Reclaimed wood Corner Desk

The foundation of any productive workday is an efficient and inspiring workspace. A home office has become a necessity for many households now. We are living in an era where self-employment and location independent jobs has become a norm, so in many cases, our home office is where we spent most of our time. And even if you don't work from home, your office is probably your sanctuary. A place to relax, spend a little down time, but also, get your hands dirty and get some things done when you need to.

One of the most basic yet vital furniture pieces in any home office is a desk, and one currently being embraced by thousands of home office owners is the corner desk.

Store bought corner desks can be expensive especially for what you get. A bland, paper cut option that’s about as unique as a piece of paper. That’s why DIY options have become so popular. Often, you can choose how much you want to spend based on the material used and get as creative and complex as you like.

The freedom to customize your desk to fit your exact specifications is unrivaled when using Kee Klamp fittings and pipe. The options are endless and only limited by your imagination. You decide whether it should be a sitting or standing desk, long or short, wide or narrow; you create a desk that is perfect for you. On top of that, the fulfilment that you get when you finish your project is extremely rewarding.

To help set you in the right direction, here are 7 DIY corner desk ideas you can use to get inspired and build upon:

Corner Treadmill Desk

Ever heard of the quote, “sitting is the new poison”? While the idea of standing desks used to be reserved for eccentrics, now it is being adopted by people worldwide. From reducing obesity, diabetes and other cardiovascular diseases, there are so many benefits of standing desks. This one above was built by one of our customers, Lee W.

Lee wanted a desk he could use while exercising on his treadmill. The resulting stand up desk adjusts from 31" to 52" allowing Lee to position the desk perfectly. It's an innovative way to get work done, while keeping fit by walking on the treadmill.

U-Shaped Wrap Around Desk

Take your corner desk to the next level by extending it in both directions, like our customer, Robbie S., did in the image above. Robbie wanted to create something custom for his office and the result is this massive U-shaped desk that wraps around nearly the entirety of his office. Unlike your traditional U-shaped desk, Robbie's desk is custom built to fit the exact specifications of his office to make for a clean and perfect fit. The desk provides an abundance of additional workspace, while still keeping the room itself open and uncluttered.

One unique feature to note are the pine dowels Robbie used for the pipe component of the frame. Rather than using steel tubing, Robbie choose 1 1/4" pipe dowels to save on the cost of the frame. The pine dowels were 25% of the cost of normal steel tubing.

In designing his custom desk, Robbie even went as far as to design a 3D animation using Google Sketchup and Lightwave 3D to help him to better envision the project. Check it out:

Standing or Sitting Desk

If you don’t have an entire room as your office, but just a small space available for work, this DIY corner desk would be perfect for you. The table top is made from reclaimed wood, whose weathered look gives the top an added interest rather than a flat look. The utilitarian look of the iron pipes complements the warmth of the aged wood perfectly. You can see more about this project, here. The desk itself fits perfectly in the corner without taking up too much space, giving the whole area a sleek and clean look.

Multiple Monitor Desk

Here's another standing desk idea, built by one of our customers, Jacob S. Like stated before, standing desks can have so many health benefits. For Jacob, it was relieving his back pain from spending too much time sitting down at a normal desk. Drawing inspiration from some of the other stand up desks we have on our site, Jacob got to planning.

He wanted his new creation to be as large as possible as to not only allow for the perfect height to stand at but also to allow for extra table top space. Jacob likes to use multiple monitors for his desktop PC so he needed something to accommodate his setup.

Jacob appreciated how easy to adjust and modify the fittings were, a feature that came in handy as he "dry fitted" the frame several times as he was designing his new desk. Ultimately, he went with Kee Klamp because of it's cost, ease of use, and movability.

"I plan on moving in the next couple years. Kee klamps allow me to take the desk apart easily."

L-Shaped Corner Desk

This L-shaped corner desk built by Janet S. is both functional and pleasing to the eyes. The table top matches the flooring, and complements the color of the walls, giving the whole place a monochromatic look. The steel pipes not only give the whole piece a strong foundation to sit on, but it also adds an element of interest with its industrial look.

The only downside to Janet's project, she ordered the fittings from another retailer, a decision that she would later come to regret:

"Regrettably I decided to save $ on a tight project budget and ordered the Kee Klamps from another company. That was a huge mistake on my part. They had terrible customer service! I will without a doubt order all of my parts from you next time.and I'm working on plans for the next project already."

Ergonomic Corner Desk

Built by Simplified Building's own General Manager, Chris uses this ergonomic corner desk in his home office. Unlike traditional corner desks that feature a 90 degree angle, this desk uses a unique fitting, the Adjustable Side Outlet Tee, to create a slant in the desk that forms perfectly to the change in direction of the accompanying wall. The darker colored wood table top pairs well with the warmer colors in the room and overall, Chris has been has extremely satisfied with the desk:

The finished ergonomic desk is great: The keyboard tray allows me to place the keyboard at the exact height, the cords are hidden from sight, the shelves work well to store my router, modem, and backup device, and the finished wood matches all the other furniture in my new office.

Craft Room Desk

"Happy wife, happy life". That's what Bruce was thinking when he designed this custom desk for his wife's craft room. The custom design features sections that are spaced out perfectly and set to the exact height to perfectly store his wife's various shelving and storage. The desk also features a custom counter top that's finished on all edges. Bruce appreciates how sturdy the desk is stating: "It does not move or give when she is working on it." A write up on Bruce's desk build can be found here.

With Kee Klamp fittings, you will find that, literally anything is possible. It gives you the versatility to build any desk you want. In the end, you come out with a desk that rivals many found at any commercial furniture store, without compromising quality, yet is custom to your exact specifications.