Materials: Vika Amon, Vika Curry, Capita, Lack
Description: I had no room for any of my equipment in my small home / project studio. As you can see from the before picture, everything was just piled up in 2 old desks and the wires were everywhere.
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| before |
I decided I needed a new desk. I was going to buy one online for around £400, but after coming across this site, I decided it would be a whole lot cheaper to build it myself, and it was, almost 10x cheaper!
I used a VIKA AMON table top combined with 4 VIKA CURRY legs for the main desk base. However, the problem with this was that i didnt have enough room for my keyboard and my monitor. I decide to build another shelf using 1 LACK wall shalf and 1 pack of CAPITA legs. Now there is room for my keyboard, my monitor and my speakers, with room left over!
The great thing now it that I don't need to move everything around to use certain equipment. It's all there ready for me. Most of the wires are also hidden underneath the desk, with exception for my USB hub and wireless mouse base!
1 x VIKA AMON Table top - £20 ($31.69)
4 x VIKA Curry - £8 (£12.67)
1 x LACK Wallshalf - £9.99 ($15.83)
4 x CAPITA legs (1 pack) - £8 ($12.67)
Total: £45.99 ($72.86)
~ Simon McKeon, England
Well done! Chic and cheap (however: my vintage kitchen table that i uses as a desk was 50 eurocents, but not this chic;))
ReplyDeleteSuper effective! I'm not in the market for one, but know peeps that I'll pass it on to... FYI - Ikea makes some very clever cord-hiding systems (if that bugs you - I'm quite anal-retentive in that dept). The one I'm thinking of in particular is a "rack"-type product that appears to be plastic-coated wire, and holds/consolidates the wires from protruding cords, etc...
ReplyDeleteGreat job!
Nikki
Seattle, WA
What dimensions are the desk / stand?
ReplyDeleteI see that the above part list has a variety of options on ikea's website / am curious which size you used so I can get a sense of size for my own setup.
One other obvious improvement is to switch from Windows XP to a Mac.
ReplyDeleteExactly
Deleteonly obvious for people already swindled by apple...
DeleteDude, it looks great!
ReplyDeleteHow did you screw the CAPITA legs to the LACK shelf?
jf
Los Angeles, CA.
>> One other obvious improvement is to switch from Windows XP to a Mac.
ReplyDeleteNow, obviously he's not stupid enough to go backwards just to run overpriced inferior hardware?
Great hack!
This is great! Our son may need a setup like this in the not-too-distant future, so I'm glad to see this idea to log away in my brain. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm Simon. The guy who sent this in lol. The desk in the 150cm wide one. I just drilled the capita legs into the lack shelf using the screws that came with the legs.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know your creative! Great job :D I need something like this though.
ReplyDeleteKiowa, Netherlands.
Simon, thanks for posting this - it inspired me to stop by the local Ikea tonight and pick up an Ekby Järpen shelf and the Capita legs to get some more room on my own desk, and I'm loving it!
ReplyDeletethis is awesome! This, (and another hack I seen in regards to home studio desks) made me go out and do my own home studio! I have big equipment so I got the 79" Vika Amon, and the 45" ekby jarpen shelf. The Amon needed Vika Curry legs, and the Jarpen needed 5 capita legs (which made me have to buy two packs, but I will use the remaining three legs for another project) Also I got 4 more curry legs, and another amon table but 40" to make my desk into a L shaped desk! Also I got two summera keyboard trays and some ekby valters, and LAnsa handles to make equipment stands. AWESOME STUFF
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I'm in the exact same position and never thought of this. I already have the same table and legs, so all I need is the extra shelf. Doing this tomorrow. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon, after seeing your desk, I bought the same tables from Ikea today. I was about to buy a KK Audio A1 Edit Workstation for $1400. You've helped save me $1000 :))
ReplyDeleteWe actually have this hack displayed at our IKEA store.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this I finally got round to doing this today, went for the 21cm capita legs to raise my speakers and screen up to head height, also added three Hopen LED spotlights to the underside of the lack shelf to light my AKAI keyboard late into the night! ;)
ReplyDeleteLoving the extra room I have now no need to constantly pack and unpack Maschine!
Looks amazing. One question does the shelf just stand free on the desk then? The capita legs aren't attached in any way on the bottom?
ReplyDeleteQuote: "I'm Simon. The guy who sent this in lol. The desk in the 150cm wide one. I just drilled the capita legs into the lack shelf using the screws that came with the legs."
