We are back with round 3 of our Alvarez Series!  They are our good friends who also happen to be our producers.  They recently moved to this area and purchased an outdated ranch house, and have spent the last several months turning it into a glam farmhouse.  They have done an amazing job, and now we get to go in and build them lots of furniture!  YEAH 😉  Lauren needed a small writing desk for her butler’s pantry, so we came up with this $30 DIY farmhouse desk you can build with just 6 boards.  Check out the DIY 6 Board Farmhouse Desk Video HERE or below!

How cute is this desk??

DIY 6 Board Farmhouse Desk

DIY 6 Board Farmhouse Desk

Before we get started, be sure to download and print the FREE PLANS by clicking HERE!

And… Here are links to all the goodies!

Glu-Bot (You’re welcome… It’s amazing)

Fav Kreg Jig Model

Stain we used on this desk

Rug is from At Home Stores

Start by attaching the runner to two of your foot pieces. These are 2×4 boards that we ripped down to 3” wide. You don’t have to rip your boards down, but it will change the overall look of the desk. Attach the runner to both boards using wood glue and 2.5” pocket hole screws through the 1.5” pocket holes.  We used our Kreg K5 Jig for this part!

 

 

Next, attach the “I” you just made to the desk top. using wood glue and 2” Spax or wood screws. The desk top is a laminated pine board. I purchased a 16”wide board and cut the length to size using my miter saw.

Now attach both leg pieces. These attach to the “I” boards using wood glue and 2.5” pocket hole screws through the 1.5” pocket holes. These will line up flush with the outsides of the “I” piece and centered on them as well.

Attach the other two foot pieces next. These will attach to the legs using wood glue and 2.5” pocket hole screws through the 1.5” pocket holes. Make sure your pocket holes are facing the same direction on each leg because this will be the back of the desk that you won’t see, so there will be no need to fill these pocket holes.

Now attach the decorative 1×4 boards to each foot board. These will have a 30˚ angle on each end. Attach the boards to the foot pieces using wood glue and 1.5” Spax or wood screws.

Final step is attaching the decorative diagonal pieces. These are 1×3 boards. To get the exact measurement, hold the board in place and mark the exact cut. Then, set your miter saw to that cut. Attach the boards to the leg and foot boards using wood glue and 1.25” nails.

 

DIY 6 Board Farmhouse Desk – Paint, Stain, Style!

All finished! You can paint or stain yours to fit your style. One of the great things about this desk is how easy it is to customize in length. If you need it longer or shorter, just adjust the size of your runner and desk top and you’re done! Be sure to share pictures of your finished desk and use #shanty2chic so we can share!

And let’s look at it one more time!

DIY 6 Board Farmhouse Desk Tutorial

 

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20 Comments

  1. I did a batch build of 5 of these because the pandemic led to my kids doing school from home and I needed desks ASAP. Turns out that if you multiply the parts list (plus the missing nails mentioned in a couple other comments) by five, you end up with enough materials to do six! 🙂 I’m selling the extra one to recoup material costs.

    I believe the angles for the decorative pieces work to 30 degrees on one end and 60 on the other if your legs are square and unwarped. YouTube has a lot of good tutorials on how to make a 60-degree mitre jig. Just search “60 degree mitre cut” and they should come up.

    These are GREAT laptop desks. We used Varethene Cognaq for a stain and three coats of polyurethene on the desktop. They turned out beautifully. Thanks for a great plan!

  2. I loved making this! It was relatively simple and looks great. There were a few things left off the supply list though. The list did not mention the 1.25″ or 2″ nails.

  3. Thank you so much for this plan. I built my first one yesterday. I am going to build two more. We need a desk for my two daughter’s and my wife since we are all Staying at Home during Quarantine for Corona Virus. I adjusted the table top to 24″x 48″ and adjusted the rest of the materials accordingly. I had a hard time with the decorative pieces because newbie in me is not familiar with cutting angels yet. I am hoping to get better as I build the other 2 desk this week.

  4. Can u make the width of the desk top a little wider without changing the legs? If so.. what’s the max?

  5. I tried to make this table today. Everything went great up until the crisscross leg decor. My mister saw only allows a 47 degree bevel cut and I needed a steeper angle for the boards to fit correctly. Is there any other way to achieve this?

    1. Use a mitre saw to make a 30 degree cut on a scrap board and use that as a jig. Placing the board which needs a 60 degree cut across the angled face of the jig gives you the angle you need without a whole lot of trouble. There are a lot of YouTube tutorials on the topic (I searched “60 degree mitre cut”).

      As always, be careful with your mitre saw (it’ll try and pull on the board you’re cutting because it’s not directly against the fence).

  6. Just built mine! It was a gift for my wife and she loves it! Thanks for the plans, I have been making some things lately, without plans and I will take plans any day of the week! 🙂

  7. Your plans don’t mention them in the Lisa but you also need 2” screws. Thanks for sharing, my table turned out perfect!

  8. I’m having a hard time figuring out the angles needed for the trim pieces. Do you have any further instructions or a tutorial video that would further explain? Thanks!

      1. I’m having a hard time getting the angle cuts for decorative pieces. I tried what you said in video and it still wouldn’t come out right. Anything else I can try or is there a video I can watch on it?