03-25-2015, 11:14 PM
This project has been done for awhile and the pics I took weren't that great, but I thought I'd share what I do have.
My wife saw these desks/cabinets in a magazine and asked if I could make something like them:
After a few iterations we decided on a partners desk with 4 base cabinets and a large table top. I didn't want to get too fancy with the construction, nor the materials, so it was all plywood and MDF for this project.
I used iron on edge banding for the show faces of the plywood. Then cut a dado a few inches up from the bottom and rabbets at the top edge.
I put in just some 3-4 inches wide plywood strips in the rabbets and dados to set the width, then added the "toe kick" board to the front of the box that would be flush with the drawer fronts (the toe kick being the only solid wood in the project outside of the table top edging).
So after the drawer boxes were assembled and slides installed this is where they were:
Used MDF for the fronts and my oak spacers that I've forgotten where they came from, but I use all the time:
And the finished project all painted with General Finishes milk paint and in a color I thought came pretty darn close to the catalog photos.
I do wish I had opted for a different slide for the drawers as the Menards self closers take a real heavy pull to open and I also wish I had dovetailed the drawers. However the large drawers are nearly 10-11" tall and I felt running the bit through BB ply was going to dull it up pretty quick after a few of those (now that it is complete though, I don't really pay attention).
The backs of the cabinets don't extend to the floor, but only to the bottom of the dado. I then just put in a couple of cleats to join the boxes at the bottom and pocket screws at the top. the file drawers were drilled for 1/4" AL rod spaced for file hangers:
All in all I am pretty happy with it and because its all kind of modular, I can always add to it or reconfigure it later. Ripping the table top in half and making two separate desks out of it wouldn't be terrible at all.
My wife saw these desks/cabinets in a magazine and asked if I could make something like them:
After a few iterations we decided on a partners desk with 4 base cabinets and a large table top. I didn't want to get too fancy with the construction, nor the materials, so it was all plywood and MDF for this project.
I used iron on edge banding for the show faces of the plywood. Then cut a dado a few inches up from the bottom and rabbets at the top edge.
I put in just some 3-4 inches wide plywood strips in the rabbets and dados to set the width, then added the "toe kick" board to the front of the box that would be flush with the drawer fronts (the toe kick being the only solid wood in the project outside of the table top edging).
So after the drawer boxes were assembled and slides installed this is where they were:
Used MDF for the fronts and my oak spacers that I've forgotten where they came from, but I use all the time:
And the finished project all painted with General Finishes milk paint and in a color I thought came pretty darn close to the catalog photos.
I do wish I had opted for a different slide for the drawers as the Menards self closers take a real heavy pull to open and I also wish I had dovetailed the drawers. However the large drawers are nearly 10-11" tall and I felt running the bit through BB ply was going to dull it up pretty quick after a few of those (now that it is complete though, I don't really pay attention).
The backs of the cabinets don't extend to the floor, but only to the bottom of the dado. I then just put in a couple of cleats to join the boxes at the bottom and pocket screws at the top. the file drawers were drilled for 1/4" AL rod spaced for file hangers:
All in all I am pretty happy with it and because its all kind of modular, I can always add to it or reconfigure it later. Ripping the table top in half and making two separate desks out of it wouldn't be terrible at all.
A friend's wife did that with an entertainment center she saw in a Pottery Barn Catalog... 
