DIY Desk

Somnambulist · 11 Jun 2013 at 23:54

Yes, this old chestnut.

Going to make a desk - I've seen a lot of people using kitchen worktops and legs, usually from IKEA (e.g. their Numerar one). Cool - I need something about 60-65cm deep and around 140cm wide, plus a monitor riser shelf thing (shelf/off-cut + Capita legs).

Ignoring the fact that I've found solid wooden worktops cheaper than IKEAs, do you lot think it's worth forking out the extra for the solid wood stuff (about £85 delivered atm and I'd have to cut/profile/oil it myself). Saying that, unless I'm blind, 90% of the laminate worktops I would have thought would be way cheaper... aren't, really, unless you count really plain/black white stuff or IKEAs ones, although their delivery costs are mad and I'm not sure I could fit one in the car. Maybe I'm missing something obvious.

Wouldn't mind it matching the rest of my room too (lots of medium shade pine).

I guess the other thing would be maintenance - I'd rather have something durable that doesn't need loads of care, and also it has to support a fair bit of weight, at least at the sides (heavy nearfield monitors). I plan on using the fixed metal legs IKEA do atm.

Any input appreciated, cheers.

Somnambulist · 12 Jun 2013 at 13:16

Yeah the solid ones look nice, it's just I'd prefer to get this done as cheaply as possible but as strong as possible. I managed to get an office-reclaimed Steelcase Leap (V2) off the bay for a decent price so I have something to sit on so far but I'm still faffing with this.

I'd prefer it to be free-standing (i.e. just unscrew the legs and I'm good to flat-pack it when moving). and while I've thought about a 5th leg in the middle, I doubt I'd need it since the heaviest things will be at the sides above the legs (speakers) and they'll only be my Mac in the middle.

Somnambulist · 12 Jun 2013 at 13:45

E.g as an example - B&Q's 38mm worktops are £62 for the oak and the other wood ones are £85, and you have to buy edge strips... may as well get the real wood one.

I'm thinking the IKEA ADILS legs as they're cheap and cheerful at £2.50 per leg but steel and rated to 50kg each and the Signum cable management, so for a shade over £100 I guess I can't complain.

Somnambulist · 12 Jun 2013 at 15:21

Yeah I've had a look on eBay for off-cuts and things. Do IKEA cut down stuff for you in store? I can't fit much in the car length-wise - the idea is to get roughly 2m of board, have it cut to 140cm, then cut the remaining 60cm or so into 2 x 30x60-65cm pieces, one of which I'm using with the Capita legs as a monitor riser (Mac and DAC going underneath) and one I'll use for a shelf or something.

Somnambulist · 12 Jun 2013 at 17:13

Found a couple on eBay I'd missed, as it goes... one is an unused Bushboard cherry laminate worktop and it's only £15 at the moment but... I just like the idea of real wood lol. Trying to decide if it's worth splashing out on the Sjunne legs (or the Godvin) over the plainer Adils but they're a tenner each vs £2.50 lol. Urgh decisions.

Somnambulist · 12 Jun 2013 at 20:54

I'm looking at these legs atm, as they're a bit cheaper than the IKEA ones, although I want to find out the weight rating.

Also very annoyed - my Steelcase Leap chair arrived today and after I'd inspected it, I found one of the adjustments - the slider that changes the height of the lower lumbar curvature - is missing. So much for 'every function working perfectly'. Sighhhh. Going to order the worktop in wood though, just need to do some edge profiling, stain it a bit darker and seal it.

Somnambulist · 12 Jun 2013 at 21:16

Yep, going to order the rustic beech worktop - at £85 delivered it's the cheapest I could find. I can get regular beech for £93 (only difference is 3cm more depth - 65cm vs 62cm) and then for other woods like iroko, oak or bamboo it starts going up more and more.

Should just stick to beech and stain it so it's somewhat similar to the rest of the wood in my room.

Vexed about the chair - it was their last one as well, so I can return it but I'll find to find another one. Hmph.

Somnambulist · 12 Jun 2013 at 22:22

K ordered the wood worktop. Also ordered the legs, Capita legs for the monitor riser and Signum cable management thingy.

Just need to sort out the bleedin' chair. No more V2s on eBay bar the expensive leather ones and one blue one (horrible colour!)... there's a few Aerons available (I'd be size B) but I frequently read the Leap is better, unless you want to fork out muchos cashios for an Embody.

Need to grab some stain for the beech too, although a few coats of oil might darken it sufficiently anyway.

Somnambulist · 14 Jun 2013 at 22:07

Right sorted the chair out, worktop coming Weds, should have the legs before then, IKEA stuff on the 20th or therebouts. Excellent. Btw if anyone else is looking for a chair, Iconic Office Furniture (who I got my Leap 2 off) have got another 20 of them up on eBay. The Aerons seem to have had a price hike in terms of the used ones because of the name more than anything, I think, and many people think the Leap is a better chair. I did have an IKEA Markus a while back but being a short-arse the headrest was too high and it wasn't very adjustable - the Leap is much nicer!

Somnambulist · 15 Jun 2013 at 07:28

Wondering what to do with the worktop/desk in terms of oil/stain/seal etc. Any advice welcome! The main thing is I don't plan on either cutting or having liquids on it, and beech being light I'd like to darken it somewhat to something of a more medium finish...

Somnambulist · 20 Jun 2013 at 11:59

Worktop and legs came the other day:

Not worried about it under load, it's a heavyweight itself! Plan is to cut it down Monday, round the edges and screw the plates for the legs in, then take them off, do my night shifts for the week and then dye + oil it. My IKEA delivery is due today with the Signum cable management and capita legs so should have all the hardware, just need to get the right colour dye and some decent oil.

Somnambulist · 20 Jun 2013 at 13:25

IKEA delivery turned up, good stuff. Signum is bigger than I thought, but that's a good thing. Capita legs are nice and heavy for what they are. Looking forward to putting it all together...

Somnambulist · 20 Jun 2013 at 21:45

Yes mine basically looks like that - TopWorktops or something on the bay. I went out and got screws today, and ended up getting the rest of the stuff. I'll have an off cut to test with but the plan is 1-2 coats of dye (might not be dark enough with a single coat but better to start light) on the top and sides, leave the bottom as there's no point, then oil the whole thing. Won't be done for at least a week though as I'm working 3 days from tomorrow, then Monday night I'm on nights for 3 nights so Thursday will be a write-off. Still, getting there slowly.

The rest of the stuff in my room is a kind of medium shade pine so I'm hoping to get a reasonably close-ish match.

I have thought about getting a hole saw and getting the grommets to go with the Signum trunking, but it can wait for now. Hopefully I can get the power strip and pretty much all the cables on the trunking so they'll only be one wire hanging down...

Somnambulist · 24 Jun 2013 at 14:02

Quick preview - sawn, planed and screwed. Just need to finish the sides/top really.

Somnambulist · 24 Jun 2013 at 16:50

The leg positioning is out of convenience, since the right edge of the desk will overhang the bed slightly and I didn't want the legs to hit it. No oil yet, will faff around with that next week. Up since 8:30am and I have to work an 8pm-8am night shift for the next 3 nights so it'll have to wait for a bit. TBH I may only finish the sides and top.

Somnambulist · 18 Aug 2013 at 19:09

Bump4crappyInstagrampic

Came out fairly well considering I SUCK at DIY. Until I find a way to make more space in my room, it has to go in the corner and overhang the bed slightly which is why the legs were pushed in a bit. Once I sell a few things and swing the bed around I can move it to the middle of the wall, speakers on proper stands etc.

Cable management is also atrocious, but what you can't see...