Turning a Bedroom Into An Office Part 2: Building a DIY Home Office Desk

As you learned in our previous post, the main reason why we decided to move forward with this home office project was the need of additional desk space for both of us to work at the same time. While the walls color had nothing to do with the lack of desk space, it was an important part for us. It made sense to take care of them before moving on with the rest of the project.

So, right after putting a fresh coat of paint on the walls and deciding the new office’s layout, we started looking for desk ideas. We came across many different options, but at the end of the day, for several reasons, we decided to try something similar to what we found at Young House Love.

Obviously, we like what they did. When possible, we like recycling and reusing stuff. It seemed like a relatively easy and inexpensive project for us to do, and most importantly, we had most of the supplies we needed to work on it.

HOW TO BUILD A DIY HOME OFFICE DESK

If you decide to move forward and build your own home office desk, just follow the next steps and gather the following tools and supplies:

• An old, ugly and hopefully cheap desk
• Screwdrivers and hand tools (always useful)
• Reciprocating Saw (optional)
• Sander (optional)
• Sand paper (different grits)
• Primer & paint
• Painting supplies (based on personal preference, roller, brush, roller tray or even a paint sprayer)

STEP 1: LOOK FOR AND GET AN OLD, UGLY DESK

Once we had a general idea of what we were going for, we started looking for an old and ugly desk on craigslist. It was not hard at all to find a few ones. Some of them were a bit expensive, others were not suitable for what we had in mind. Some sellers didn’t answer the phone or returned our calls. But, at the end, we were able to go pick this one up on the same day.

 

Although we ended up paying asking price for it, we were happy with our purchase.

STEP 2: BREAK IT APART

We started with our project on the next day. It didn’t take too long and just a screwdriver and the reciprocating saw to break it apart.

 

 

In no time, the two pieces were ready for the next step.

 

STEP 3: YOU MAY NEED TO SAND IT A BIT

Sanding is not necessarily something we enjoy doing, mostly because of all the dust it generates. This particular desk looked like it had been painted (with a brush) a few times, though. We definitely had to sand it a bit. So, we went ahead and did it using two different (60 & 120) sandpaper grits.

 

Right after, we cleaned up the frames and drawers as much as we could before moving on to the next step.

STEP 4: IF YOU SANDED, IT IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO PUT A COAT OF PRIMER

With the cabinets clean, the next step was to move them down to the basement for priming.

We looked at different primer options before starting this project. However, based on our research, we realized that using the same primer we’ve used before was not going to make a big difference. It was also going to save us some money because we had enough left over from previous projects to complete this one.

We used a brush to complete this step. However, we were not 100% percent satisfied with the results. There were lots of brush stroke marks.

 

 

STEP 5: PAINT IT THE COLOR OF YOUR CHOICE

After letting them dry overnight, I started painting one of the drawers with another brush.

A few minutes later, I hated the way it looked. Even though I tried painting as carefully as I could, the brush stroke marks were all over the place.

Although we could have tried a roller, after doing some research and looking for some ideas, we decided that a paint sprayer was the way to go. I’d been wanting a paint sprayer for a while anyway, and getting a professional finish on our new home office desk was a very good excuse to finally go and get one.

Getting the Wagner Power Painter Plus

After some additional research, we decided to give the Wagner Power Painter Plus a try.

 

Fortunately, we were not disappointed with our decision. It allowed us to get the professional finish we were looking for on our new desk. The drawbacks, it is a bit loud, and it takes some time to clean up after each use. Other than that, we definitely recommend it.

We put a total of two coats of paint on both the frames and the drawers, letting them dry overnight between coats.

 

STEP 6: ENJOY THE GREAT RESULTS OF YOUR WORK

After letting the drawers and frames dry for a couple of days after the final coat, we brought them upstairs and into our new home office to see how they looked.

We really liked how they turned out! We could not wait to get the rest of the job done and start using our new DIY home office desk.

 

 

Readers, have you ever built a desk or any other furniture? What would you have done differently?

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