Ikea standing Desk

I love working standing up, it prevents you from falling asleep in your chair and is better for your posture and keeps you more alert.

I had before used a simple door and brackets to make a cheap standing desk for about 30$, that was in my "man cave".

Now that my office is going to be inside the new house, I needed something nicer looking.

I decided to make one from Ikea parts, there are many good ideas at http://www.ikeahackers.net/ , But i came up with my own thing, as far as I know.

I'm about 6'1 and that desk is the perfect height for me (~ 44"), but you could remove the "feet" to make it 4" smaller (if you are about 5'6), or use 6" or 8" feet available at Ikea instead if you are a giant ;)

Total cost: 200$ or so

Height: ~44" This is good for somebody ~6' but can be made for people 5.6', 6'2 or 6'4 easily, see bellow.

The parts:

The trick is to find parts that will give you the right heigth, at first I thought i would use some Billy bookcases(41" tall) with a table top but I didn't like the look of that.

So here is what I used:

• 4.75" Capita legs (2 packs of 4 @ 10$) - also available in 6.75" and 8.75"

• Expedit bookcase ~ 56"x31"(1 @ 69$)

• Capita Brackets (3 packs of 2 @ 14.99$)

• Vika Amon table top - 79" x 24" (1 @ 45$)

• Signum Cable management (2 @ 10$)

I ended up using 2 smaller expedit bookcases rather than one large one because it was out of stock.



Many have asked me about my monitor stand (pictured), I ordered that separately from amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0043H39WM/ref=oh_o02_s00_i00_details
(Added a small metal plate so the tightening "screws" so it would not damage the desk) - 80 cents.

The build:

Mounted the Capita legs under the expedit bookcase (i screwed them but also applied epoxy glue for extra strength, but that's optional).
Since i used 2 smaller expedit bookcases instead of one (out of stock),I also epoxied them together.



Then I screwed and epoxied the angled captiva brackets on top:


Then the table top goes on top:


I Bolted the back 3 brackets, after drilling 3 holes in the table top. For the 3 front brackets I did NOT use the bolt assemblies of the captiva brackets, that is because 1) I did not want any bolts coming out the front part of the desk, as it's ugly and in the way 2) the 3 back bolts are plenty enough to keep it in place 3) It give a slight slant, a little lower in the front, which I find a bit more ergonomic.

Finished Product

With a monkey:


My wife using it, note that it's too tall for her :)


Now you see all the messy wires:


Now you don't:


I also bought a Lak shelf to make a monitor/speaker stand, but haven't mounted it yet as there was no more 4'' capita legs available.
I'm not sure wether i'll add it or not, I think I like it as it is.

Update: 8 months later ... all is good just more junk accumulated ;)
Also wanted to mention I typically stand about 60-70% of the time or so. Standing all day can make you a bit more tired. But I still feel I'm more effective & awake while standing.

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