A slick computer desk made for compact living made of recycled material. I got some offset boards from the local newspaper printer. Total cost under $30

Step 1: Material

The material I used was:

1 Wooden board in the same dimension I wanted my desk in.

2 Offset boards. Usually 93 x 56 cm. These you can get for free. Just call the printer of newspapers in your town and ask for Offset boards they can't use because of misprint.

2 Brackets to fasten the desk to the wall. I didnt have any good material to make mine of so I bought mine at ikea. Therefore the cost of $24.

1 Pair of scissors, Old ones that you can dedicate to cutting metal.

1 Box of glue to fasten the aluminium boards to the wood. $5, It has to be a bit elastic because wood is a living material that expandes and shrinks with temperature and moisture in the air.

1 Saw to cut the wood

Some screws to fasten it to the wall and the desk to the consoles.

A ruler and a pencil.

Step 2: The Desktop

I don't have so much pictures from this step but the essentials is. Take the wooden board. Cut it to a rectangular piece of the size you want the desk.

Then put the wooden board on the backside of the aluuminium (offset) board and trace the sides of the wooden with a pencil. Now remove the wooden board.

Take your scissors and cut of in the corners so you can fold the aluminium around the wooden board.
Apply glue and replace the wooden board within the traced lines.

Then fold the parts of aluminium around the wooden board to cover the sides.

Now your finished with the desktop. Let the glue dry.

Step 3: The Drawer

The Drawer is made by folding the aluminium. You can make it almost as big as you want the only limitation is the size of the offset board and to get it sturdy you need to fold the sides two times.

You can see how I cut out mine drawer. I wanted it 630 mm long 300 mm wide and 50 mm high.

After cutting of the excess aluminium you cut out the corners so that they lock the fold. On one side both should be on the shorter side and on the other they should be on each of the longer sides. Fold the corner parts up 90 degrees.

Now you can start folding. Begin with the short side were the corners are and fold it two times. One all the way and the other 90 degrees. Then you take the long sides and fold them and no the corner piece should be locked within the fold.

When your done with the longer side you have to lock them with the last short side.

The drawer is now very sturdy because of the folds and it is no need for other support inside the drawer.

Step 4: Mounting and Installing

To mount the desk.screw the brackets to the wall. And then screw the desktop to the brackets. The drawer I havent fastened it's only resting on the brackets.

My setup has a external harddrive an usb hub in the drawer and the computer and connectors to camera, Ipod and harddisk comiung up from behind the desk.

Hope you get some inspiration. It is good to recycle and I spent maybe three hours making this desk.

Now I'm going to make a stool out of an old excersice bicycle I found to match the desk.