Corner Plywood Desk

Originally posted August 2, 2014 by Brad.

After building the quick plywood desk for my wife, she suggested I make a desk for the boys. I went with a corner layout so both boys could use it at the same time while taking up as little bedroom space as possible.

The desk is built from 3/4 inch plywood and uses about one full sheet plus one quarter sheet. The frame is made from 2 inch wide strips that sandwich together to form the legs and support structure.

Download the free plans Support PTB

Layout

The design started in SketchUp so I could work out the corner shape, frame pieces, and plywood layout before cutting. The curved front gave the desk a nicer shape, but it meant marking the radiuses before breaking the plywood down.

I marked the large arcs while the plywood was still a full work surface. That made the layout easier and gave me more room to swing a makeshift beam compass.

Cutting And Frame Parts

The frame pieces came next. To keep the project inside the one-and-a-quarter-sheet target, I even used the large cutoff from the corner desk shape for some of the support strips.

Most of the desk top shaping was done with a jigsaw. It is not complicated work, but taking time on the layout helps the curves and mating edges come together cleanly.

Assembly

The leg frames were assembled from the plywood strips, then dry fit before final glue-up.

I dry fit the parts upside down across my table saw and outfeed table. Once the fit looked right, I traced around the frame pieces so I knew exactly where to apply glue and place each part during final assembly.

After the frame was attached, the desk was ready for paint.

This turned into a start-to-finish one-day project, which is always a good feeling. The final coat of paint cleaned it up and made it ready to move into the boys' bedroom.