Some have suggested that it might be easier to scan my recent series on DIY standing desks if they were all on one page. So here they are, all in one place.
Day 1, March 19, 2012
I’ve been looking around for homemade standing desk info, and it turns out that there are tons of good articles and videos out there on how to make your own stand-up desk. This is the first of several days of posting “DIY Standing Desks.”
From Box Prototype to Wall-Mounted Workstation
This video doesn’t have the best production values, but I like the way he goes from a box-on-desktop prototype to a wall-mounted standing workstation. He even works in some discussion of ergonomics and how his design addresses that.
Day 2, March 20, 2012
A DIY stand-up desk can be as simple as a regular desk elevated several inches.
Add Legs to Your Current Desk
This very simple stand-up desk simply adds bed legs from Ikea to a regular desk to elevate the desk a few inches. I like this set-up, but it probably won’t lift the desk enough to stand at (unless you’re really short). Your local hardware store or Amazon may have longer legs in stock.
Day 3, March 21, 2012
You don’t have to start your home-made stand-up desk from scratch. I really like this hack using off-the-shelf Ikea products and hardware-store parts.
An Improvised Ikea Standing Desk
This ingenious standing-desk solution combines three Ikea products and stitches them together with common hardware to create an attractive fixed-height standing desk.
The desktop ends up about 48″ from the floor, which will be too high for many people. I like the way the thickness of the surfaces lines up, but you could probably find another shorter product for the side pieces to solve this problem.
Day 4, March 22, 2012
There are all kinds of approaches to home-made stand-up desks. This guy goes about as low-tech as it gets.
The “Poor Man’s” Standing Desk
This video illustrates a very simple standing desk set-up. The designer simply empties two appropriate-height shelves in a bookcase and puts the keyboard and mouse on the lower shelf and a laptop on the upper shelf. He admits to not having used this set-up much, so we don’t get any good user data. My hunch is that this wouldn’t be a particularly comfortable arrangement, since you’d have to get up close and reach into the shelf to use the keyboard but wouldn’t be able to push the monitor back to a comfortable viewing distance.
Day 5, March 23, 2012
I love how detailed this designer is as he describes how to make a budget wall-mounted standing desk.
The $40 Standup Desk
This affordable wall-mounted standing desk design includes a detailed list of the parts you’ll need, how to measure and install them, the tools you’ll need, along with tips on measurement and other ergonomic considerations.
Very smart of him to mock up the desk first and work at it for a day before finalizing the installation.
I’m wondering if he regrets placing the desk tightly into the corner. It seems like that could limit how much stuff you can put next to and under the desk. The friend’s wall desk on which he modeled his is mounted in the middle of a wall, leaving room for filing cabinets and accessories on either side of the desk.
Day 6, March 26, 2012
Turning the focus this week to adjustable-height standing desks. I was talking with Brian Howe last Friday about how to create some affordable, attractive, adjustable-height desks for his co-working start-up, The Hub Seattle. My posts this week will be keeping his needs in mind (actually, this addresses my needs, too, since I work out of Hub Seattle a few mornings a week).
The $25 Adjustable-Height Workstation
This one probably won’t do it for Brian, but I love the simplicity of Travis Saunders’ solution – just put your desk on top of piles of books.
This set-up simply elevates a $25 Ikea desk to a comfortable height. Travis is a graduate student, so he has plenty of books around, but you could use just about anything to lift your desk – cinder blocks, bricks, old phone books, milk crates, paint cans, etc.
Travis points out that prolonged standing presents its own problems, which he solves by periodically sitting down or by resting a foot on one of the piles of books.
Be sure to read the comments at the end of his post – lots of good ideas and links to other standing desk designs.
Day 7, March 27, 2012
No, I don’t work for Ikea, but I think it’s fairly safe to say that they’re usually a good choice when you need an affordable, attractive solution to a furniture problem.
A Wide Adjustable-Height Desk from IkeaHackers
This adjustable-height standing desk design combines various Ikea components to make a very attractive, and quite wide, desk that can be adjusted to different heights.
The legs adjust from 27″ to 42″, so they should accommodate all but the tallest users. It’s not clear from the Ikea description exactly how the legs adjust. It looks from the photos and from the designs I’ve seen that they are fixed once you have assembled your desk. So this design might not be the best if you share your workstation with a different-sized co-worker.
The monitor shelf is made from Capita brackets and a Lack shelf.
I like that the designer includes a stool along with her desk. While standing is superior to sitting, it can get tiresome, so an occasional break is fine.
Day 8, March 28, 2012
This is my favorite DIY adjustable-height standing desk design so far.
A Carpenter-Built Adjustable Standing Desk
You’ll need some carpentry skills and a few special tools to build this home-made stand-up desk. It’s a very attractive design, and the materials only cost around $150.
This is a serious carpentry project, so you’ll need all the usual woodworking tools, including a miter saw for cross-cutting stock and a table saw for ripping stock.
This budget design uses pine, but you could splurge on other wood, like cherry or maple, for an even more attractive desk.
It’s not clear (to me, anyway) from the author’s description exactly how the height adjustment works. I’ve got a query in to the author and will update this post if/when I get a reply.
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Nice! I have seen a lot of the DIY standing desks, but not a lot of the DIY Adjustable height desks. I have an adjustable height desk myself (not a DIY, mind you), and I have to say, the adjustable part has made such a big difference!
I really like having the option of standing when I want, and then sitting when I want (or need to– in the case of a recent injury!) If it weren’t for the easy adjustability of my NextDesk (just push a button), I would have had to move all of my stuff to a separate seated desk any time I wanted to take a break,
Not very productive.
Anyway, I am a HUGE fan of my desk. I’ve had it for about 4 months and have seen a huge difference in my health, energy, posture, and productivity. Just thought you might want to check it out– maybe write a post about this! It’s http://www.nextdesks.com. Let me know what you think!
NG
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