Convert the FINNVARD into a height adjustable standing desk

image

I was looking for a nice looking, economical and easy to build standing desk hack. I like some of the designs on this site, but I wanted to be able to adjust the height which most don’t have. I saw this idea while combing through google images for standing desks designs. It’s from a company that sells a kit, but they also give away their design so you can build it yourself, which is what I did according to their instructions.

I really like the desk because you can adjust it to your height. It also looks nice and not just like a pile of furniture like many inexpensive standing desks.

You need to buy or borrow:

1) 2 x IKEA FINNVARD trestle with shelf ($60)

2) 1 IKEA LINNMON table top ($25.99 for white)

3) 15mm drill bit (10-15$)

4) 6mm drill bit (1/4 inch will work…I had this…$4?)

5) Power drill

6) 4 pieces of 1x 3 red oak cut to 22 inch pieces ($16 or so)

What to do:

1) Mark your holes according to the plans shown in the diagrams.

image
Photo: DIY Standing Desk Kit
image
Photo: DIY Standing Desk Kit

 

2) Drill the large holes with the 15mm bit. This is the right size to reuse the IKEA wooden pegs that you use to adjust the desk.

3) Drill the holes in the one end with the 6mm bit. This is a bit tricky, but see tip below. Also, make sure you drill in the right end.

4) Substitute the short vertical pieces from IKEA with the ones you just made (see photo below), and build the FINNVARD trestles just like in the IKEA instructions.

image

Tips:

When drilling the 15mm holes, you can use the IKEA piece as a drill guide if you have a couple of clamps to secure them together. Once you make one piece, you can use that one as a guide for the other three to make sure you get them all the same alignment. A drill press would make things a lot easier.

When drilling the smaller holes, if you have already built the trestle part you can use the trestle as a clamp to hold the wood vertical so you can drill it properly.

Here are the photos of my desk. I spent about $130 and it took me a few hours. It’s very functional and way better than spending $400 or so on an adjustable desk. If you don’t want to make the pieces yourself like I did, I suppose you can buy their kit for $79 which means it will cost about $165 or so.