*If you don’t see the video above, refresh your browser. For additional steps in the finishing process, read the blog below! 
 
Hi Everyone! This is Allie at Builders Surplus with another how-to for you. Today, we’re going to be creating a DIY desk from a door and a few other materials. This is a pretty simple project and I’m excited to share it with you. This door that I’m using is a knotted pine rustic door. We carry this door in stock all year round. I had to pre stain the door and posts, because you need 72 hours to let it dry. I used a really nice Minwax stain called ‘Red Mahogany’. I used a sponge on the door and a brush on the posts. The crevices were harder to get into with the sponge, so the brushed worked well for me. It’s up to you, whatever you think will work best. After letting the stain dry, we can get started on assembling our new DIY Desk!
 

DIY Desk (or Table) Materials

Here are the materials that you will need for your DIY Desk:

• Wood Door of Choice ( We used Knotted Pine Interior Door)
• Wooden Posts for Legs (We used some we carry in store, you can find them in most home improvement stores)
• Stain of Choice (We Used Minwax Red Mahogany)
• Brush & Sponge
• Hammer
• 2 Wooden Dowels (We used 3/8 dowels)
• Drill & Screws
• Spade Bit
• Boring Bit
• Hand Saw

Step 1: Stain

Stain your door on one or both sides, as well as your posts on all sides. Let sit for 72 hours until completely dry.

Step 2: Position Legs

Lay your door, stain side up (if you didn’t stain both sides) on a table, with half of it coming off the edge. Sit your post underneath your door where a leg would go and position it appropriately. Then take your tape measure and measure from the edge of the door to the center of where your post is positioned, on both sides of the post. We are going to mark the spot where your two measurements will meet. This is where you are going to pre drill. Go ahead and do the same thing for the other post on that end of the door.

Step 3: Pre-drill Holes

Take your drill and your spade bit and pre-drill your holes for your dowels and screw. You do not want to go all the way through the door! You want to go about half way. That is why I marked my bit with a piece of tape. I would recommend you do so if you’re not very familiar with a drill. You’re then going change your spade bit for your boring bit. You’ll take the post and make sure it is aligned perfectly underneath. You will take the boring bit and pre-drill for your screw. This can go all the way through the door and into the post. This is the hole that the screw will go through to connect the legs to the door for your DIY desk. Repeat this step on the other leg on this side of the door.

Other ideas for your door desk or table

Step 4: Connect Your Legs

Now that you have your legs aligned and your holes pre-drilled, you will take your screw and connect the door to the post legs. You’re then going to take your wooden dowel (3/8 dowel in our case) and sit it into the hole. Take a pen or marker and mark where the spot where the dowel comes out of the hole. Take your hand saw and saw the dowel until it is cut to size. You can then put some glue in the hole, or simply place the dowel in the hole. Take your  brush or sponge with a tiny bit of stain, and stain over top of the dowel to make it the same color as your desk. Repeat this step for the other leg on this end of the door.

Step 5: Repeat Steps On Other Sides

Now that two of your legs are completed, you will need to turn the desk around to be able to work on the other side. You will repeat the above steps for those two legs as well.

Step 6: Finishing it off

After completing the above steps, you could be finished. It depends on how much stability you need for your DIY desk or table. After completing the video, we went through two additional steps because of the space & equipment that this desk was going to be used for.
The first thing we did was cut down the legs just a tad. We were using this as on office desk, and the person who would be sitting in it did not have a chair that would extend to this height.
The second thing we did was to add some extra support in the form of L brackets & a wooden “skirt” on the back of the desk. The L brackets attach to the desk & leg at the same time, making it more sturdy. We then took a spare piece of oak wood that we had in the warehouse and attached it on top of the back two legs below the door. This gave us all the stability we needed to put the 2 large desktop computers & filing shelves on it that needed to be in this office.
While you don’t need glass to make this a desk or table, we also decided to add a large piece of tempered glass to the top of our desk. This really took the piece from a fairly inexpensive DIY desk to a slightly more expensive desk. Tempered glass in this size is not the cheapest, but again, it all depends on what your will be using it for and your personal preference. Check out pictures of our finished desk below!
 

 

 
Thanks for watching and I hope you check back soon to see some more how-to videos! If you have any requests, please post them in the comments section below.
 

 
Builders Surplus is a full service remodeling company with locations in Louisville, Kentucky, and Newport, Kentucky, which also serves Cincinnati, Ohio. We specialize in interior design, which comes as a free service to our clients. We sell building supplies ranging from unused surplus, to first quality in stock, to high end custom order and everything in between. We also provide measurement and full installation services. Our core products consist of kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities (single vanities and double vanities), interior doors, exterior doors, sinks, faucets, granite countertops, quartz countertops, laminate countertops, windows, and more! If you have any questions or would like to set up a free design consultation with one of our interior designers, we would encourage you to do so. Happy Remodeling!
Written By: Allie Bloyd