With the shift to working from home in the middle of March, I found myself sitting longer hours without getting up and walking around as I normally would in the office. With the excessive sitting came a sore back and sitting at my desk started to become uncomfortable.
I finally started researching standing desks more last month and found a great DIY standing desk video from Homemade Modern. Their design is beautiful but I needed something simpler to try and stay under my $100 budget. I could also get away with using 1/2” black metal piping as opposed to 3/4” because my desk will be stationery in the corner of my room with only my laptop and monitor on it.
Ok, let’s get to the details. Hopefully this post motivates you to build a standing desk for yourself or inspires you to alter my design and build your own custom desk.
Materials for a 44″ Standing Desk
- 1 x 28-1/4″ x 54-1/2″ table top (I was fortunate enough to get a free table top 👍)
- 1/2″ Black Metal Pipe
- 48” (1x)
- 24” (6x)
- 18” (4x)
- 1/2″ Black Metal Fittings
- Cap (4x)
- Flange (4x)
- Tee (2x)
- Side outlet tee (2x)
- 16 x 3/4” wood screws
18″ & 24″ black steel pipe (1/2″ width) 
48″ black steel pipe (1/2″ width) 
1/2″ Flange 
1/2″ Tee 
1/2″ Cap 
1/2″ Side outlet tee 
#10 x 3/4″ screws 
Assembled frame
Assembly Process
The assembly method I found to be most efficient starts with constructing the middle support bar. Begin by adding a side outlet tee to each end of the 48″ pipe. Next, screw the two 24″ pipes into the side outlet tee fitting. And finally, add the two tee fittings to the ends of the 24″ pipes. From this point you can simply screw in the 18″ sections and 24″ sections to create your table legs. You might have noticed that my final product is slightly different than my napkin drawing with my 18″ sections above the middle support bar, and 24″ sections below the middle support bar. I believe the construction would be just as sturdy regardless of which length pipe is on top or bottom, just be sure your flanges are all on one end and caps on the other.
Once my frame was constructed, and each pipe and fitting was firmly tightened, I set my frame up and laid my table top on top of the flanges. I’m not attaching the table top to the frame yet, I’m checking for uneven legs that would lead to a wobbly table. If you have a problem with height, adjusting the cap fittings at the bottom of your legs is a good starting point. Once you have a level table, move the top around until the flanges are equally spaced from the left and right, as well as front and back. Use a Sharpie or pencil to mark the holes where the screws will go. We’re now going to flip the table over to attach the frame to the table top. Align the flanges with the marks you made with your Sharpie and attach the flange with the #10 x 3/4″ wood screws. Note: If the table top you’ve chosen to use isn’t at least 3/4″ thick, you’ll have to use shorter screws.
Set it up and check the height
With the addition of the table top, flange, end cap, and tee fittings, my table design will give you a 44″ tall standing desk. This height is only ideal for people 6′ tall or more. Easy alterations can be made to my design to result in a 38″ table (substituting 18″ pipes instead of 24″ pipes on the legs). If you can find different lengths of pipe, you can get to any height you desire for maximum comfort. I’m actually already in the process of altering my table to lower it 3″ as I’m finding after a few days of using it, it may be too tall and I don’t want to fix my sore back only to get shoulders.
Thanks for reading and feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions below!
