Easy DIY Wall Desk

When I revealed my little girls’ shared room makeover, I mentioned that the easy DIY wall desk is one of my favorite features in this space.  Today I want to share how I made it.  It was really simple, used very few supplies, and can easily be built with very beginner building skills.  

I went to my local hardware store and bought six pieces of wood, four feet in length, plus two shelf brackets and some spray paint.  I sanded the pieces down to smooth them {leaving them their original length} and spray painted the boards with an antique white color.

I also used a piece of wood from my scrap stash and cut two pieces that fit across the width of the boards {the cross pieces shown below are shorter than the ones I ultimately used … the final pieces were just half an inch shorter than the full width of three boards together}.

While some of the paint was drying, I hung the back pieces of the desk.  

I located the studs in the wall, centered the boards, and screwed the boards right into the studs.

I was very careful to level the bottom board and screw it at the height I wanted the counter part of the desk.  From there, I could just lay the other boards right against that board and know that the entire desk would be level.  

{Just a note: at the store, I laid my boards side by side on the floor to ensure that none of them were overly warped.  I did allow some very slight imperfections though since I was going for a bit of a rustic look.}

Once the three back boards were in place I was ready to finish the rest of the desk.

I measured where I wanted the cross/support boards, made sure the support board was even with the back of the desk {to give the shelf bracket a proper base}, and used wood glue to keep them in place.  That way I could flip all of it over …

… and screw the support board in place without a lot of movement.  The wood glue isn’t a necessity but it does make the process much easier and eliminates some of the possibility of error.

The last step of preparation was to screw the shelf bracket into place, keeping it even with the back of the shelf.

To finish installing the wall desk, I held the base of the desk against the leveled back boards and screwed the brackets into the wall {right into the studs}.

I’m so pleased with how this DIY wall desk looks.  It’s a really sweet spot in the room and I know my girls will spend lots of time coloring and writing at their little space.  And it doesn’t take up much room at all, which was the aspect I most needed.

This small space wall desk is the perfect solution in this shared room.