DIY, full computer workstation in a small footprint desk – living room compatible!

I build a desk, which let me use my full desktop computer in the living room without risking a divorce. Here are the plans and some photos.

Preamble

As rents in the city are high, the space in our flat is limited. Thus, when my daughter got her own room, I had to abandon my office and seek asylum in the living room.

After the first gaming session it was pretty obvious that I have to make adjustments to the setup. For example, I had to get rid of that lovely blue-switch keyboard and replace it with a less noisy version – or find another family 😛

The second thing was not that obvious. I had to find a solution for the “mess” my setup brought into the public space.

It is a mid-tower Desktop PC with two full-size GPUs (running Linux with an Windows virtual machine for gaming) using two displays, which have later been replaced by a 34″ curved monitor.

I needed a desk with:

  • a small footprint,
  • which blends into the room (at least when not in use),
  • is ready for use (fast),
  • bonus points if it is usable as furniture when not in use

The desk design

Based on endless pinterest researches I have created the following design in Sketchup.

While the collapsed desk has a depth of just 23cm. Still it allows me to store my whole setup – including the tower, two displays (later one giant curved monitor) plus accessories.

The desk itself is 121cm high and 104cm wide. The reason for these slightly odd numbers was the space estimation for the for the two displays.

Materials

I used 34mm x 39mm beech beams for the inner structure of the desk.

The front material is 18mm birch multiplex:

  • 1x tabletop
  • 1x lower front
  • 2x side covers
  • 1x top cover

Additionally, I used some “Rundhölzer” for the bottom ventilation grill.

The length measurements was done directly in Sketchup.

Desk materials

Building process

I started by building the inner beech frame of the desk.

Building the desks skeleton

Next I have attached the front and sides via 100mm dowels to the frame.

My wife simply loved that I did that indoors. Always a good idea to do such work on the carpet. 🙂

Attaching lower and sides front to the frame

The final result

6 comments on “DIY, full computer workstation in a small footprint desk – living room compatible!”

  1. TayzonZZ

    Awesome desk, loved that u actually DIY it

    Reply
  2. Waroo

    Super cool, danke für die Inspiration. Eigentlich war ich wegen deinem DAM Workflow auf der Seite! Verschiedenste Themen sind aber interessant auf deiner Seite. Wirklich Punkte die anderen Menschen, wie mir helfen!

    Also alles Gute!

    Reply
    1. Mathias Hueber

      Wow, Danke! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Joshua

    Do you by chance have the plans for the desk still?

    Reply
    1. Mathias

      Unfortunately only the sketchup files, linked in the text

      Reply
      1. Lennart

        Amazing work! I too will be seeking asylum in the living room. Did you anchor the cabinet to the wall or was it’s weight enough to keep it in place while using it? Do you still use it?

        Reply

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