ReplyDeleteThat's why he chose the Lack wall shelf - it's deep enough to screw into without it falling to pieces/having screws pop out the other side.
Awesome job there! I've got one of those 180cm long desks from Officeworks. And with some additions from IKEA (buying tomorrow), i'll have a perfect studio desk. *thumbs up* Thanks a lot for your great idea,
ReplyDeleteHi, very nice hack but I have the same question already posted before:
ReplyDelete"Looks amazing. One question does the shelf just stand free on the desk then? The capita legs aren't attached in any way on the bottom?"
So, the capita legs are drilled to the LACK shelf but how are they attached to the table top?
thanks!!
I'm also curious how you attached the ACK shelf to the capita legs...
ReplyDeleteMe too. The capita legs are obviously attached to the underside of the lack shelf with the screws supplied. Is it all then just standing on the desk or is it fixed to it somehow? I'm worried that if not properly attached the monitor can easily tip over if the desk is accidently knocked. I may use the capita breakfast bar legs instead when I put together something similar myself. Those angled legs attach at top and bottom.
ReplyDeleteI like how the after picture has less equipment in it, giving the illusion of it being far better of a space saver
ReplyDeleteThere is actually only 1 thing less on the after picture. The legs used are screwed in to the bottom of the shelf. The underside / feet of the legs have a thin rubber coating, which sotp it from moving around at all. It is very secure, but means I can move it if I ever need to.
ReplyDeleteJust to point out - I had this same setup for about six months and the table started sagging in the middle. To rectify this I replaced the screw-on legs with a significantly more expensive ($60?) GALANT leg system, which puts metal support directly beneath the table. Might be something to consider if you're about to run out the door to buy the parts to put this together, spend an extra $40 and save yourself a headache down the road.
ReplyDeletewhat model of galant legs did you use?
DeleteQuestion for Dan, what kind of LEDS did you put on the underside of the Lack shelf? I'm looking to do the same however there's no "Hopen" LED from Ikea... thanks for the help :)
ReplyDeleteNice job man! I love this mod. I am hoping to do something similar myself for hybrid computer desk/computer music workstation, but to go more vertical and layered with pull out shelves for keyboard & mouse plus music keyboard. Just looking for inspiration on Ikea hackers as there seems to be very little that meets my needs out there and at a reasonable price. John.
ReplyDeleteLooks good but I would want a deeper shelf on top, since I think most studio monitors (speakers) are bigger than yours.
ReplyDeleteYamaha hs80s, for instance, are 14" deep.
But I can't find any shelves that deep on the ikea site. So I'm not sure what to use...
Suggestions anyone?
Awesome. Was about to put down 250 on a budget studio desk. Think I'm gonna copy your idea now.
ReplyDeleteAwesome build. Found this on google images while searching for a cheap studio desk. Well, guess what? I MADE ONE MYSELF. I absolutely love this desk. I got it in the regular wood color though (wanted black). The ikea website was out of the black vika amon. Total it was about $116.00 including shipping (40$ shipping, 51 lbs, once order was processed it got here in 2 days).
ReplyDeleteOnly problems I have with it is that I have 2 monitors (screens) and there isn't much room to the sides of the lack shelf to put any reference monitors (speakers).
I'm thinking of getting the angled capita legs and the 10x11 lack shelf x2 and making monitor (speaker) platforms off to the sides. Right now I only have regular computer speakers (2 mains + sub) so it isn't a problem. Can't fit my midi keyboard under shelf because of sub/interface.
I built this too, it looks great, the only problem I had was I wish I had a centimetre or two extra as my keyboard is a bit wider than I thought. Everything fits, but the brakets for the legs are sticking out a bit at the front. Oh well, otherwise, thank you for helping me save a ton of cash!
ReplyDeleteI have a macbook, Apogee ONE, Tannoy Reveal 5A's, Tannoy T series speakers (not set up yet but will probably go under the desk at this rate), Logitech 2.1's, CME UF6 keyboard, wireless keyboard and mouse, hardrives everywhere and plenty of writing space at the moment!
Adam
I've been searching and searching for something exactly like this. Thank you so much. My purpose is for computer gaming. Desktop will be on the right. Shelf off center to the left. Two monitors on the shelf. Playstation, external HDD, external DVD/RW underneath the shelf. Plenty of room for laptop, tablet, gaming keyboard, mouse, controllers, etc. etc. AWESOME!!!
ReplyDelete