how to make a standing desk

Last week I posted the following photo on Instagram with the caption:

We did it. Went super dark in the office and it looks amazing. I feel so brave since I never choose anything but light gray! We had no intention of painting the office this weekend but a $9 gallon of oops paint at @homedepot changed that!

Once we started painting we figured we might as well continue working on the office. I already have my favorite desk ever, but Al needed something to work on and his preference was a standing desk.

We started thinking creatively about how we could make one that was functional and not terrible looking. While brainstorming one night, I looked over and saw this old chest that we had and thought that it might be the exact height needed. And it was!

We picked up a precut 20 x 48 inch piece of wood to make the desktop with, and a 1 x 4 inch to trim the top. Al measured out the trim pieces and made 45 degree cuts where the corners came together, to make it look more finished.  Once the desktop piece was all together it got a few coats of white paint.

We screwed the desktop to the chest of drawers and the vision was finally starting to come together. It did need added support though, so we used black steel pipe to create an arm like piece to hold the desktop up.

Voila! Just like that we had a functional, good-looking, standing desk.

We plan to get a stool for it in case a seat is wanted, but haven’t found the right one yet. Might also replace the drawer pulls, but want to wait until the rest of the design for the room comes together.