Homemade Studio Desk

I wanted to share some pics of the studio desk I just finished. I have been working on it for several months now when I could find the time. I designed it on Google Sketchup. I got the design idea from an Omnirax desk I saw on their site. It is made out of cabinet grade birch plywood. The top is made from ¾” birch with a 1/4” layer of cherry on top (a solid inch of cherry would have been way too cost prohibitive). The speaker stands are made from birch with a cherry vaneer on top. I used some ebony aniline dye for the bottom half and the sides of the speaker stands. The top and top of the speaker stands are all natural. I finished the top and the speaker stands with a diluted gloss polyurethane (I added a 50% mixture of mineral spirits so I could wipe it on with a cloth versus a sponge brush – it took much more time and many more coats, but it came out like glass). The bottom half was finished with a semi-gloss polyurethane and a final wipe of the gloss mixture I created. I added a small shelf in the back to hold all the cables, power supplies, etc. The desk is about 8 feet wide to give you an idea of dimensions. The boxes below and the speaker stands are all 19.125" wide thus allowing me to rack equipment as I get it. Once I have everything set up on it, build some bass traps, diffusors, and mid/high freq absorbers, I'll post a pic in the studio pic thread. For now, I just wanted to share the desk itself....

Great Finishing

Really good work! Are you going to put rack rails?

VK wrote:

Really good work! Are you going to put rack rails?

Yes, I will put in rack rails sometime in the future to hold a few things.

Beautiful! Very nice!

Great job! Would you mind sharing the Sketchup file? Also, if you don't mind shaing, what was your approximate cost (and savings)? Nevermind - found them in the plans thread. Again, great job!

Outstanding piece of furniture. Well done.

Audixium wrote:

Great job! Would you mind sharing the Sketchup file? Also, if you don't mind shaing, what was your approximate cost (and savings)? Nevermind - found them in the plans thread. Again, great job!

You know, I should have kept track of the cost, but I went back and forth to Lowes so many times for this that and the other. I lost track. This is just a guess, but I would say all the materials probably cost about $700+, but that is just a rough guess. If bought at a store, how much do you think it would be worth? My inspiration came from an Omnirax desk that cost about $1800 or so...

awilki01 wrote:

This is just a guess, but I would say all the materials probably cost about $700+, but that is just a rough guess.

What cost $700? It looks like a maple top and some plywood painted black?

BradJacob wrote:

awilki01 wrote:

This is just a guess, but I would say all the materials probably cost about $700+, but that is just a rough guess.

What cost $700? It looks like a maple top and some plywood painted black?

Here's the breakdown - roughly... 5 - 3/4 x 4x8 birch plywood = $250 1 - 1/4" Cherry plywood = $50 Cherry Vaneer and vaneer glue - $25 Aniline dye (ebony and cherry - the bottom of the top was stained a dark cherry color) - $20 Polyurethane - $40 Edge banding - $20 Bolts - $10 Figure 8 fasteners - $15 Sandpaper, glue, biscuits, steel wool, cotton wipes, gloves - $50 Total = $480....this is a rough guess I did this all in my head last night. I was way off. My apologies. Oh, and I take offense to you saying those are painted black :lol: Those are 'ebonized' with aniline dye. You can still see the grain in the wood. And, its a cherry top. Oh, and did I mention I spent $500 on a tablesaw and $200 on a biscuit joiner? Of course, those cannot be included in the cost as they will be used for many projects to come. The time was the most expensive thing here. The whole staining and finishing process seemed to take forever. For that glossy coat on top, I literally put about 7-8 coats of mineral spirit diluted poly on it. When I first started finishing the boxes, I used full strength poly with a foam brush. I now know this is a mistake. Air bubbles formed this way. The diluted poly takes more coats, but it goes on much smoother and no air bubbles. I would also recommend a rub down using #0000 steel wool between every other coat. Here's a pic of all the pieces that it took to build this thing.

Any way you slice it, great job. You should go into business...!!

I still haven't been told what people would pay for a desk like this.... Trust me, if I could quit my day job, I would...... :D

...lol... "painted black plywood..." lol... that's hillarious. but seriously, great job. and if you wanted to buy/sell one, here's one built in a similar style (minus the riser parts)... MDV2120 Cherry/Mahogany MDV Workstation - 120" Top $2,634.50 http://www.northernsound.net/Sales/stud ... frame.html sandled

Gorgeous. Beautiful lines. The only thing that bugs me about this kind of design is that those sidecars are so deep. It’s a long crawl getting back there. Not so big of a problem if you have a really permanent installation. I’m not using patchbays – I’m always busting stuff around, so I like to be able to get to all the back panels with no body contortions. I have this big 02R desk that I’m using. It’s just too massive for me. Anybody want it? I posted a pic of it at Vertustudio. Again…sweet sweet curves there, and your poly job rocks.

Thanks! I might have to put some shelving in one of the side boxes because I don't have the equipment to rack yet - I will give it some time though. Should I put any shelves in, I will definitely make sure they are temporary as I get the hardware. Most everything (except my beloved Virus TI) is software.... I built this with scalability in mind :wink:

sandledfoot wrote:

...lol... "painted black plywood..." lol... that's hillarious. but seriously, great job. and if you wanted to buy/sell one, here's one built in a similar style (minus the riser parts)... MDV2120 Cherry/Mahogany MDV Workstation - 120" Top $2,634.50 http://www.northernsound.net/Sales/stud ... frame.html sandled

Wow! That is quite pricey!!!! Makes me wonder if I can set something up for an alternate source of income :D

awesome job awilki01! Pretty similar to what I had in mind.

Very Nice! Great work! EV

Man, truly fantastic job on your desk! I am a CAD designer and have a side business designing custom furniture, studios (when the opportunity presents itself) and Residential/Commercial construction. I've done a lot of desk designs and I must say I am very impressed with your end product. The finishing is always the worst part...now let's see some pics with it loaded up with gear!!!!!