DIY School Desk
I am so excited to share building plans for this DIY school desk with you.
We have found ourselves in a strange situation at our house. With Covid-19 (Coronavirus) closing schools, we have started homeschooling our kids- which is something I never had any intention of doing!
But we have made the best of it, and are actually really enjoying our time spent together in our home.
After a few days of homeschooling, I have found that my kitchen table looked like a library! We had books, laptops, crayons, papers, and other school paraphernalia strewn all over the kitchen.
So I knew I needed to come up with a solution that would help keep us organized and give my kids a place to not only work on their schooling, but also a place where they could keep their school supplies.
I also knew I didn’t want anything complicated, since time was of the essence. And I wanted to use basic lumber that I had laying around in my garage.
I think I succeeded with this desk! It only uses 3 boards for the smaller desk, and 4 boards for the larger desk. All of the lumber is basic, and if you don’t have it laying around in your garage, you could quickly pick it up at any home improvement store. (I linked all of the supplies below for quick ordering)
And I came up with this homeschool desk. I designed this desk in two different sizes. One for smaller kids (about 8 and younger), and one for bigger kids, even up to adults. I even sat down and did some work on the larger desk, and it was quite comfortable.
I drew up the building plans, and you can download them completely free, over on BuildSomething.com, which is where I usually host all of my building plans.
Free building plans for SMALL homeschool desk
Free building plans for BIG homeschool desk
Find more of my building plans here.
Tips for building a school desk:
Order your supplies online and pick up in the store. This ensures you follow social distancing guidelines. I have linked all of the supplies below, so all you have to do is click “order” and then pickup at the door of Home Depot.
Supplies needed to build a school desk
- Kreg Jig (home depot or amazon)
- pocket hole screws (home depot or amazon)
- wood glue (home depot or amazon)
- 2×2 boards
- 1×4 boards
- 1×2 boards
- 1×3 boards
- 1/2″ plywood
- Piano Hinge (Home Depot or Amazon)
If you liked this desk building plan, you might also like my farmhouse desk building plan.
If you used this tutorial in your own home, I would love to see photos and share them here on my blog! Please email completed photos to Nat@thecreativemom.com
I would also love if you would share this project, or save it to your Pinterest board for later! You can hover your mouse over the image above and click the “save†button, or share this on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.
If you liked this project, you might like some of my other DIY projects:
I love them! Unfortunately, all the members of my family lack the manual skills to do something like this themselves. 🙂
Hi Natalie,
First, thank you for these plans. I am really enjoying the build. I wanted to mention that the plans still call for 1/2″ plywood, even though 3/4″ is mentioned in the instructions. Also, the sides for the top of the desk are listed at 4 1/2″ in the cut list, but 4 1/4″ in the assembly instructions. It looks like 4 1/4″ is closer to flush.
Thank you,
Austin
Thank you for the comment, Austin. I will need to make some updates to the plans.
Natalie
Hi! My husband is building the smaller desk for my new kindergartener 🙂 wondering where you bought the smaller desk chair? Or plans to build one? What seat height do you recommend to go with this size desk? Thanks for this cute little desk idea and plans! We’re looking forward to our little girly using it 🙂
Hi Amy!
I designed the child size desk to pair with a child sized chair, with a seat height of 11 – 13 inches from the ground. The exact chair we have is from Pottery Barn, although I found a more affordable option from amazon here:
https://amzn.to/2PQvcCg
What stain did you use?
Hi Erin,
I used Early American from Minwax.
Where did you find the chair for the smaller desk?
Hi Amber,
The chair in the photos is from Pottery Barn. I will include a link here, as well as a link to some more affordable options on Amazon.
https://www.potterybarnkids.com/products/carolina-kids-chairs/?pkey=call-kids-seating&isx=0.0.1100
https://amzn.to/2PQvcCg
Thanks!
Natalie
I’m trying to build this and am having issues. Is this made with 1/2 inch plywood that is actually much thinner? Or is it 3/4 inch plywood that the actual width is closer to 1/2 inch? I am using 1/2 inch ( common measure) which is what the link is for and it is not working, the pocket hole screws keep poking threw. Drilling the pocket holes on the short end keeps breaking off.
Hi Terra,
You are right, it should definitely be 3/4″ plywood. I made a typo on the plans. I have edited the plans. Thanks so much for the question!
Natalie
Do you have a recommendation for a hinge that would allow a soft close? I’d like to prevent little fingers from getting pinched (and slamming!) Looking forward to building these for my 3 and 6 year olds!