Making a desk from wooden crates

Finding and buying the right desk can be quite tedious, especially given the many different options and suppliers. If you are unable to find “the one” among the plethora of desks, such as the popular height adjustable desk, you can make or assemble it yourself.

With many of us now working from home, the demand for desks has risen sharply. Desks are available in different shapes, colours, sizes and even functionalities.  If you are unconvinced by the existing offer, you can simply build one yourself. This will not require a lot of materials or free time.

The most important element of making a new desk will be the choice of wooden surface, which will become your work surface. For this upper surface of your desk, you will need to consider both how much space you have available in your work area, as well as how much space you need on the desk surface itself. If you only need space for a laptop (and perhaps an additional monitor), then you may not need a particularly large wooden board. There is a wide range of wooden boards to choose from. You can arrange to purchase it from a local carpenter, who can also sand and paint the board, and cut it into the desired size and shape.

Once you have chosen a wooden board, the next step is to find suitable legs for the table. For the legs, you can use stronger wooden boards, metal brackets or order custom table legs from a local carpenter. You can make the legs from wooden crates. It is important to ensure that the crates are strong enough for the table to remain stable. The crates should not be made solely from cane, such as fruit and vegetable boxes.

What do you need to make a desk from used wooden crates?

• Wooden board
• 4 wooden storage crates (or 2 for a child’s table)
• Sandpaper
• Screws or nails
• Drill 
• Brush
• Belinka coatings for wood

Making the desk:

• If the wooden board is being prepared by a carpenter, all you will need to do is screw it onto the wooden crates or legs. If you purchased the board yourself, start by checking its condition. You may need to sand the wooden surface first to remove any chips that might protrude from your new work surface and possibly even hurt you when you work.
• Then sand the wooden crates with sandpaper.
• Once the wood is clean, it is ready for further processing.
• The next step differs slightly depending on the wear or condition of the wooden crates. If the wooden surface is not too worn, use stain coatings where the structure of the wood will be visible on the final product; if you have a more worn wooden surface, first use the wood primer Belinka Exterier Primer followed by the top coat Belinka Exterier Enamel. You can also choose different colour shades to brighten up the look of your new desk.
• Once the coatings and paint have dried, drill holes along the top of the wooden crates. You can drill additional holes for better stability.
• Finally, using screws or nails, connect the legs of the table from the wooden crates to the wooden board that represents the work surface of the desk.

Once the desk is complete, you can use any remaining wooden crates to store office supplies such as folders, diaries, notebooks, papers and books, as well as toys.