Custom easy desk - If Only April

I love the huge office desk space. It gives me room for all my ongoing projects and I never, well, almost never, run out of space. I was dreaming about a huge DIY farmhouse desk for so long that this summer I decided to make it. I'm going to share with you how to make a custom easy desk.

Customized desks are so much easier than it sounds. You need a top and support.

The top could be any size and texture that you want. If you are making it on the budget, you can use a plywood sheet. If you need something more good-looking, you can use wooden boards. Again, you can choose any thickness and width you want. If you want to go fancy, you can use hardwood (hint! that's what I did)

For support, it could be either file cabinets, support legs (IKEA has cheap alternatives), drawers, or a combination of different kinds of support.

I chose to use a Trestle with a shelf from Ikea and Alex drawer, also from Ikea. Then I upgraded both of them to match the semi-modern/rustic look of my office. I painted Trestle white and stained the shelf with matching dark walnut stain. For Alex drawer, I removed the front panels and replaced them with custom-made wooden boards. See how I did it here.

How to build a wooden desk

I wanted to make a farmhouse desk from hardwood. That was my first project using red oak (expensive as hell), but I'm so happy with how it turned out. I could definitely see the difference between cheap wood I get at Home Depot for my other projects and this pure perfection of its kind - red oak from a real lumberyard. That was truly an experience to go to the lumberyard and handpick my hardwood.

I chose a 1 x 10" red oak. The price per foot was $6.25. Originally I planned to build a 7-8 feet long wooden desk but after calculating the cost, I opted out for a bit under 6 feet length 😀 I bought 5 boards 5' each and it cost me $156. I think it is a fair price for a custom desk for a home office, considering that to buy something like this would be so much much more expensive. (The quote from this place for custom red oak tabletop went well above $2000 for 4 feet).

When I brought wood home, I was so excited but nervous to screw it up that I was hesitant to start working on this project. I'm glad I did since it turned out amazing beyond my expectations.

If you decide to make the custom easy desk from wood planks, let me guide you through it.

Materials

wood (I used 5 red oak boards 1x10x60")
miter saw (or any other saw to cut wood to length)
Kreg jig
Kreg jig screws
clamps
sander
Wood stain (I used dark walnut by Minwax) - optional

Step-by-step how-to make tabletop

Calculate how long you want your desk to be. Remember that it will have sides (which means you should add the width of the plank twice)
Carefully choose the wood. Before you buy it, inspect each plank and make sure it's straight. Then line them up together on the floor, to be assured they are perfectly aligned.
When you start working, choose a flat surface. I'd like to stress that this step is very important. When you attach your wood together you'd want it to be as flush and flat as possible. I put a piece of plywood underneath to make sure it's a flat surface.
Put down 4 planks (5' each) first and line them up together. Make holes using Kreg jig, 12 inches apart. I had 5 holes on each of the 3 boards.
When attaching, put weights on the board and even stand on it if you need, to make sure they are even and flush.
Measure the width of your desk and cut the last board in 2 parts accordingly.
Attach sides to the table. I used clamps and scrap wood to secure the position and make sure they are attached perfectly.
You can sand the imperfections, or if it's too much, cut it with your circular saw to cut sides to make them perfect.

Finish with stain or leave it bare for a more unfinished look. Few words about the finish. I personally think that painting fresh hardwood is a crime. BUT... Staining it is a slightly different story. I like the color of dark walnut but it's way more expensive than red oak, so I decided to stain it with one layer. You can still see the beautiful grain of the wood, but it has a more pleasing (to my eyes) color. So don't start judging me ;D I absolutely love how it turned out and wouldn't change a thing.

I LOVE my new desk and it's been serving me a great job over the last few months. The grain texture is so amazing. It's super smooth and so nice to touch and look at!

Since this desktop is such a killer project, I'm planning to make a dining table this summer, using the same wood layout for the top. That's so exciting! I can't wait!

PIN FOR LATER>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>