LACK standing desk

IKEA Materials:
Lack TV stand (white), 35 3/8×10 1/4 “, $14.99
Komplement shelf (white), 39 3/8×22 7/8”, $15

Other Materials:
Brackets & bolts, $5.40
various nuts & bolts form supplies

I liked the idea of an easy IKEA hacked standing desk, but I like the desk that I have, and I need to be able to use both my laptop and an auxiliary monitor. I saw the long & skinny version of the Lack TV stand, and thought it would be the perfect size for what I wanted. I added a Komplement shelf, and some hardware store bolts & brackets, and in 3 hours (not counting shopping time) I had an easy $35 standing desk platform.

I had the initial idea, but my brother-in-law gets mad credit for actually doing most of the execution and having the necessary power tools.

I first assembled the TV stand using the given directions – just the easy parts, attaching the legs to the table base. I did not install the included shelf.

We then cut down the Komplement shelf to the width necessary to fit between the table legs (31.25″).

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We then installed the brackets, which we measured so that the top of the Komplement shelf would be 9″ from the bottom of the legs (this was the height I needed for my height and desk height – I measured before we started the project). Because of what I’d read from other standing desk hacks with Lack, we used 2.5″ bolts – the heads are on the outer sides of the shelf and we secured them on the inside with nuts.

After the brackets were installed, we rested the cut shelf on them to get a sense of how far out I wanted it to be. We ended up cutting the shelf on the long side to a width of x”, which would allow a shelf to stick out enough to rest my keyboard on. (The final dimensions of the cut Komplement shelf were 18.5″ x 31.25″ – and remember to cut and place it so that the finished front of the shelf faces forward.)

Once the shelf was cut, we used the small screws included with the brackets to attach the underside of the shelf to the brackets. We ended up using washers on the screw heads to add a little height so that the screws wouldn’t go all the way through.

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Pictures of the finished desk:

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By Meg Poehler