Modular Office - Narrow Open File Base

Love it! Great images from Pottery Barn. Thank you! / Jackie

Ana, I don't know if you realize how many lives you are touching. Since I found your blog, I check it 3 or 4 times a day, just in case you update it with more wonderful plans or pictures! Thank you for taking the time away from your busy life to make our lives better. You are an angel! I'm saving your plans to my jump drive everyday so I don't have to worry about ever losing them! Thanks again for everything! Betsy

You have so many fabulous ideas here. Now I just need a bigger home to fit all the new planned furniture in!

Ana, you are so incredibly talented.

Wow, I think this is just for me!! I've been stalking your blog for a week trying to decide what plan to use for my kitchen desk...woo hoo - love this!!!

Thank you! Thank you! I wait eveyday to see what I can use to plan my dream office! These plans will really help in my layout. Will you pretty please do a corner desktop???

I love it. :o)

Matter of fact, with measurement modifications and these adorable file folders, I could build a miniature filing cabinet for little stuff, like recipes, addresses, stamps, etc. Wouldn't that just be too adorable? In hot pink, on top of the Bedford collection? ;o)

Excellent! I'm pretty sure this is the desk I'm going to build for my youngest son once the warmer weather gets here. Thank you so much Ana!

Ana I love your blog I went out the other day to buy a mitre saw and ended up having to return it as it only cut through 4.5" wood. I should have read your tool post first but found it after I returned the saw. Have you ever used a radial arm saw? I came across a few while looking up miter saws and after reading a bit about them they seem to be pretty flexible. From what I have read it can rip boards do crosscuts mitre cuts dadoes (I don't even know what these are) Rabbets (I know that one I thought that may be handy for making picture frames) bevels and complex miters as well. Just wondering what your thoughts are on this particular tool.

I am absolutely loving this collection. I have a big plan brewing in my head to convert half of the walk-in closet in our master bedroom to a craft/workspace for me and the versatility of these pieces would work wonders. I have a feeling this is going to be our big summer project.

maybe you could answer a question for me... I was referred to your blog as I am in the process of redoing our office... how do you paint it to get that nice clean smooth sleek look? so it just doesn't look like painted wood?

will you be giving plans for the rest of the small desk (table top and legs?) thanks so much for all of this....you are amazing!:)

I have been looking for a little desk forever and FELL IN LOVE with the picture of the one above I know the plans are for the drawer but will the plans ever come out for the attachment of the little side part of the desk top and legs? thanks so much!

Thanks so much for these plans. I have wanted this desk system from Pottery Barn for several years but never could justify spending so much money. My husband and I started the base this weekend. So far so good. And since I want to make several bases I'm sure it will get easier! I'm so excited..thanks again for sharing your talent!

Can this bookshelf be made with file cabinet drawers for regular files? That would really help with my office! I am going to try this!

My husband and I are in the process of building this, and came across one little problem. We bought pine, and apparently 1x2 pine is actually 1x2, rather than 1x1.5 like some of the wood at Lowe's. So we got the base units made, as well as the top, and the base units wouldn't fit into the spaces under the top. We had to take it apart and cut them down. Other than that, its going well. We just weren't expecting this minor issue. Maybe this will help someone else who builds it- make sure that you're 1x2's are actually 1x1.5's to work with this particular plan. Either way, we love this site!!! This our second piece, and we plan to make a few Hyde side tables next weekend! Thanks Ana!

Charles and Lynn, thanks for letting us know. I need to post a "getting started" section that talks about board sizes, because the plans assume you have perfect lumber (which isn't always the case). Glad you were able to find a solution.

We are making these as night stands and so far so good for our first attempt (ever) at woodworking. A table saw would be REALLLLY helpful ;) A comment about the plans: if you dont plan on painting them (we're gona stain them), you need to trim the front edges with some 1x1 so the cut edge of the plywood isnt so ugly. Also, a top piece may make the table top part look nicer since you end up with joints on top. Anyway, we've had fun making it and plan to make the kids picnic table, maybe the murphy bed and more (after we invest in a table saw)!! Exciting!

Do you have any idea what type of weight this shelf would hold? I was wondering if it would be safe to store a microwave on the shelf in the middle, rather than the top, so I could have a little bit more counter space in my tiny kitchen.
MDF always seems so flimsy to me, is there some type of support I could use to keep it from sagging?

The sagulator is a fantastic tool to help determine weight ratios for wood species http://www.woodbin.com/calcs/sagulator.htm

Adding a frame to the face (1x2 trim) will strengthen immensely.

Awesome, thanks so much Ana! Love your stuff!

