Office Remodel: DIY Queen Anne Style Desk.
In my first
blog, I mentioned how I would rather go without a desk than to settle (and pay)
for an “okay” desk until I found
my dream desk.
I meant it.
I decided to go back to school about a year after we bought
the house. This is what prompted
my desk search. For once, I didn’t have an impossibly specific style in
mind. I just knew I wanted a large
surface, so that I could add some accessories and necessities without it
looking overcrowded. And I didn’t want big, bulky desk drawers. I looked for a desk like this for
months.
I found nothing.
Everything was either too small, or too plain, or too
ornate, or laminate. As the school
year started getting close, I almost settled for one of these options, temporarily.
But the closest thing I could find were laminate parsons desks styles that were
still around $300. I just couldn’t bring myself to pay that for something I was
hoping to soon replace.
Thankfully, my wonderful husband offered to build me one. Now he is not a trained
woodworker. In fact, this is one
of his very first projects. He’s
just been trying new projects since we bought the house and teaching himself
how to build new things as we go.
I designed a desk, and he figured out a way to build it. So I’m going to share how HE went about doing this with as a
novice DIYer with limited resources.
It may not be the technical way.
But there are other sites for that. If he can do this, so can you.
What you’ll need:
Materials:
1 sheet ¾” MDF (You can have these cut down to size at the
store. I did 30”x 52” and they
come in 4’x 8’ sheets, so you’ll
probably have enough leftover for end tables or other projects)- for the desk
top
2 1”x4” poplar
boards (8’ length)- for the skirt
4 Queen Anne
style legs
28 pocket
screws
Equipment
Circular Saw
Miter Saw
Pocket Screw Jig
Drill
Router
Router bit- This is used for the decorative edging around
the desk top, so just choose a style that suits you
It’ll be hard to show you step-by-step, since my desk was
made a year ago, but the process is so simple, it won’t be hard to catch on.
Step 1: Cut the
poplar boards down to the appropriate size to make a skit for your table. Jared cut two 45”, and two 24”. This
way, the boards started 3” in from the edge of the table, and sat in 1 ½” in from the side.
Step 2: Using a pocket-screw jig, counter sink two holes
into what will be the inside corners of the
skirt. These holes are for the screws that will go in at a side
angle, attaching the skirt to the legs.
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| Image from trenddirectuk.com |
Step 3: Screw the boards into the legs using the pocket
screws. You can use a piece of
scrap wood as a spacer, to make sure that the boards are pushed back evenly
onto the legs.
Step 4: The base of the desk is finished! Sand and paint.
Step 5: Make
sure the desktop is cut to the size you want. Then, using a straight edge as a guide, router around all
four sides to make the decorative edge.
Step 6: sand and paint the desktop.
Step 7: Once everything has completely dried, use the pocket
screw jig again to counter sink three, evenly spaced holes into the inside of
each skirt board. These will be facing
upward, to attach the skirt to the desktop.
Step 8: Position the table top, and screw in using pocket
screws.
Step 9: Apply a couple coats of polycrylic for protection,
and you have a new, custom desk!
