For my grandfinale, here's a nice knock off of one of my favorite designs of all time: the Bouroullec's Joyn desk system for Vitra. Moving into our new offices I really wanted an upgrade from our old IKEA desks, but didn't have a lot of money and really like the solid wood IKEA countertops we'd been using. This project was completely done by myself from scratch and cost pennies (we reused a lot). Enjoy!
The basic concept here is that when you are starting with a good, solid material you can do ALOT with it. Melamine won't give you this freedom. IKEA's Lagan countertop is solid beech. You can really work it — through cutting, painting and/or staining. I've been building desks out of it for a few years, but this was the first time I attempted a more "high rent" solution.
The Bouroullec's Joyn system is lovely in its simplicity and reads like a big family table that hovers in the air. To get a similar look, I first built one long worktop and then carefully set IKEA's Vika Inge legs back from the edges and end to give it more of an appearance of floating lightly above the floor. I stained the desk white to preserve the natural grain and then painted the legs white to pull it all together.
Here are the instructions for one of the big desks I built. I also include a picture above of a small version.
What You Need
Materials
4 Lagan Countertops — I used 96" and cut them down to 68"
6 Vika Inge Legs
Pickled White Minwax Stain in Matte Finish
Minwax oil based Polyurethane
China White Enamel high gloss paint
Wood Putty
2 Media Grommets
Equipment
Circular Saw
Power Drill
Palm Sander
2½ Grommet drill bit
Spackle Knife
Sandpaper — rough to fine
Plenty of rags (for staining and cleaning)
Instructions
The Top - I used a bunch of old desk tops and a few new, and while heavy, it was pretty easy to cut them all down to 68" and then lay them flat on the floor like puzzle pieces (I had some good help in the form of Bill Skinner from Astech Closets). In order to tie them all together we used the end pieces that had been cut off and drilled these into the bottom like big bandaids. With many screws and three big slabs of wood pulling the four tops together, it worked.
Be careful when cutting the ends. The cleaner and straighter you make the cut, the tighter your tops will fit together in the middle. Put the cut ends in the middle as well, so that the nicer finished edges face outwards.
The Legs - Screwing the six legs into the bottom is pretty easy. Just be sure to place the middle legs right on the seam, so that they support the tops in both directions. I set the legs back 7" from the sides and 10" from the ends.
TURN THE BIG DESK OVER CAREFULLY. It's heavy and you don't want to crack the joints (which are fragile), but you can do it with four people.
Drill your holes at this time for your cord control.
Sanding & Staining - The time consuming bit is sanding and staining. You really want the tops to be as smooth as possible before staining, so a good bit of time was spent using varying grades of sand paper with a palm sander. In the middle where the seam was rough, I used wood putty to fill the gaps and then sanded this down as well. It worked nicely and the putty stains well.
Staining requires more patience and lots of open windows. I recommend finding a green alternative to the toxic stuff I ended up using. To get a really solid white look, I used a rag to apply the stain and followed the directions closely. I applied two coats and let it dry thoroughly between applications and gave it a light sanding in between.
Polyurethaning - Simply follow the directions here and find a green alternative as well. I applied two coats and sanded inbetween to ensure a strong, smooth surface.
Painting the Legs - With the metal legs, I gave them each a light coat of spray primer first and then painted them with a small brush. If you can spray prime your legs first, before attaching, that would be a good idea.
To finish, you want to give the desks one last really light sanding to take off the nicks of dry poly and then drop your plastic grommets into the holes.
Voila! Instead of thousands of dollars, you've got a lovely modern Bouroullec inspired worktop for four people which only cost around $350 (labor not included :-)).
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Love the desks... but as an office for a design website, it seems odd that your computer cables are just strewn about.
Could you add a drawer to this?
The desks look great! Thanks for the tutorial.
Very beautiful. I like the small desk as well. I also like the idea of using solid beech (hadn't thought of going to the kitchen department at IKEA for a table top) instead of melamine, which I guess I'm too rough on so it ends up looking a mess.
ALOT is two words. Like this: a lot.
Thanks also for making it capital letters so it would really stand out.
Like this desk! Thanks for the detailed instructions. I have always just used solid core wood doors and set them on top of filing cabinets. This is a nicer and more stylish idea!
Nice desk! It's subtle, but perfect.
And true, "ALOT" is two words, but did the reader have to post the observation in such a snarky way, as if he or she were personally offended? Mon dieu! I think that person is perhaps AJERK.
I made the one-person version of this desk for my home office, based on an earlier AT post--but without the leg-painting and polyurethaning. It was thrifty, quick to do myself, capacious, strong and much admired.
But I have two caveats: one, it can be a bit tippy when finished, depending (maybe?) on minimal differences in your Vika Inges and/or your leg-attaching prowess: I shored up one of the feet with furniture sliders. And two, I'm petite, and it's a bit high for me to work ergonomically, so I need to work out another seating option and a footrest. I think if I'd measured my ideal desk height first and compared it with the height of the legs, I might have gone a different route.
Live and learn.
Nice hack. The Joyn is one of my all-time favorites too. I wonder how hard it would be to DIY the component pieces like drawers and dividers to look the Joyn. Anyone know what they're made of? I have a sheet metal press.
@designstein I was torn between thinking exactly the same thing, but also appreciating the wit behind it, with jerkiness winning out in the end.
It's the kind of comment that people who don't get invited to parties very much because they keep making comments like that think they would say at parties because that's the kind of comment that people at parties make.
It's a never-ending loop.
And I'll just go ahead and head off the inevitable comeback by saying, no, I don't get invited to parties very much. And I've drank a lot of coffee today.
I wonder if you could put 2 counter tops together to increase the depth...I would love to use this idea as a dining room table, but 25" is too narrow. Any thoughts?
designstein, well played.
Also, thanks for the tutorial, Maxwell; I think I'm going to try something like this for my art-making table.
The mess of cords from the electronics is the one flaw in these simple, lovely designs. I think some clever cord control is in order - perhaps a covered white cord station/power plug attached under the desk to the side or middle, and then there would only be 1-2 cords (power and possibly telephone/WLAN) that could be run down the leg?
Well done!
Why don't you come up with your own designs instead of copying designer's work? That would be really amazing.
Should have said "trying to copy". Don't think the Bourellecs or Vitra are losing too much sleep over this.
Geez zamboomafoo, did you have a bad day, or what?! I think that the this particular "hack" is a nice looking solution to create a much larger table with simple, inexpensive, readily available components. Is it exactly like the original? Of course not. But this is a hack, not a reproduction. Good job!
Thanks for the project pics! Though lucky you to have found Lagan counter tops! I've been waiting over a month for the IKEA's near me to get them back in stock so I can start my own desk project.
Thank you, Nesser.
Maxwell, I have an actual question this time: have you had any trouble with the polyurethane sticking to the stain? Also, did you use the spray kind, or did you roll it on?
Thank you!