. Paint and wait until dry

Done!

~ Ammar, Ottawa, Canada

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Wall-mounted charging station plus earphone/cable storage

Materials: Forhoja set of 3 boxes, electric drill with centre bit, wood glue, a few small nails, strip of 4x1 cm wood, extension lead

Description: We have in our household: 2 e-readers, 1 iPad, 1 smaller tablet computer, 1 iPhone, 2 other cell phones and a camera. All of which need to be charged ALL THE TIME. Result: We were constantly looking for charging cables, free wall sockets and the devices themselves.

So I built this charging station which can also be used to stores extra charging cables, earbuds and cell phones. I wanted a wall-mounted station so as not to clutter up the last few precious bits of free table and shelf surface.

I got the Forhoja boxes - it's a set of one big and two smaller boxes; the big one comes with a tray-like lid. The entire thing is just wide and deep enough to comfortably hold the iPad, at least to Kindles and two cell phones at the same time.

First I attached the little pieces of wood into the big box (instead of into the lid as per instructions) to prevent the lid from sliding about.

Using wood glue, I glued the smaller boxes on the sides of the big box. Originally I hadn’t planned to use the small boxes at all, but they make an excellent place to keep earbuds (which disappear all the time as well). I glued 4 strips of wood (10 x 4 x 1cm) to the back to provide a little space between box and wall and put a few small nails in for extra sturdiness.

I drilled a few 22mm ventilation holes into the lid and the bottom of the big box to prevent the charging plugs and extensions lead from overheating. (Note: don’t forget to put a piece of scrap wood under the box when drilling ventilation holes! You can also put sticky tape on the underside so the wood won’t splinter outwards when the drill breaks through.) I also drilled holes into the back for wall mounting with two screws and washers.

When I screwed the box to the wall I placed the power cable along the back of the box so it runs down the middle between the strips of wood. I had to use a manual screwdriver because the electric screwdriver wouldn’t fit â€" hard work! The cables inside the box are gathered together with a bit of plastic-coated wire so they won’t go all over the place when the lid is lifted off. The lid goes on to the box deep-side up, so the devices can be propped against the wall and won’t slip over the edge.

I'€™m pretty pleased with the whole thing; I only wish I had painted it a bright colour before screwing it to the wall - maybe I'€™ll do that at a later date when I can face having to screw it on again with the tiny manual screwdriver.

~ Nina Hyland, Munich, Germany

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Map It Out Desk

Materials: Vika Moliden underframe

Description: I used the the Vika Moliden under frame aka desk legs. I would of purchased the desk top too but b/c of where I live they wouldn't ship it. So, I had a desk top made with the exact same dimensions of the one you can purchase at Ikea.

I download a picture of the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort Trail Map then imported it into photoshop and changed the dimensions to fit how I wanted it to appear on the desk top. Then, I took the pdf file to a large format printing company who printed it out on sticker paper. Lastly, I carefully placed the giant sticker on the desk and then added a glass top.

It was super easy.

Checkout the link below for the DIY video I did on the process.

See more of the map desk.

~ that girl katie, Jackson Hole, WY

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Drop Leaf Expedit

Materials: Ikea Expedit, Various sizes

Description: I needed a large workspace with lots of storage in my small studio; and sometimes, I needed to not have such a large workspace in my small studio. After looking a gate leg tables, extendable tables, shelves and every combination thereof, I finally decided to hack an Expedit to fit the bill.

A combination of Expedit units, a luan bifold door, and some drop leaf table hardware made for the exact unit I needed, both when I need space and when I don'€™t. Just lift the tabletop, slide out the latch, and I have a 36"€ x 78"€ workspace. Slide the latches back in, and I have a 18"€x78" inch wall storage unit.

Supplies
Expedit Units:
1-1x5 (I left out one shelf to accommodate a small flat screen tv)
2-2x2
2-1x2 (I originally planned to mix and match a 2x2 and 1x1 to create these, but when I got to Ikea, they already had the 1x2's available)

Expedit Inserts, as desired- I used one drawer unit and one door unit.

