IKEA Hack: Office Worktable

The Saga of the IKEA Table: Office Worktable

4/12/2016

by Steph Sign up to receive project updates by email!

In December we took a trip to the Orlando Ikea. We were in the middle of a few projects (mainly my garage floor makeover) and bought some goodies we thought we might use. We found a pine table that I thought would be a good worktable for my garage. But back in Tallahassee, just a few days later, we found the perfect worktable at Home Depot. We were left with the Ikea table and no use for it. We planned on returning it; hoping that we would be back to Orlando before the return deadline.

Ikea Table

Guest room before

Home Depot Workbench in Steph's garage

Guest room before

Throughout this time I was also setting up my office in my guest room. I have a nice nook for a desk and still have room with the queen bed in place. A month later I realized we could use the room for video and photo shoots too, if the bed was moved. I decided to ditch the guest bed (I have an air mattress still and a pretty comfy couch). With all this new space, we needed a worktable. The Ikea table was perfect! I put it together and it was pretty great. It was a little too short for standing at so I used bed risers to get it tall enough. We filmed a few videos using it and really liked the new setup.

Worktable before in video shoot

We decided to stain it to protect the surface a bit and then I wanted to be able to move it easily so I decided to add casters. Just adding the casters alone was not enough height, so I went to work figuring out how to add height and portability.

Check out this quick video to see some of the table progress. Here's a link to the veneer edge trimmer in the video.

Mom got a free piece of plywood from a yard sale, which I quickly realized would be a good base for the table. I had some leftover vinyl planks (my house floors are covered with this) that look like wood and look good with the stain we used. I also had some scrap wood that I added above the casters to give more height. I finished the edges off with wood veneer.

Marking the measurements on the plywood

Plywood cut to size, block of wood screwed into the bottom four corners

Vinyl plank glued to plywood, cut excess vinyl off with utility knife

Attached wood veneer to edging and painted the side, legs, and bottom

The screws to attach the bottom to the top table needed to be countersunk so the casters could be attached over top

Overall I am so happy with how it turned out! An Ikea table that I was going to return turned out to be the perfect solution for my office worktable!

Please note: We are not sponsored by any of the companies/products that we used. These products were picked and bought by us.

FYI: We are not professionals, and we don’t claim to be. This is what we found worked for our project. Yours may need a little different approach. Safety first!