Desk proportions opinions

[jstraw]

Wife’s birthday is coming up. She has requested a desk for her craft projects. She mainly wants a basic mortise and tenon 4 leg table. I would classify it as a basic writing desk with a single drawer in the front apron.

I am using material out of my wood storage. The top is going to be a repurposed laminated maple top from a school science lab. I plan to refinish it, but leave the kid’s initials etchings on the top to show its history. The top is 1 3/4” thick and is 30”x 72”. My space will limit me to a 5’ or 60” by 30”. The aprons will be 4” maple, which will allow a reasonable depth drawer for her stationary and pens.

The desk will be 30” high, so the legs will be a little less than 29”. They will he made out of some 12/4 x 9” wide hard maple I had reserved for a small workbench one day. I normally would taper the legs, but this is going into a room in a timber framed house. It’a a spare bedroom with 10”x8” exposed timbers. I plan to mimic the framing by leaving the legs square with a matching chamfer on the edges. The tenons will be pegged through the legs to match the house construction.

My question is regarding the proportions of the legs. My original plan was to go square at the maximum thickness possible. That would be a max of 2 3/4” to 2 7/8”. Or I could go a little wider from the front view by making the legs rectangular. But, then I’m concerned that since the legs will not be tapered, it could look very bulky when combined with a 1 3/4” top. I’m looking for a visual compromise. Bulky legs with a thin top does not look good to me and thin legs with a thick top doesn’t either.

All opinions on leg thickness from your experiences are welcome.

[Bill Holt]

I agree, the legs should not be tapered and the pegs are a great idea.  Personally, I like square legs and would not go larger than 2 3/4".  Just my 2 cents.

[Handplanesandmore]

Do a mockup with cardboard for the whole desk. Same top but with different leg designs, AND let your wife give her inputs. Two brains are better than one.

Simon

[jstraw]

Good idea about the mockup. Should have thought of that. I have plenty of cardboard in reserve.

[Alan S]

The mockup sounds like a good idea.

The aprons should make thick legs look good with the top, which is pretty hefty for a table in any case.

[Cooler]

I made L-shaped legs using 3/4" red oak.  I mitered the edges and glued it into an "L".  By starting with a single wide board I was able to make it look like a solid piece in two directions.  I could have made it any size I wanted at that point.  I tapered the legs beneath the apron to about 1/2" the width at the top.

It looked fine from the front and side, but a view of the inside showed the hoax.

Osborne Wood Products sells square legs from 2½ x 2½ to 5 x 5 in soft maple (paint grade) red oak, knotty pine and cherry.  

https://www.osbornewood.com/Table-Legs.aspx

[Don_M]

Here is one I made for my daughter (MANY years ago!)

Tiger Maple with Jarrah pulls (40"w x 24"d x 30"h). Legs are tapered - 1-3/4" at top by 1-1/4" at bottom. IMO a writing desk is a "delicate" piece of furniture and looks best w/ tapered legs. Just my $.02

   

[iclark]

Does your wife like chairs that are arm-less or one that have arms?

If the chair she likes for her craft desk has arms, I would suggest recessing the front apron a few inches so that the arms can slide under the top.

I think that I have seen drawer slides that allow the drawer to slide out beyond the apron for this sort of configuration, but I do not remember where I saw them or what they were called. Sorry.

This telework stuff sort of brought this concept home to me. The arms of my chair do not fit below the top of the table that I am using. There is no way that I could reach more than a couple feet onto the table without having to stand up. Not so much an issue for computer use, but a biggy for craft work.