This DIY Desk from 2x4s is getting all the love from me right now.
- Because it filled up an awkward space in our living room that I previously wasn’t sure what to do with.
- Because it’s practical.
- Because we made it for next to nothing!
Remember last week when I showed you our living room renovation? Be sure to click HERE if you haven’t seen it because the before/after pictures are crazy!
Well that renovation is only about 1/4 of the renovations we’ve done in the past 5 months. And since we did all the demo ourselves, that meant A LOT of tearing out studs.
We rented a dumpster for most of the debris, but it is hard, hard, hard for me to just toss wood. So we ended up saving almost every stud we pulled out of the entire 1st floor.
To me, that equals lots and lots of projects. The 1st one I’m going to show you is this DIY desk that you got a sneak peek of last week.
We followed plans that I found on Shanty to Chic, and just modified them to fit the space we were working with.
The studs are pretty rough when you first remove them. Ours were covered in scribbles, glue, sometimes pieces of drywall stuck on and holes. But it’s wood, and wood can nearly always be saved. So using our belt sander, I had them cleaned up in practically no time!
This bottom stud is what I was starting with on average, and the top piece is after I took the belt sander to it!
We used the old studs for this entire base! We even had saved the screws when we were removing the drywall and studs during demolition. That made it completely FREE for the base!
We knew that we were putting this desk back in the corner, and it most likely will never be moved. So we put our pocket holes facing what would be our wall. If the back of your desk is going to be exposed, then you would probably want your pocket holes to face underneath the desk.
Once we got to the desktop, we decided to buy some 1×6’s, so the top wouldn’t have so many cracks between boards and it would be smoother. We paid about $8 for the 1×6’s, so that was also our grand total for this desk!
I used some Minwax Dark Walnut stain that I already had from previous projects, and then sanded the edges lightly to distress it and lighten it up a bit.
I am in love with the way it fills this corner of our living room!
It goes perfectly with the rest of our decor, and the dark stain helps balance out the light grey walls and the furniture.
Now I just need to find a chair for it! What color or style of chair would you suggest?
Not too shabby for $8 and repurposing some wood that just would have been pitched, huh??
Here are some of the tools we used to build this desk, but honestly we use these tools for nearly all of our renovations! They have paid for themselves MANY times over!
Be sure to check out our Living Room Renovation post so you can see the full progression of this room and there’s an awesome GIVEAWAY! Here’s a little peek at what this corner looked like before I got my hands on it:
And don’t forget to PIN this post! I promise you, this is a VERY easy build!