1 36 x 78 inch luan Bifold door (hinges already attached, stained or painted to match Expedit)

2 pairs of sliding drop leaf table hardware

Directions:
Assemble Expedit, stain bifold door if necessary.

Line up 2x2 units, side by side, (If hacking by yourself, turn them perpendicular to wall to hold the tabletop while you work.) Lay the bifold door flat over the units.

Stack 1x2 units on top outside edges of bifold door, then stack 1x5 unit horizontally over top of 1x2 units. Adjust units so everything is centered.

Mark the latch placement for 2 outside drop leaf latches on the outside edges of the bifold door on the underside. Make sure you attach close to the edge so your screws bite into the framing wood of the door, under the surface. Attach. I used longer wood screws than were provided, just to get a good anchor.

(If you turned the 2x2s to hold the door, un-stack entire unit. Turn 2x2'€™s parallel with wall, leaving space between. make sure they line up inside the hardware already attached.)

Attach 2 drop leaf latches in the center space, as far apart a you are able.

Re-stack entire unit. Add boxes for storage as desired.

I did not attach my pieces together, because they need to be movable, but joining brackets on the back are probably a good idea for permanent installation.

~ Diann Liptak, Richmond, Virginia, USA

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Hack that Shack

Materials: LAIVA Desk, RAST Night Stand x 2

Description: When planning my new Amateur Radio Shack in the cupboard under the stairs, ala Harry Potter, there was only one option when it came to furniture. Ikea.

Only in the big blue giant can you find nice and small furniture to make a usable workbench in a 75cm by 50 cm space without building it yourself.

Using 1 x LAIVA desk and 2 x RAST night stand I put together this.

The top RAST has the lower shelf not fitted as this leaves a large enough space for a 19 inch monitor if I decide to fit it, I plan to start off using my Nexus 7 for qrz lookups etc. Connected them using a couple of straight brackets on either side and this gives enough rigidity as to not miss the second shelf. A 6 way power strip sat in the cable tray that the LAIVA powering two LAGRA clamp lights and a RIGEL hook as a headphone holder and the space is complete.

And from the outside looking in through the Hobbit sized door.

See more of the radio shack hack.

~ Jon Byrne, Manchester, UK

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Modern dry-erase standing desk

Materials: Linnmon high-gloss white tabletop (59x29½); Expedit 4x2 shelving unit; 2 Expedit drawer inserts, high-gloss white; 2 Expedit door inserts; 12 Capita legs; Lack shelf, high gloss red (43¼x10¼)

Description: My wife and I have wanted to put together a standing desk for a long time, and took our recent move as an opportunity to finally do it. After spending a lot of time on Ikea Hackers and ikea.ca, a couple of visits to Ikea, and several draft designs, we've ended up with this, and we think it's pretty awesome. Our favorite part is that the desk itself functions as a white-board.

When designing yours, you'll want to keep in mind the target height of your desk, and account for it by varying the legs you use. Ikea offers the Capita legs in 3 different heights, so by combining them you should be able to get pretty close to your desired height. In our case, I'm about 5'11" and my wife's probably 5'3" or 5'4". Accounting for the thickness of the tabletop itself, our final desk height is 41", which is pretty comfortable for both of us.

Ingredients:
- Linnmon high-gloss white tabletop (59x29½): $39.00
- Expedit 4x2 shelving unit (approximately 31x15½ x58½ ): $79.00
- 2 Expedit drawer inserts, high-gloss white: 2 x $25.00
- 2 Expedit door inserts (high-gloss red & high-gloss white): 2 x $15.00
- 12 Capita legs (4¾”): 3 x $16.99
- Lack shelf, high gloss red (43¼x10¼): $24.99

