UKH

We're making a room into a study for obvious reasons!

Thinking of buying a solid oak kitchen worktop and using this for the desk top, and just putting it on some desk legs.

Mainly because we don't want a cheap as chips cardboard Ikea desk again, I can't be bothered to trawl through the 22,000(!!) desks on Wayfair, and we don't want something that looks like an office desk from an office furniture store.

I've heard some nightmare stories about people putting a cup of tea or a tin or something on an oak worktop and it's permanently stained or marked...

Anyone got any experience of this or making a desk in general?

Or could recommend where to go for a not insanely expensive but still aesthetically pleasing desk?!

Any other tips for making a study a nice place?

Many thanks!

My partner and I made a desk for her to work from at home from, after ordering, then sending back (because of the poor quality) one from some online store... la redoute I think.

She was lucky enough to get a solid oak veneer tabletop for free from someone on her road having a house clearance.

We bought plain turned legs and fixings from https://www.stairpartsuk.co.uk/home.html at a very decent price. Good quality stuff.

We treated the top for woodworm, and cleaned it up with scrapers and a good couple of hours with an electric sander. Then mounted the legs on some base plates cut from ply. Finished the surface off with beeswax polish. It looks great and shes very happy with it. Total cost must have been less than £50

I guess the advantage for us is, because the oak top was free and already quite vintage-looking, we don't give a f*ck about wrecking it with tea or anything. Just adds character if anything

I got an IKEA desk from the professional range and it has been solid as a rock. It's survived 5 house moves (dismantled and reassembled each time), children climbing over it, craft activities, chemicals heat, tea etc and it has been great. Not cheap mind.

I installed an oak top in part of a kitchen, prepped it with Osmo Oil about 7 times at significant expense and I will never install real wood work tops again. Stains, dints, water marks and constant re-oiling. After 7 years looks very scruffy whereas the laminate looks good as new and not really distinguishable from solid wood anyway.

ahaaa.... this is useful and interesting.... and off putting.

I had heard similar things from someone else about never going down the real wood route again.

We are going to an office furniture store first so will see what it's like. I didn't know Ikea did a professional range I've only had (and seen) the really light weight desk tops that are literally made of corrugated cardboard.

In defence of Ikea, you get what you pay for. If you get the stuff made out of chipboard then it's shit (but very cheap) but if you get the more expensive stuff then it can be fairly durable.

It sounds like you want something more substantial, but I use an Ikea Hilver desk to work from. I bought it as it slots into the space I have, but it's attractive in a minimalist sort of way and has been completely bombproof. I think it's made from solid bamboo. Some friends had one and used it as their dining table for a bit.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/hilver-table-bamboo-s79046038/

I'm pretty happy with the furniture I've bought from Oakfurnitureland. It is solidly built. Never tried their desks, though.

Maybe try a local savage yard? Whilst browsing a local one looking for something unrelated I found some solid hardwood desktops removed from a collage science building. They would have made a great (and bomb proof) desk top. Not that expensive either. 

Rather than buying worktop I'd maybe look at grabbing a secondhand solid oak table to butcher, it should work out alot cheaper, FB marketplace is full of them. Plus it'll come with legs etc...

Cut it to size, sand it down and then treat with Osmo top-oil (clear satin looks good), on all sides.

Shake the tin well, Apply with a lint free cloth, wipe of the excess after 10/15mins, leave 24 hrs to dry and apply 3 coats, oh and apply the first coat a little thicker but still wipe off all the excess.

Note: when sanding ensures all of the original finish is removed, start with 60/80 grit, 120grit, 180grit finally 240 grit then finish back down at 180grit.

Second the positive comments on the more expensive IKEA ranges and on oak furniture land. 

I've also had an oak worktop and found it ok. You do have to be assiduous in clearing up any spills but this should be easier for a desk than a worktop.

Another option if you want something more unusual is to have a look on Etsy. There are lots of people on there selling desks made out of reclaimed scaffolding boards and things like that.

I put solid oak worktop in my last house which I still own as a BTL.  The last tenants I had didn't keep the house very clean or maintain the worktop at all in the 5 years they were there (and it had rust marks from tin cans).  After they left I scrubbed it, sanded it and oiled it and apart from some water damage around the sink it looked great. 

So I think if you oiled it well when first getting it and use a coaster for your drinks it should be fine, and you can always sand out any stains and oil it again in the future if you have to.

I have a regular office desk from an office supplies place.  I camouflage the look by hiding it under crap  - currently:

a dog's snout (really - he's sitting on my lap)

a printer,  a key board, a Bosch jig-saw case that raises a monitor, two laptops, some speakers, a lamp, a mouse mat and two mice, tow pen tidies a couple of notebook and a pile of paper.  Assorted minor crap - glasses case etc.  Works for me.  Could be tidier.  Proper office chair has been sacked in favour of a kitchen chair with a couple of thin foam cushions (now buggered) and a wobble cushion as a back support.  Tidy it's not.

