I got a request to do a build log for my desk, so I'll dump a couple pictures and outline what I did to make my current workstation desk, shown here.
All said and done, this desk cost me just over $100, not including me having to rent the Home Depot truck because my sissy sedan could never fit this stuff in it's trunk. I could easily see you saving money by going to lumber yards or scrap collection centers for cheaper parts.
So here's what I used:
Here's what we looked like prior to staining.
So, what I did was set everything up outside, same as in the pictures, and went at everything with the coarse sanding sponge. Round off the edges your wrists are going to rest on, round off the bottoms of the sawhorses, sand off the manufacturer's stamp on the sides of the door, and even out any dings you might've accumulated (or that the door might've had when you bought it--mine had a few dings, and I took care to pick the best one).
Take a microfiber cloth and rub along the grain to get the wood dust off before you start with the finer sanding. Go over everything with the fine sander. You want that surface as smooth as you can get. You think you're done sanding? You're probably not. I took the whole afternoon just to sand everybody down. You don't want any loose pieces coming off, or scratching you, or ripping your clothes, or poking you in the face when you're on your back managing cables later. Go back over it with a clean microfiber cloth one more time before staining.
Now that you've sanded it, you can prop that door up, resting on a towel, and stain. Always stain with the grain! For us, that most likely means sand in the long direction of the door. That's why I propped her up longways, so stain would run down along the grain and get mopped up with my towel. I used an old washcloth instead of a roller for this application so I could control bubbles better. Rollers will bubble up a little, and you don't want to have to sand between coats of stain. I can't think of a benefit of buying a roller or a brush for this project, honestly, other than having to wash your hands a lot.
Put on coat 1 to the door and to the sawhorses, and wait. Wait overnight, ideally. You want to do this when you're expecting dry, sunny, warm weather. I live on the coastlands of Georgia, so I get that all the time
![biggrin.gif]( "biggrin.gif")
After waiting, put on coat 2 (I didn't bother with 2 coats on the sawhorses. I plan on replacing them with something nicer anyways) and wait.
Now you're ready for your polyurethane. I only applied 1 coat of this, and only to the door: it didn't feel like it needed any more than the one coat. I just applied the one coat, sanded very finely over some of the slightly bubbly areas, and called it a day.
Pretty good lookin, methinks! The only real downside of this desk is that you don't get drawers or fancy cabling options (well, and having to do it yourself, but that's not a real downside imo). I might replace my sawhorses with filing cabinets (you can get those for $40 a piece at your local WalMart or Office Supply) anyways, so I wasn't too worried about it. As far as cable management goes, I picked up a pack of nail-in cable clips, like 6 for 2 bucks, and used those as guide points along the backside of the door/desk/thing.
I feel no bend whatsoever when I stand dead in the middle of this desk, and I've let my 300 pound friend stand over a sawhorse and he thought it felt solid. I doubt you could say the same for prebuilt desks that would cost 4 times as much money. Plenty of room for 3 monitors I bet.
Thanks for playing!
All said and done, this desk cost me just over $100, not including me having to rent the Home Depot truck because my sissy sedan could never fit this stuff in it's trunk. I could easily see you saving money by going to lumber yards or scrap collection centers for cheaper parts.
So here's what I used:
- for the surface I purchased a solid birch door blank, 80"W x 36"D x 1.75"T -- $52 (online it says $57, odd..)
- for legs, I kept it simple and got 2 basic wooden sawhorses 27" tall -- $15 x 2 = $30
- I picked up 2 sanding sponges, one coarse and one extra fine -- $3 x 2 = $6
- you'll want wood stain, I chose Minwax classic grey as I hope to eventually have grey be the theme in my new computer build -- $7
- also get some urethane, I chose to stick with Minwax just in case their products work better together, I picked up a satin finish because I'm not a huge fan of gloss -- $7
- old bowl -- free
- old washcloth -- priceless
Here's what we looked like prior to staining.
So, what I did was set everything up outside, same as in the pictures, and went at everything with the coarse sanding sponge. Round off the edges your wrists are going to rest on, round off the bottoms of the sawhorses, sand off the manufacturer's stamp on the sides of the door, and even out any dings you might've accumulated (or that the door might've had when you bought it--mine had a few dings, and I took care to pick the best one).
Take a microfiber cloth and rub along the grain to get the wood dust off before you start with the finer sanding. Go over everything with the fine sander. You want that surface as smooth as you can get. You think you're done sanding? You're probably not. I took the whole afternoon just to sand everybody down. You don't want any loose pieces coming off, or scratching you, or ripping your clothes, or poking you in the face when you're on your back managing cables later. Go back over it with a clean microfiber cloth one more time before staining.
Now that you've sanded it, you can prop that door up, resting on a towel, and stain. Always stain with the grain! For us, that most likely means sand in the long direction of the door. That's why I propped her up longways, so stain would run down along the grain and get mopped up with my towel. I used an old washcloth instead of a roller for this application so I could control bubbles better. Rollers will bubble up a little, and you don't want to have to sand between coats of stain. I can't think of a benefit of buying a roller or a brush for this project, honestly, other than having to wash your hands a lot.
Put on coat 1 to the door and to the sawhorses, and wait. Wait overnight, ideally. You want to do this when you're expecting dry, sunny, warm weather. I live on the coastlands of Georgia, so I get that all the time
After waiting, put on coat 2 (I didn't bother with 2 coats on the sawhorses. I plan on replacing them with something nicer anyways) and wait.
Now you're ready for your polyurethane. I only applied 1 coat of this, and only to the door: it didn't feel like it needed any more than the one coat. I just applied the one coat, sanded very finely over some of the slightly bubbly areas, and called it a day.
Pretty good lookin, methinks! The only real downside of this desk is that you don't get drawers or fancy cabling options (well, and having to do it yourself, but that's not a real downside imo). I might replace my sawhorses with filing cabinets (you can get those for $40 a piece at your local WalMart or Office Supply) anyways, so I wasn't too worried about it. As far as cable management goes, I picked up a pack of nail-in cable clips, like 6 for 2 bucks, and used those as guide points along the backside of the door/desk/thing.
I feel no bend whatsoever when I stand dead in the middle of this desk, and I've let my 300 pound friend stand over a sawhorse and he thought it felt solid. I doubt you could say the same for prebuilt desks that would cost 4 times as much money. Plenty of room for 3 monitors I bet.
Thanks for playing!