Recipe:
- Build the Expedit, in our case leaving out one of the smaller shelves to make room for the computer.
> NOTE: Looking at the Expedit in the horizontal position, the vertical separators are indispensable. In my opinion, you would be ill-advised to leave out any of those, as they provide structural support.
- Drill 6 Capita legs into the bottom of the Expedit. The Expedit seemed to be made of solid wood, so a drill was necessary but the capita legs feel nice and stable.
> Ikea makes a caster set designed specifically to support the Expedit in its horizontal position, and they use 6 casters, including 1 pair to support the middle of the unit. Based on that, I decided to use 6 Capita legs, including 2 for support in the middle.
- Break out the Linnmon tabletop, and line it up on top of the Expedit. Figure out where the Expedit will be below it, and mark the widest (most stable) possible locations for the other 5 (yes 5) Capita legs.
> Given that there wouldn'€™t be much weight on the desktop and that I wanted to use the space between the Expedit and Linnmon for storage of stuff, I decided not to use a Capital in the middle in front. You can sort of see in one of the photos what I mean: There are 3 legs along the back of the tabletop, but only 2 in front.
> When you'€™re thinking about how you want to position everything, keep in mind that the further back you set the Expedit under the Linnmon, the harder it'll be to get at those drawers. We set the Expedit about 4” back under the tabletop.
- Drill holes for the capita legs in the Linnmon, and screw them in. Note that the edges of the Linnmon are solid wood, so the outside 4 legs are good. But the center of the desktop is fibreboard, or hollow filled, or whatever, so be gentle with that center Capita. It'€™s only there to provide support, and you'€™re only drilling it in to prevent it from sliding around.
- Now figure out how high you want your monitors. "€œErgonomics" says that the top of the monitor should be right around eye level when looking straight forward.
- If you'€™re going to use the lack shelf to support your monitors, FIND STUDS IN YOUR WALL. If you screw the shelf into drywall or particle board and put two monitors on it (possibly even one monitor), it's liable to just rip right out of the wall, wrecking everything from your wall to the Expedit below, including your monitor. If you don’t know how to find studs or aren't comfortable, you have lots of other options: prop the monitors up on books; get another piece from Ikea (we considered the Alex Alex shelf with drawer) that you can just sit on the desktop), get a monitor riser from another shop.
> Quick note: If you're going to rest your monitors directly on the desktop, they'€™re going to add a lot of weight to the back of the desktop, and depending on how you'€™ve placed your Linnmon on top of the Expedit, it may not have a lot of support at the back. If this is the case, the monitors might be heavy enough to flip the desktop up. You can address this in a number of ways, but one option is the Vika Byske legs which extend tall enough to provide support at the back of the tabletop. Even one in the center of the table would probably be enough.
- There you have it. Load in the drawers and doors (if you'€™re using them), connect everything, and you'€™re good to go.

~ Liohn Sherer, Montreal, QC, Canada

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Compact living desk mod

Materials: Variera kitchen shelf insert, Capita legs and Ekby shelf

Description: Not much of a hack if you compare to some of the other things posted here and part of it has been posted plenty of times.

I live in a small room in London and wanted to make use of the desk space more efficiently.

I put my monitor and speakers on the standard Ekby shelf on Capita legs hack that have been posted here plenty of times before.

What I haven't seen here before though is the Variera Kitchen Shelf Insert.

I mounted it upside down under the desk to keep my Xbox of the floor without taking up space on the desk.

Quite an easy hack but made a huge difference in my room.

Let me know what you think!

~ Jonas, London

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Framed: Vika Furuskog gets a custom base

Materials: Vika Furuskog table top, 14 ft 1x4s and 12 ft 1x3s, compound miter saw, Kreg Jig

Description: We built this desk for my son's tween room make-over.

Here is how we did it.

We bought a VIKA Furuskog table top at IKEA and some pine boards at the hardware store. We got 12 ft 1x3 for the frame to hold the table top and 14 ft 1x4 for the table legs.


Here you can see the cut list.

We used 1x4 for the legs and 1x3 for the frame under the desk top. From the top: the first four boards will create the square frame that is screwed into the table top. The next two boards are the bottoms of the legs, the last four are the table legs themselves.

Here I added some orange dots so you can see where we put the Kreg Jig holes.

We drilled all the Kreg Jig holes, then clamped and screwed the wood together.

