A Student-Friendly Home Office Makeover with a DIY Desk

We have heard so many stories lately from friends and family members that are looking to create more office space in their homes. It didn’t surprise us at all to hear that my sister-in-law was one of those people. Her son (our nephew) is studying at a Canadian University and needed a new space so that he can study from home this fall. We were so excited to help create that space for them.

This is the space before our transformation. It was previously a “catch-all” space that we wanted to make more functional for the family. We wanted to paint, and change the flooring, but the most important part of the transformation was creating a desk space for our nephew to study, with enough storage for him to stay organized. Since my nephew is in University, we needed to do a budget-friendly makeover. Since he isn’t paying rent at school this year, we were able to put some of those savings into a new room makeover instead.

We were so lucky to find these beautiful Acacia wood countertops at Lowe’s Canada that were perfect for a custom desk. The boards were only $99 each (and discounted!), so it was an amazing deal. We quickly scoped up three of the countertop boards and pulled out a few tools. Our plan was to use one board as the main floating desk, and cut the other two boards in half and use them to create a shelving unit on the side.

First we cut the boards down to custom sizes to fit the room. We cut the first two in half (so that we could use as much of it as possible!), and cut a couple of inches off the other board so that it fit perfectly into the room. We primarily used glue and screws in pocket holes to attach all of the desk pieces, including attaching the desk to the shelves we built. The wood already had a beautiful stain on it, but we protected all of the surfaces with Polycrylic too. We then built a small 2x2” ledge to help attach the desk to the wall.

The finished space is perfect! We made the desk, added the beautiful storage bins, and added pendant lights, all for less than $500! If you need to create a workspace on a budget, this is an amazing option.

Since we had a little extra room in our budget, we turned this project into a full room makeover, adding new laminate flooring, new paint (a must!), and adding a new feature wall behind the desk. The deep green paint on the wall really complements the stain on the acacia wood desk and helped to pull the entire space together.

We honestly couldn’t be happier with how this room turned out! It’s such a huge transformation from what the space looked like before.  Our nephew absolutely loved the space and if he does head back off to University soon, there were already a few other family members lining up to use the new desk when he’s gone. The desk is the perfect addition to the room, adding a space to work and new functional storage that anyone working from home would love.