My Amazing DIY Craft Desk

I’d love to have my studio all clean and orderly, but it’s not going to happen.  I keep putting off sharing my desk because of that and finally figured I’m just going to put it out there.   My studio is large, but I have a LOT (like really A LOT) of stuff.   I try to keep things somewhat organized by mfg for projects I may be asked to do.  I also share part of my space with a studio mate.  I hope that one day I can have a warehouse studio as that is my ideal dream studio.  In the meantime, I need desk space and easel space and a ton of storage.   I needed a desk (in corner) for my computer that I can sit at, but to work, I have to stand, so I wanted a custom counter-height craft desk for me.  With the help of dear hubby and friends, we were able to create a custom desk that I truly LOVE LOVE LOVE.   It was built on a base of these cubes from Micheals – all bought on sale or with coupons and over time.  These came from my house when my studio was there.

We had a friend that was able to custom weld some support legs for me.  These are basic aluminum support legs between two bases.  The bases have screw holes to allow us to mount these on the plywood.  I bought two pieces of plywood of the thicker style at 3/4’ thick.  I determined the width and length based on the configuration of the cubes.  I left room along the centers to slide canvases and cutting mats.

With the support legs between the two pieces of plywood, I now have access to things I need to reach for a lot– scissors, wipies, pencils, paper trimmer – or things that are hard to fit on a shelf somewhere – encaustic griddle, melting pot, and paper guillotine.  They are all within reach, but not sitting directly on top of my desk space.

ooops, look – I already have paint on my wood top

I needed easy access to electricity for lamps, bluetooth speaker and heat gun, as well as accessibility for my Purple Cows encaustic tools, griddle, Distrezzer, and more.  DH drilled some holes large enough for plugs and installed powerstrips under the edges of the desktop.  Holes were also drilled in the lower plywood for the plugs of the powerstrips.  These were plugged into extension cords that were taped down to carpet and ran to walls.

Since I am a messy artist/crafter and use so many different mediums, I wanted to cover my entire desk in nonstick craft mat.  You can order this by the foot from Ranger through your LSS or you can find it online by searching for nonstick craft sheet.  I actually found it by the foot at Sealer Supply Co.   I applied 1/2” Scor-Pal Scor-Tape around the outside edges of the desktop and with the help of dh, carefully lined up craft sheet and layed it down smoothing out the air bubbles and burnishing the edges.  I trimmed the sides off and saved this for smaller projects.

I used my X-acto knife to trim a little x in the electric holes.

3M hooks are great for holding cutting mats, heat guns, and paint rags.

After everything is put back in place, I have a great craft desk I can stand at and still reach most things I need quite easily.  I’m going to work on a video soon so you can see my entire working studio and I’m not going to worry about it being pretty or clean or it will never be done.  Even without someone to custom weld the legs, I’m sure you could come up with another way to create some legs and design your own craft desk.  Please share it with me if you do.  I love seeing others’ work spaces.