Then we attached the frame and legs to the table top. All in all, we built this desk, while I was wearing the green shirt, in about 2 hours.

I used oil based primer (two coats) and water based Alkyd paint (two coats) to finish the table.

Then we hung some shelves and a gallery wall above the desk. The shelves are Ash boards that I sanded and stained. We used the IKEA Ekby Bjarnum brackets to mount them to the wall.

See more of the Vika Furuskog custom desk.

~ Katja @ Shift Ctrl ART, California

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Breakfast bar/home office desk

Materials: AKURUM kitchen wall cabinet + LINNMON table top + cover panel

Description: We needed a dining table and home office desk in a very small area. Also needed storage space for office that wouldn't look cluttered.

Bought AKURUM kitchen WALL CABINET in the wood finish that matched existing furniture. We chose the 30" high X 39" wide cabinet and assembled it and sat it on the floor as the base of the table/desk. We could have bought short legs or built a base to raise it up higher, but chose not to because our existing stools were the right height to leave it as-is.

If you want to install doors to hide the shelves, you WILL need legs or a base for it so that the bottom edge of the doors will be off the floor. This wall cabinet has many holes pre-drilled for adjustable shelves so we bought 2 pairs of shelves that fit the entire width and installed them where we wanted (pegs are included with shelf purchase).

We bought a "cover panel" from the selection of cabinet doors and cover panels that also matched the existing furniture - we glued that on the back side of the cabinet since that side normally mounts on the wall and is not "finished".

There are several finishes to choose from. In order to be the right size, we bought one that had to be turned sideways and then we sawed off one edge that would be up against the wall, so it didn't need to be a "finished" edge. There are several sizes of wall cabinets and several sizes of doors or cover panels, so find the size and color you want.

Next, we found a LINNMON table top in black-brown that matched our stools (several colors are available). The size we choose for our space was about 24" X 48" and we placed that on top and positioned it where we wanted (a little more overhang on one side worked for us).

We attached it by drilling up through the top of the "cabinet" with wood screws. You can't see in the picture, but for an added effect, we installed a strip of Ikea's LED lights under the overhang on the finished side of the breakfast bar/desk. Perfect for home office and perfect for dining - fits in a very small space and the shelf contents stay hidden from view.

~ Rebecca & Manny, Orange Co. CALIF

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Stand up Billy bureau or mini bar

Materials: Billy bookshelf

Description: My purpose with this hack is to have a stand-up folding desktop, so I need a wide Billy bookshelf, but it can be used for a mini bar or other purposes that doesn't need a wide bookshelf, so the Billy product could be one of the two options that I'm going to write.

= ITEMS =

1. Ikea Billy bookshelf: 76cm wide or 40cm wide

2. A extra shelf of the desired wide and depth (for example: this)

3. A pair of hinged shelf support (for example: this)

4. Two pieces of wood for separating the hinge from the bookshelf walls.

5. Two magnet closures.

[Optional]
6. Something like rubberized cloth for covering the folding shelf.

7. Glue for cloth.

= STEPS =

1. Mount the Billy Bookshelf.

2. Screw [and paste] the pieces of wood to the walls and floor of the bookshelf at the desired shelf. In my case was 4 pieces of wood left over from another shelf, so I had to glue it two by two before screwing it to the bookshelf.

3. Screw [and paste] the two hinges to the pieces of wood.

4. Screw [and paste] the arms of the hinges to the extra shelf.

5. Screw the two magnet closures to the bookshelf and the folding shelf.

[OPTIONAL]

6. Measure and cut the desired cloth for covering the folding shelf.

7. Put the special cloth glue over the cloth and the shelf.

8. Paste both and with a piece of wood go over all the pasted surfaces with a little bit of pressure.

~ buguibu, Spain

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ALGOT WING Work Station

Materials: ALGOT, ANTONIUS

Description: A expandable compact working table and cabinet made from ALGOT frame & basket, ALGOT frame of laundry bag, ANTONIUS Top, and hinges purchased from next door hardware shop. I would like to name it as "ALGOT WING" from its expansion table top on both sides. I got this idea from IKEA's NORDEN gateleg table.

