HOME OFFICE IDEAS | Desk set up on a budget

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Here we will talk about Home Office ideas for your desk set up on a budget. Simple tips and suggestions for how to set up your desk area quickly. Learn how to have an organized office space in order to achieve great productivity.  I recently created another workspace in my home on the main level of my home so it is bright and more open than my other area.

Home Office Ideas: How are we going to do this?

As we navigate our way through new policies and changes in relation to the virus that is sweeping our planet right now, being able to adapt and change through all this can be scary but so very necessary. Some of us are struggling trying to figure out daycare, staying safe and juggling a job. Some of us may have the ability to work from home during this, basically gather your everyday tools and stay at home. To work remotely. Having heard that may be somewhat of a relief in some sense, but then when you actually have to set up your temporary space, may be scratching your head. Where do you start? How can I set up a home office quickly and be productive? How long will I really need to do this?

First things first

Setting up a temporary home office can be easy.

• Look around you and evaluate what you already have. Yes, setting up shop at the kitchen table may be the only solution you have right now. But it is temporary. Things can absolutely be moved over and out of the way. Things can also be moved back.

• Asking friends or family to borrow filing cabinets or shelves may help in setting up your temporary office desk. Getting them to leave items on your porch or at your front door is a great idea! Once things settle down, and they will… buy them a coffee to say thank you!

• We are all in this together. We can only do the best we can do with the tools that we have been given. But we will have to be creative.

Gather what you have

I have been meaning to do a project with crates and they are all painted and ready to go. But with everything that has been going on, it has been put on the back burner for now. So my crates are nicely sitting in the corner of my living room, just waiting to be used… for something. It was then that my wheels started turning!

There is an empty wall in our living room that we haven’t quite come to an agreement what to do with.. just yet. We have discussed painting the living room, so I halted my ideas for my current crate project. So I may as well use these beauties for something useful!

Always be on the lookout!

A few years ago, I found these beautiful pallets. I wish I had a picture of what they looked like previously! I found them in front of a tile store with a sign that stated they were “FREE”. Who can resist that! So I jammed 2 pallets in my car and home I came! Ripped them apart and discovered that actually the base of them measured 2×6″. I mean that is good wood! Because they have to hold the heavier weight of tile, that is likely why the pallets were made with thicker wood.

The stain I chose was the colour called Classic Grey from MinWax. To say they came out great is an understatement! I mean the grain just picked up the colour beautifully! I am so happy with the result.

Using 4 – 2×6’s, I glued them together with heavy duty adhesive and then asked my husband to mount brackets underneath for support. That desk is currently in our ensuite closet! Hey.. you have to go with the space you have 🙂 Read on for how we put that together!

There were extra 2×6’s left from that project so that is where my idea for a little desk in the living room came from which was super easy to put together!

Desk set up — Option #1

Equipment you will need:

• planks of wood for writing space
• support — be it milk crates, wooden crates, chairs, stools or anything else you have on hand

For this desk, I did use my crates and it took a little time to play with how I wanted them set up. I did find that if I stacked them vertically, one on top of another, they were too tall.

Ergonomics is also an important part of any office. We do spend alot of time sitting, which is why it is important to get up and walk around often. Here is a website I found really helpful for figuring out how tall your desk should be, depending on your height.

A good chair is always an important priority and for right now this one fits me great as my feet are positioned properly under my legs. The measurements of the 2 crates together are 24″ which is just right for my height. Then when you add to it the height of the 2×6′, altogether it makes 25 & 1/2″ tall which is a perfect height for me!

Next I played around with how to set up the crates. Once I was happy with a pattern, I simply added the 3 of the 2×6″ boards.

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And there you have it! I did choose to not screw or bolt anything together. With the weight of me using it, I felt that I did not need to secure it. Then there is the ability to repurpose the crates for something else later!

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Desk Set up — Option #2

The next desk area that I have set up, is in our walk-in closet. Yes that’s right! It is actually the perfect solution for what I needed at the time. Anyone who knows me, knows how .. er.. obsessed … I am with photography! Having a space that is not only quite but also dark for editing my photos is ideal. Glare from windows or other light sources tend to throw off the monitor giving me a false sense of brightness.

I actually made this desk a few years ago and decided that I wanted to use the 2×6″ boards for a desktop. I sanded, stained and sealed all the wood. Later I glue them together with heavy duty construction adhesive. I did not screw them together as I relied on the lag bolt screws and the glue to help secure them together.

Equipment you will need:

1. Wood planks — I found mine from a shop that had free pallets piled up outside, free for the taking!
2. Brackets — We used something similar to these. Unfortunately Amazon does not stock the ones we bought a few years ago anymore.
3. Lag bolts — We used these heavy duty ones as the desk top that we made was pretty heavy. Also with the weight from what I was going to put on the desk, we didn’t want it to fall off the wall.
4. Smaller screws — to screw the bracket into the desktop itself. Depending on the width of the wood you are using, measure that. Then you will know how long the screw has to be so it does not go through the desktop.
5. Adhesive — We decided to use this heavy duty adhesive in order to not use anymore screws in the beautiful wood.
6. Urethane — I used this Minwax Urethane to seal the wood. It is fast drying which is exactly what I needed!

 Steps to make this Office Desk:

1. Prep the wood by sanding it and then wiping it down to get rid of the sawdust.
2. Stain the wood. Choose your colour and make sure you do this in a well ventilated area. I chose my garage.
3. After letting it dry, I measured the space that I needed for the desk and cut the boards to fit.
4. Then we used the PLP Premium Adhesive and put it on the edges of the wood. We did this one board at a time and applied clamps to them to apply pressure so they stayed together tightly while it dried.
5. Once the desk was assembled, we used the Urethane to seal the wood. From what I can remember, I did at least 3 or 4 coats. I did take a piece of brown paper and just went over the wood in-between coats. This will then get rid of little bubbles and bumps.
6. Next we measured out how heigh we wanted to mount it to the wall in order the install the brackets. The brackets weren’t exactly centred as we had to find a stud to hold that amount of weight. My thoughts were that it didn’t really matter as no one will see it!
7. We then just decided to use left over spindles from a previous project and just painted them white. Again we didn’t feel the need to bolt them in because of the weight from all that is on the desk itself.
8. Then my favourite part.. the decorating!

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There you have it! Given this option takes a little more time, but to be honest… it is well worth the effort! I use this desk all the time!

Hopefully this has helped you at least get some ideas on how to set up your own office! Don’t forget to use what you have on hand. You’ll figure it out! Best of luck!

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