DIY Farmhouse Desk

Moving into our townhome I finally had space for an office.  When we moved in we knew the office area would be in the sunroom connected to the kitchen.

Since we have been living in a tiny apartment we knew we would need to get a desk. After spending time searching online for a farmhouse desk. I couldn’t find a desk that I loved for the room, that didn’t cost a small fortune, so I convinced Jared to build be a desk.

The desk I wanted was kind of unique. I wanted a floating desk that spanned the whole wall of the sunroom and my sweet husband made it happen!

A couple Saturdays ago we got up early to build the desk and a few shelves I added to the project.

Take Measurements for the Desk

First, we took measurements. I wanted the desk to span the whole wall so we measured the length of the wall and then we figured out how high up we wanted the desk. We also figured out how wide we wanted the desk and shelves above it to be.

The desk and shelves ended up being 9 feet 5 inches long. We decided a good width for the farmhouse desk would be 24 inches. The shelves above the desk ended up being 8 inches wide so they didn’t poke out past the little wall separating the sunroom/office area from the dining room.

Once we decided how high we wanted the desk to be we ended up deciding to put 3 shelves above the desk. The desk height is the same as our counters which made the top of the desk 3 feet high.

It took us about 30 minutes to get all of our measurements and decide the number of shelves we wanted and how many brackets we would need to support the shelves.

Getting the Supplies

With our list ready we headed to the Home Depot to get the supplies we needed to build the office space.

General Supplies for Both Desk and Shelves:

• Sander/Sandpaper (a sander is really nice for these projects but sandpaper will work)
• Stain (We used MinWax Dark Walnut 2716 and I love the color it ended up being!!)
• Clear Semi-Gloss Polyurethane (We used Varathane Triple Thick Polyurethane)
• 1-Inch Hex Screws (we got a box of 100)
• 3/4-Inch Hex Screws (we got a box of 100)
• Level
• Stud Finder
• Power Drill with a socket bit

Supplies for the Farmhouse Desk

• 2 – 1 in. x 12 in. x 10 ft. boards (the length will vary depending on how long you want your desk)
• 4 – Large 16 in x 10 in Heavy Duty Shelving Brackets  (I liked the Satin Nickle color the best)
• 5 – 12 in. 12 Gauge Heavy Strap Tie

Supplies for the Shelves

• 3- 1 in. x 8 in. x 10 ft boards (the length will vary depending on how long you want your shelves)
• 9- 12 Gauge Angle ( 3 for each shelf) 

Putting the Farmhouse Desk and Shelves Together

Since my sister is visiting she was able to help us with the kids so we were able to focus on the project for a few hours.

Once we had all of the supplies and made it home Jared and I split up to get the desk and shelves put together as fast as possible.

Sanding and Staining 

I went out to the garage to sand and stain all of the wood. I made sure to sand all sides of the wood, then using a damp cloth I wiped off the sawdust.

Attaching the Brackets 

During this time Jared worked on getting all of the brackets installed on the wall. (He definitely had the harder job!)

First, he found and marked all of the studs on the wall. Then he made sure each bracket was level and attached the 10-inch side to the wall using the 1-inch screws. (The screws we got were a little too big for the holes in the 12 gauge angle. So Jared had to make the holes a little bigger, I recommend getting screws that fit in the 12 gauge it will save you a lot of time!)

He also attached the 12 Gauge Angle to the wall with 1-inch screws, for the 3 shelves above the desk. He spaced these out so they were on studs that spanned the whole wall. We decided that 3 of the 12 Gauge Angle per shelf would be enough for what we were planning to put on the shelves.

Finishing the Shelves 

After the stain dried and the brackets were in place we brought up the boards. Jared had already attached the 12 Gauge Angles we used to hold the shelves. We simply brought up each board and laid it across the angle pieces already in the wall and I held it in place while Jared used 3/4-inch screws to attach the boards.

Building the Desk

After the shelves were finished we built the desk. We attached both of the desk boards (the 12 inch wide boards) to the 16-inch side of the large heavy duty brackets with 3/4 inch screws so the screws didn’t poke through to the top of the desk.

After the desktop boards were in place we used the 5 strap ties to connect the two boards together and give the desk more support. We positioned the ties next to the brackets and in the middle of one of the larger spans without a bracket.

The ties were positioned about 2 inches in from the outer edge of the board. So about 2 1/2 inches of the tie was on the board closest to the wall. To attach the ties we used the 3/4 inch screws.

Finishing the Desk – Polyurethane

Once the desk and shelves were in place I put one layer of triple thick Polyurethane on the desktop. I decided not to do the polyurethane on the shelves since they shouldn’t come in contact with any liquids.

If I was to do it again, I would do the polyurethane before putting together the desk and do a layer of polyurethane on all of the shelves. 

I love the shine the semi-gloss polyurethane gives the desktop. The reason we didn’t do the polyurethane first is that I’m impatient and didn’t want to wait the required dry time before putting it all together.

I had to wait for the polyurethane on the desk to dry but I was able to start decorating the shelves above.

Was the Farmhouse Desk Worth the Work

Yes, I love the desk! It’s so big, I have ton’s of space for all of my random notes and everything else! I love the counter height so it’s harder for my kids to reach.

I also really like the fact that it gave the “sunroom” a functional purpose in our house. Having the office space connected to the kitchen is perfect as I am able to fit in little snatches of blogging when the kids are eating. Which let’s be honest is what we seem to do most of the day!