How I Built My Own Spacesaving Wall-Mounted Desk: Your How-to Guide on Doing the Same Thing

Maybe you’ve been looking for some practical how-to information on how to build your own wall-mounted desk or table?

If so, then I have some information that might help you out a lot.

I just recently built my own wall-mounted desk to save some space and money.

I didn’t want to spend the amount of money on getting a wall mounted desk kit so I decided to make my own because my Student Desk was getting old and becoming fairly useless and I didn’t like the space that it took up in my bedroom.

So I figured a cost-effective way to handle it was to disassemble the pieces and use the boards from my Student Desk to create a wall-mounted desk.

The Student Desk I had was just a basic cheap $35-45 Wal-mart desk made out of something like particle board.

If you have a cheap useless desk around your own home this is a good way to find a new use for something you no longer want. If you don’t, as an alternative you can always check around your local thrift or consignment shops from a cheap bookcase or desk that can be disassembled and make into a wall-mounted desk.

The size of the three boards I used were…

Board 1: 29L x 12W
Board 2: 27L x 15W
Board 3: 29.5L x 15W

By the Way…

The bracket sizes that I used were around 11 and 13 inches. I mounted 3 brackets on each board but you could use less (one on each end) if your boards aren’t too long. You may need to place one in the center to make it sturdier, if the board won’t hold a lot of weight.

I used “L” shaped brackets but you might want to get decorative brackets in order to improve upon the appearance of your desk. They tend to hide the screws which is just much more pleasing on the eye. As well, they tend to look like part of the desk, if you use matching boards and brackets.

However yours do not have to be the exact measurement, but I would recommend the width of your boards be no more than 15-17 inches.

If you would like to make a wall-mounted desk but you don’t want to hunt too hard, simply head to your local hardware store, such as Lowes or Home Depot and locate the shelving/shelf boards.

Sometimes they have a section with boards already pre-cut so that you can use them as shelves. Although I was unable to find them pre-cut at my local Home Depot, I did find some pre-cut boards at Lowes. So you may want to check there first. If you can’t find them pre-cut, you’ll have to get them to cut them for you.

The pre-cut boards shouldn’t be too costly. When I recently visited my local Lowes store, the cost of the pre-cut boards were very affordable and they ranged around $2 – up depending on the size that you need. The average cost was about $5-6 each for the sizes.

As I said above, to create my wall-mounted desk I only needed three boards (but you could get away with two depending on the length of each).

I used the bare minimum supplies needed to create my wall desk. I didn’t have a drill and didn’t want to spend the extra money to get one so I decided to look for toggles and anchors that were self-drilling. I had remembered that I’d come across some online before so I figured they’d probably be in the hardware store as well.

When I finally found them I couldn’t contain my excitement. I had been dreaming about having the corner wall desk for about a year and finally the dream was coming true. And it only cost me about $40-50 for everything.

My Journey of Building a Wall Mounted Desk

Once I had all of my supplies I headed home. When I got home the first thing I did was measure the wall and mark it with a pencil so that the boards could be mounted about 27-28 inches above the floor.

I used my yardstick to mark each spot. Once each spot was marked by height I then drew a line across the wall so I would later have an even line to mount the board against it in order to keep it straight.

Consider This…

I enjoyed the idea of my desk at 27-28 inches because it allowed me enough leg space if I wanted to cross or fold my legs and would allow the monitor to sit at eye level.

Truthfully, I knew it would be easier to have at least one or two other people to help put the desk up, but the job was capable of being done alone.

Once I finished creating my line along each wall, I then placed the brackets on each board and mounted them with screws.

After all of the brackets were mounted on the boards, I simply needed to hold each board up against the wall along the marked lines and use my pencil to mark where each hole was against the wall in each bracket.

By marking the walls this allowed me to know exactly where I needed to screw in each E-Z Toggle in the wall. Once I was finished I then screwed in my E-Z Toggles where all of pencil marks were.

After that I held each board up against the wall and matched the bracket holes to the E-Z Toggle holes and used the screws to mount each board against the wall with brackets.

And that was it. A little later I was finished and I had my wall mounted desk.

During the entire time the most complicated part was keeping each board straight while I did this since I was doing this alone. But once I was finished I was very happy with the results. I had a simple inexpensive wall desk that did the job.

Nothing extravagant. Just something basic to do the job.

And I was happy with that. It saved me space and my room looked much bigger.

One con that I faced was not having a drill. That meant that I was unable to drill a place into the board for cords. So, instead I had to chip away at the board with razor to create a hole, but I was dead set on not buying a drill, particularly because I couldn’t afford one. Luckily, I already had a hole in the board where I needed one, I just needed to make it bigger.

By the Way…

If you plan to make your own wall-mounted desk in the same fashion. A good idea is to drill the hole(s) in your board(s) before mounting them against the wall, however it’s probably possible to do them once they are mounted as well.

Truthfully, I’m not very intelligent about all of that so if in doubt ask someone who knows what they’re doing.

How to Build Your Own Wall-Mounted Desk

One thing to be aware of is that if you use boards from an old desk or bookcase to make a wall-mounted desk, you may have a few holes already drilled in it. If you don’t like it, you can always cover your desk up with a nice decorative cloth and that’ll solve the problem.

What You’ll Need…

Grab your yardstick and pencil and mark the wall 27-28 inches above the floor. Then draw a straight line across using your yardstick. A good way to make certain you are not drawing a crooked straight line is to mark two points at each end of the wall and then draw a straight line across using your yardstick to connect both points together.
Place the brackets on each board (space them out evenly) and mount them with small screws.
Place the board against the wall along the marked line.
Use a pencil to mark the wall where each hole is (in each bracket).
Remove the board from against the wall (and set it aside). Screw in E-Z Toggles where all of pencil marks are on the wall.
Hold board against the wall and match the bracket holes to the holes in each E-Z Toggle and use the E-Z Toggle screws to mount the board against the wall. To avoid creating stress in one specific part of your wall, tighten all screws after all screws have been placed in the wall with each board.
Place next board against the wall along the marked line. Make certain the board is in alignment with the previous board and repeat steps 4-6 and so forth with each board that you use to create your wall desk.

Although E-Z Toggle Bolts can hold up to 90 lbs. (E-Z Anchors hold up to 50 lbs.), I would not recommend putting a heavy monitor on your desk. If you have a laptop or a lightweight monitor like an LCD flat panel monitor, those will work just fine. Anything too heavy you may risk the desk collapsing and messing up your wall.

You should be safe with printers and fax machines, but be cautious about things such as all-in-one machines that may be too heavy or anything that sends off mental warning signals that your desk may not hold the weight.

If you’re really nervous about it, I say better safe than sorry, and find some other place for that item.

At first you may be a little nervous about any and everything placed on your desk, but give yourself some time. Place one or two light objects on the desk like your laptop or monitor and wait until you’ve adjusted to the fact that your desk isn’t going to collapse on you.

I had the same problem at first. I was nervous about my LCD flat panel monitor. I placed it on there first and when it didn’t crash after about 20 minutes… I was comfortable. I even tested my desk by pressing down on it lightly with a little body weight. Offering it a little weight helped me realize how sturdy it was.

Just give yourself a little time and before long you’ll be overjoyed with the fact that you built yourself a simple inexpensive, sturdy space saving wall desk that you can be very happy with for a long time to come.

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