As others have said, with Ikea there a several grades of quality, and the more expensive stuff can be pretty good. For desks, I have sometimes used Ikea plate glass-topped tables. These work very well, and are virtually indestrucible and totally stain-proof - but obviously need the right kind of room to "fit" in with the rest of the furniture etc.

I still have about two dozen pieces of Ikea furniture, which have been in eight different houses in various parts of the world over the last 36 years. They did me very well during all that time as a professional gypsy! But they are not worth much now, and I am about to remotely sell them all from five thousand miles away. So if you can get yourself to Houston, avoiding the coronavirus and the hurricanes, there is some very cheap furniture to be had.

A well sealed and waxed pine table top served my childhood home of 5 people really well as a kitchen table, and never showed heat marks from cups, or stains from tin, or suffered my Dad doing DIY on it and making my Mum displeased, it's now in my spare bedroom as my study table. It needs a little bit of restoring after nearly 40 years, but that's mainly due to some slate table mats scraping the protective finish which had gradually built up off the ridges in the table, and me wire wooling a stain off the plank which had been bleached paler by my Dad to match the rest, and the darker wood showing through. 

Other than those two things, it's worn really well, and wouldn't need restoring had they not happened.

I’ve got an IKEA desk, I’ve had it for about 12 years, using regularly and every day over the last six months. It’s solid as a rock and still looks like new. It is basically two adjustable wooden trestles with laminate top.

Only piece of IKEA furniture in the house, but I really cannot complain about the quality. Haven’t got a clue what I paid for it.

I actually use a modern light oak kitchen table for the desk in my office. Can’t find a link to it anymore but I can say it works really well and gives you way more room. 

With that in mind, would something like this tick any of your boxes..?

https://www.shabbybearcottage.co.uk/products/industrial-dining-table-rustic...

wow that is a sexy table!

I think we're looking for something a little more desk like - maybe I forgot to mention it needs to seat two people with two monitors each, the max length we can go to is 2.7m wide which is what originally got me looking at the kitchen worktops as they easily go to this length in one piece. 

Embrace the knocks and dints. An immaculate piece of wood is a thing of beauty. A well-worn, loved and dinged up piece of wood is also lovely. The only problem is the transition period where it looks rough - give it a few years though and it's all 'patina'.

My favourite wooded things in our house are the hall floorboards which look like someone ran a tank over them and the shelves which were made from oak gravel boards from an old garden fence. A nice mouse mat will provide a smooth surface for the PC.

I made a workbench in April out of timber offcuts left lying about - a chipboard slab with a thin plywood layer on top.  It turns out it’s actually quite hard to make furniture if you know nothing about it and are crap (or just unpracticed) at everything involved.  Still, it does it’s job and it lends an air of “shabby chic” to the place.

I’ve seen some nice tables made from reclaimed doors.  Tongue and groove that’s shrunk over the years so has gaps; fine for using a laptop or dining but you’d need a pad to do writing or drawing.

Any wood is either going to stain from wet cups etc or is going to need a lot of surface protection.  A cheap reclaimed pine door with alternate planks painted in pastel green and white for example.

I put some effort into different lighting setups for working and for video calls.

Have you consider a simple piece of MDF on trestles? Very simple to look after - a couple of coats of varnish to give a nicer surface to work on. 

I did almost exactly what you're thinking - leftover oak kitchen worktop cut to fit a 2-metre alcove, supported on two cheap under-desk cabinets, with a leg in the middle.

For low maintenance I varnished it and got a big leather(ish) pad, which is great for writing on, hot drinks etc: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Knodel-Leather-Blotter-Waterproof-Dual-Sided/dp/B0...

Best 'office' I've ever worked in

Edit: one thing to bear in mind when fitting it is to cut enough holes to make the cabling easy. Plan what cables you need and where they'll plug in before you build it!

Funny I also did this - made a little work bench / (supposedly mud kitchen) from off cuts for our 17 month old - then with the tiny off cuts from that made him a little chair which he actually loves and is the cutest thing ever. It can't be more than 12 inches tall (the back of the chair) but it will hold an adult haha!

That is pretty much exactly what we're going to do I think! And I've also looked at those leather mats they look really nice.

I did the kitchen surface desk I am using now.  A long desk in an L shape is the main desk with shelving standing on it holding multiple files.  A second desk on the wall behind.  For a home office you want space for computer/printer/files/piles of cr*p so a kitchen surface is an excellent choice.  I used a beech block wood effect as a) it was cheap as chips and b) it looks great and I have had no problems (12 years now working from home )

I used staircase spindles for legs - square cross section and available in pine, beech and oak.  The B&Q pine I used have no knots but they no longer sell these, and have some nasty knotted ones.  Spindles come in a nice straight 32mm or 41mm square cross section as standard and are made of pretty good wood.  Checkout a specialist online staircase supplier for pine spindles with no knots.  A horizontal rectangle made with white wood edge on was made to fit under the table, then the legs attached to this (Just look at most four legged rectangular tables to see the basic design).  One end attaches to the wall and the L piece. 

