Easy DIY Floating Desk For Beginners

During Covid-19 I built a Small Office Man Cave for my husband. since he needed to work from home. We transformed our under the stairs closet and utilized the small space effectively. I created this easy

DIY Floating Desk for beginners as his gaming space, as well as a folding desk for his work laptop during his work hours.

So let’s get down to the nitty gritty, the ‘HOW TO’.

Supplies Needed:

• 3/4″ Birch Plywood
• 1×3’s (or 2×4’s depending on width preference)
• 4″ & 3″ construction screws (star bits)
• Birch Edge Banding
• Wood Conditioner
• Stain
• Polyurethane (water based)
• Stud Finder
• 80, 120 & 220 Sandpaper w/ Sander
• Tack Cloth

Tools Needed:

• Brad Nailer & 1 1/2″ Brad nails
• Circular Saw or table saw
• Kreg Jig Rip Cut Guide (if using a Circular Saw)
• Drill

Let’s Get Building

We first started off by building a frame out of 1×3’s. 3″ construction screws & wood glue attached the 1×3’s together to build the frame.

We made sure to secure the frame directly into the studs in our walls. It’s SO important that you secure your frame to studs as that is what is going to hold the weight of your desk, so definitely utilize a stud finder to ensure that you are finding the studs to support your desk. We used 4″ Construction Screws to secure the frame to the walls/studs.

Cutting the Plywood

I then decided to cut a top piece out of Birch Plywood. For my folding desk I utilized Sande Plywood, and honestly, even though the Sande plywood was cheaper, I felt that the stain applied a lot better with Birch Plywood and that the Birch wood was smoother than the Sande plywood. So I would highly recommend not going cheap, and sticking with the birch plywood for a DIY desk project.

I ended up also using a piece of poplar wood for the front trim because I didn’t want to get another sheet of birch plywood just for trim, but just know that if you do that, the stain WILL apply differently because each wood species is a different color. However, because the space I was installing the desk in is very dark, I didn’t see much of a difference honestly, so I was fine with the stain applying a little different.

Using my circular saw and kreg jig rip cut guide I cut the plywood on top of a foam board to ensure that all the pieces were the same size.

Prepping the Plywood for Stain

Afterwards, I sanded my Birch Plywood with 80, 120 and then 220 sandpaper, this would ensure that I would get it to the smooth finish I needed for the desk. I wiped it down with tack cloth to ensure there were no wood flakes or debris that would mess up the stain.

To the edges of the plywood, I ironed on edge banding (which was the first time I’ve ever tried edge banding and HOLY COW, I LOVE IT!) It was so easy to apply, I bought edge banding that had adhesive glue already on it, and all I needed to do was apply an iron to the edge banding when it was on the wood and it melted the glue into the fibers of my plywood to keep it down. Once I applied the edge banding I trimmed it down with an Xacto Knife. Super easy! It also stains fabulously.

Once the wood was ready for staining, I took some wood conditioner and applied that and then my stain color. After that was dried, I added my favorite polyurethane water based finish to seal my wood. (“Why water based polyurethane Kayla?” I have learned that if you use an Oil based polyurethane finish, that it tends to bring out a more yellow hue to the stain you used, water base tends to not do that.)

Add the Plywood to the 1×3’s

Once finished I was able to use wood glue and a couple of brad nails to secure the top of the birch plywood to my frame. I did the same thing to my front trim piece. And voila! The desk is done!! This was how I created this easy DIY Floating Desk for Beginners.

Feel free to head to my Instagram @ourfamilymaison and watch my ‘DIY FLOATING DESK’ Highlight bubble to watch these steps in action.

For the folding desk, I pretty much followed the same sanding & staining steps and then I easily installed it with some folding shelf brackets from Amazon (you can purchase those here.) Super super easy to do that one!

If you used these steps to create your desk, make sure to tag me in your creation on Instagram @ourfamilymaison! I’d love to give you a shoutout!