After I installed my Vika work table, I started to looking for a cabinet. I found that the ANTONIUS / ALGOT frame basket provided big enough capacity and fitted the table and my budget. Not only that, with some modifications I could expand my work space and adjust it to any situation.

I use the ALGOT frame sized 70cm as the main structure and used ALGOT laundry basket frame as a gateleg. The ALGOT table top is too narrow so I used three ANTONIUS table tops sized 44x55cm which perfectly fit in the width of the frame. I joined three table tops with hinges then installed the center top to the frame with the given wall mount fittings provided in ALGOT set. That's it.

~ POP, Banhkok

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Expedit Desk

Materials: Expedit 4-compartment (2), 96"x 20" pine project panel, 8' wood mouldings (2 each of 3 different designs), L brackets (4), wood glue, finish nails

Description: I'm a work-at-home author and knitwear designer whose only office space is carved out of the hallway between our foyer and dining room. My desk has to fit against the triangle wall formed by a staircase. Making my own desk from 2 Expedits gives me 8 feet of beautiful desktop real estate, while only taking up 20" of hallway.

While I love the quality and value of Ikea furniture, most of the styles are too modern-looking for me. To make my desk look more traditional, I added moulding from my home improvement center. First I trimmed around 3 sides of the bottom of each Expedit with 1 3/4" moulding, mitering the corners. Then I added 4 1" L brackets to the upper inside edges of each piece to anchor the desktop. After that I layered 2 different mouldings and ran them all the way across the front and 2 short sides of the Expedits. I hid all the finish nail holes with putty and paint. Then I added the desktop (which I stained and varnished beforehand), securing from underneath with the L brackets.

I'm really happy with my new desk; the extra width more than makes up for its narrowness. I got exactly the right sized desk with lots of storage, too. The project took just a weekend, (most of which was waiting for paint and varnish coats to dry, and cost just under $200.

See more of the Expedit desk.

~ Mary Scott Huff, Fairview, Oregon

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Living Room vs Multi-media work at home office

Materials: Malm occasional tables, Expedit 2x4, Besta, Lillangen

Description: We needed a work@home desk to be included in our living room. But we didn't want to see cables and PCs! We needed to fight against 2 desktop PCs, 2 laptops and 4 monitors. We opted for 2 Malm occasional tables (length 211 cm) to be used as shelves, without the legs. These 2 Malm have been hung between the wall on the right side and the Expedit 2x4 on the left. To do this, we used L profiled aluminium bars, screwed into the wall and into Expedit.

One Malm occasional table (length 191 cm) was used as sliding desk for hosting 2 keyboards a 2 laptops.
On the bottom, 1 Besta 20x120x64 with a Lillangen 20x60x64 contain 2 desktop PCs. We refined this base storage with Besta/Vara sliding doors with a structure 180 cm large.

When it is closed, cables disappear, as well as keyboards and laptops go under the monitors' shelf!

~ FROLA, italy

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Mini PC float-and-slide desk

Materials: Ludvig Laptop shelf/charging station, floating brackets

Description: Inspired by iMac-computer-desk I decided to try finding a solution for us no "iMac€/all-in-one€‹" users, but just mini-pc users.

The biggest problem was finding the Ludvig Laptop shelf/charging station around, because Ikea stopped selling it a while ago, so you have to resort to different channels to obtain it.

Then I fixed the shelf to the wall using hidden brackets/anchors to increase the weight supported by the shelf itself.

Last, I switched the original black-compartment, the one below the sliding shelf, with a hand crafted one. Made by a zinc-coated metal sheet (1mm thick) with different holes on the floor and sides (for cables, weight and ventilation reasons).

The rest is your normal wall-mounted monitor, wireless keyboard set and mini-pc.
Inside the handcrafted compartment I stored the mini-pc, 10wx20hx10d cm.
I think it's a good compromise between comfort and space-saving.

See more of the mini PC float and slide desk.

~ Andrea Ponzi, Italy

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