Wall Mounted Dream Desk

I began by cutting down a sheet of plywood. You can find a material list in the tabs above. I ripped the plywood with a circular saw to a manageable size then made all the final cuts over at the table saw.

With all the cutting being done, it’s time to start assembling. The frame was built first using wood glue and a nail gun. Next, attach the frame to the top of the desk. The overall frame needs to be the same size as the top for everything to line up. Now, attach all three of the trims. All of this can be glued and screwed for added strength.

Make a template:

To make it easy for the desk to line up with the back panel, I would suggest making a template. First, get a scrap piece of wood that matches the frame. Then, clamp that to the backside of the desk. You’ll need to drill out the pilot holes. I have one in each bay, 5 total. After drilling through both the scrap wood and the frame set the template aside for now. I drilled out a larger hole in the frame to fit the t-nut. I used a 1/4” t-nut for every hole drilled. Make the pilot holes in the frame big enough to fit the t-nuts. Then, install the t-nut within the frame facing out.

Let’s move our focus to the back panel. This part is quite simple. The back panel is a sheet of plywood with a frame attached to the back. To make the frame I mitered the joints to give a clean look, butt joints or even half lamp joints could be used here. After the frame is complete, attach it to the plywood and center it up.

Now, locate the piece of scrap wood template. Place the French cleat piece on the back panel as it would be installed. Place the scrap wood template below the top French cleat, as shown. Next, drill the pilot holes and then open them to fit the 1/4” bolts. Use a countersink bit to recess head of the bolt.

Next, line up the desk and back panel. Drill out a 1 1/4” hole to pass the power plug through the back panel. Make sure the hole is centered and not above or below the desk.

Mark and cut out the plywood for the cabinet outlet. You can use an oscillating tool like such or use a jigsaw. Try to make this a tight fit.

Disregard the circle you see in the photo. I eyeballed it and it was a little off the mark. The right way to go about this is to measure from the two sides and draw a line. Right where the lines intersect that’s where you drill. I measured 5 in. off both sides.

Use a hole saw or a jigsaw to cut out the hole.

The desk is 2.5in thick overall. I did a test fit and the bottom cover prevented the drink holder from sitting all the way down. To fix this I routed out that area to remove the needed material for the drink holder to sit properly.

As I stated in the video. It’s best to route this section for the wireless charger prior to attaching the frame. It was a challenge but I did manage to work in the tight area. I had to remove a lot of material to get the wireless charging to work. By the time I got done, it was about a 1/4” of material left. My suggestion is to test this while you are still building make sure it works well.

The one I used in the video had a transformer that plugged into the outlet. I later swapped it for one with a USB port. This way I can have one available outlet.

Before moving on I sanded everything. This includes the back panel, desk and the cover to the bottom of the desk. I sanded with 120grit, then 220 grit followed by 400 grit.

Working with contact paper was a new experience for me. So I did the best I could. I think it came out quite nice. For the back panel, I used a black contact paper. For the desk, I used a marble contact paper.

Laying out the paper was quite simple. Try lining it up the way you want it to be. Then, start from one end and layout the contact paper. Once you removed the backing paper and lay out the contact paper, take a smoothing tool and push from the center out to the edge. Do this from one side to the other, doing this should push out any air bubbles.

The corners were the fun part. After trying various techniques I found that it worked out better if I just cut a triangle at each corner. For the corners, I wrapped and overlapped as shown in the photo.