Building a Standing Desk for 50 Bucks
2015-01-25
Inspired by Colin Nederkoorn's A standing desk for $22, I decided to build my own standing desk. Whereas Colin's plan builds a small standing desk that is to be placed on top of an existing desk, I wanted to build a complete standing desk.
Like Colin, I also use LACK side tables and the EKBY VIKTOR shelfs from IKEA. In addition, I used some parts from the Home Depot. Here is the complete recipe:
- LACK side table (3 x 7.99 USD)
- EKBY VIKTOR shelf (1 x 5.99 USD)
- ClosetMaid 12 inch upright (2 x 3.72 USD)
- ClosetMaid 12 inch bracket (2 x 4.98 USD)
- 3 inch bolt, washer, nut (4 x ? USD)
- Total cost: 47.36 USD + costs of bolts/washers/nuts
Assembling the table is pretty straightforward. Just stack the three LACK side tables on each other and bolt the 12 inch uprights to the legs of one table. Lock the brackets into the uprights and put your shelf on top of the brackets. You may want to bolt the shelf to the brackets, but I didn't do that.
The nice thing is that you can change the height of the keyboard/mouse shelf by simply locking the brackets at a different spot in the uprights. However, the laptop/monitor goes on top of the upper table and that height is fixed. I am a little over six feet tall and the height of the standing desk is just right for me. The Human Solution provides a calculator that computes ergonomic keyboard/mouse shelf and desk heights for you. Depending on your height, you may want to shorten the legs of one table or stack the table top of the upper table on top of (Arizona) cans, letter trays, you name it. If you need a higher desk, try stacking as many letter trays as you need on top of the desk and cover them with one or more IKEA EKBY LAIVA shelves (1.99 USD per shelf).