Beech block worktops are also worth a look.   Rings and water stains are all about the finish.  For the finish I recommend Polyx Oil.  Expensive but lasts years.  Build it up in about 3 to 4 layers with a light sand between.  No issues with liquids and heat provided any spills are wiped up in a reasonable amount of time.  I have a friend with an oak work top and she oiled it 10 years ago and it still looks amazing.  We regularly drink tea without heat mats under the mugs.  It was an issue for us as her daughter was placing mugs on our wooden surfaces not realising that other wood finishes stain and mark.  We now have a few rings in unfortunate places.  You could also lacquer or varnish as these man made plastic finishes are formulated to resist water etc.

Finally, use a 32mm spade drill to make holes for the inevitable cables, or as I did, mount the surface a few centimetres away from the wall.  This gives flexibility, but still allows in and out trays to slide back to the wall without falling off.

I hope that helps,

Steve

I have a solid oak desk I inherited from my mum. It's a fairly conservative looking thing with a leather insert on the top rather than having a solid wood top surface. Although it breaks down into smaller bits it still feels as though each individual piece weighs several tons when I want to move it. I don't think I would personally be too bothered about marking it. It would probably just add to its character. It's the most beautiful piece of furniture I own.

Have a look in gumtree for house clearance items. We furnished my sister's house bedroom with a beautiful solid oak 1920's furniture set which we got free through there. Worth browsing the 'freebies' section and also dong a search of the furniture section with a max price of, lets say, £10. Also increasing the search radius is a good idea if you leave in the sticks or want more options.

Also worth looking on ebay for 'components' you can use by searching using less obvious words, as in if you search for 'oak table' you'll get all the £1000 jobbies, but searching for 'oak timber' you get things like these, which could be made into a pretty awesome table (replace 'fleabay' for 'ebay' in the url's

https://www.fleabay.co.uk/itm/Reclaimed-Japanese-Quarter-Cut-Oak-Timber-195...

https://www.fleabay.co.uk/itm/Reclaimed-Japanese-Quarter-Cut-Oak-Timber-193...

What are the obvious reasons?! You mean an increase in working from home, or something else?

When Mrs Wilko's aunt (who was a retired architect) died a few years back we found her old drawing board in the garage. I think the wood is a softwood (pine?) but it has a reinforced layer of metal in the middle so it's a kind of laminate. This keeps it very stable and flat and it was perfect for making a work top in the study. Should you find such a thing, snap it up. A long shot, I know, but Freegle/Freecycle comes up with the most unlikely things. I guess that such things aren't used by architects today, and haven't been for some years, but my aunt-in-law can't be the only one.

You could spray the top with clear Car Lacquer.  I did that to a coffee table I made about 40 years ago from an old bit of mahogany.

its been used as a toy table by the grandchildren, and had countless cups of tea, coffee and so spilt over it.  It is totally stain free.

Try veneered MDF finished with laquer. Or oak board. This is quite expensive. You could use pine board stain it in light oak and apply dainish oil. You can get various thicknesses. All will be stable.

I've got a 3 metre long section of oak worktop in my man cave sat on top of 3 Ikea Alex units. I gave it a few coats of danish oil when I got it 5 years ago and it still looks as good as new now. After having oak worktops in a kitchen, I'd never have them there again, but it doesn't take much abuse in an office environment.

I paid £160 for a 3m x 620 x 40mm length of prime oak on eBay and about £50 for each of the Alex units. For the size of it, it worked out cheaper than anything else I could buy and it fitted the space just right.

I work in a University science department that was outfitted in the 1920s with lots and lots of Iroko (also sometimes known as African Teak) lab benches.  Whenever a lab gets refurbished a few of these get taken out and after some humming and hawwing given to anyone who can use them.  A couple of hours with a sander and a coat of osmo oil and they look beautiful - and the century of hard wear just gives them that extra character.  I must have had about a dozen by now and my house is full of Iroko shelves and worktops.   

Fleabay Iroko lab bench and you can see a few that might do the job for you.  The added joy is that I know if something awful happens I know I can just sand it back and start again!

How handy are you with woodwork and what tools do you have ?

To go further than just adapting an already fabricated plinth / surface an accessible way of creating such is use of tongue & groove timber - as <wintertree> mentions. Here in France I can easily obtain T&G 22mm dried / oak as used for parquet flooring. You would need some 800mm clamps to pull them all together.

A quick way of creating support is use of trestles, A-frame (hinged, open out from flat) trestles are cheap in wood or metal. Also available inverted T-foot trestles in metal.

I have done some more involved table/surface creation which involves kerfing the joint between big planks. Most modern woodwork techniques involves chopping up big wood and reassembling - with lots of glue - but I say sod that! Accept the natural camber of a BIG plank. A bit of sanding and stability of the whole structure can make you a workable product - which will have bags more character - and the pleasure of the creation.

But I'm a keen recycler also - so not averse to opportunistic adaptation; in the vegetable storage room where we recieve clients, the table there is - simply - a door, resting (no fixings !) on a pair of trestles. Been that way for 10+ yrs - never needed otherwise. The floor is slopey so one pair of trestles rests on bricks.