I want to try to build this in legal width - 14" across. Should I just add 3" to every front- or back-facing horizontal dimension?

I have two decrepit old desks in my classroom and no money with which to replace them. If I can do it myself, then that's much better!

I hope this is not a silly question but What is the difference between a screwgun and a drill and can i use a drill for this project...thanks in advance

Ana, I love the inspiration you provide on this blog. My friend and I attempted to make this yesterday but didn't get very far. It was very difficult to attach the sides to the shelves without some type of support. Can you provide better guidance on how to fasten the sides so that you get a square shelf? It seems like maybe building the base first would help support the case as you attach the shelves.

If you've got the cutting done, you've gotten further than you know!

What I do is lay the boards on their edge on the backs. Make sure your boards are marked where the joint goes on BOTH sides of the side boards, so you know where to line the shelf up and where to nail or screw. Then just concentrate on getting ONE screw or nail in, say on the top corner of the bottom shelf. Don't worry about getting it square just yet, just get that one screw in. Then pivot the shelf so that it lines up with the marks you made on the sides.

Don't worry about the shelf being square until after you have attached the shelves. Then square all the shelves and sides up together. Hope this helps! Ana

Ana, this is beautiful! I love it! My friend and I made it yesterday for the beginnings of the desk. We did however run across a small problem....the side trim is listed at 15 1/2 inches but that is to short.... It needs to be 16 1/4 to go all the way across....luckily though, we had some extra wood, so it was no big deal. But, I thought others would like to know. Thanks for all you do!

So the question I have if this says it only requires 1/2 sheet of the 3/4" plywood or MDF, does that mean I can make 2 of them out of one sheet, or should I get 2 sheets just to be sure I have enough material?

Anna. If you cut the full sheet of MDF into the 1x16 sheets, you should get 3 - 1x16 @ 8' long. this is enough to make 2 of them. no need for another sheet of MDF.

Thanks for the plans, Ana. I saw this post when it was published and kept it in mind while looking for a desk on Craig's list, Overstock, etc.—just couldn't find one that I liked *and* wanted to pay for! I decided to build this one instead and I intend to use this as my craft desk, mainly for making jewelry. I built this piece last weekend; actually, built this, the table top and most of the legs. I ran out of glue so I finished it this weekend. It's sanded and ready to be painted!

A couple of helpful hints for future builders:

--I echo what SBS said, that "the side trim is listed at 15 1/2 inches but that is to short…. It needs to be 16 1/4 to go all the way across"

--before attaching the underside trim (http://ana-white.com/2010/02/before-we-get-to-that-corner-desk-lets.html), get the final dimensions of the top of the base unit. My base unit does not fit inside the rectangle created by the underside trim pieces. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about this but I have some ideas. Not a big deal, but you'll save yourself from making modifications later.

--if you're worried about using plywood because of its rough texture, don't be. With an affordable belt sander ($40-ish), it smooths out nicely—maybe not enough for a showpiece, but definitely enough for paint, a craft table, or anything that is going to get used a lot.

--if you have Lowe's or somebody else cut your wood, be aware that they're not exactly precise. I was disappointed at first but my husband mentioned that if I had cut it (we don't have a table saw), it likely wouldn't have been perfect either. =)

Hope this helps! Thanks, Ana. I really enjoyed making this!

I am having a heck of a time keeping the MDF from splitting. I am using the countersink bit and even switching to a longer one to try to make sure I have a good pilot hole in the shelves and it just keeps splitting...any ideas?

Laura, we clamped the piece while we were drilling to help prevent the MDF from splitting. Or buy a Kreg Jig, it will save you a lot of headaches.

I don't like the idea of using MDF or plywood for the desk, so can I use lumber?  I want to stain the desk and the plywood where I live is terrible and can't be used for anything!  I feel like MDF is too weak for what I want to do.  I can get 1x8's that are actually 20cm making them 7.87 inches, so it ends of being just perfectly 15 1/2.  Would that be fine to use and just attach them and fill them???

I'm wanting to make the file drawers for the desk to hold a 12x12 sheet of paper for scrapbooking. Has anyone made the drawers to fit scrapbooking paper? What would the dimensions be for the drawer and the base cabinet to fit that size?

We are cutting out all of our pieces to build the desk. I just realized that the cut list only is for one side of the desk. Also these plans only tell you how to build the base and don't reference anywhere where/what the center joining piece's measurements are. I don't think it would be hard to just wing it, but I would feel alot more comfortable if I could find what measurements and method was used to make this one... I saw the above post about the trim pieces being too short, and plan to take their advice. Any advice for joining the two bases to make the actual desk?