This project came to me from two clients who were looking to maximize the use they could get out of their existing home office. The original setup shown here only allowed for one person to work in the room. They had in mind a large T-shaped desk which would allow them to both utilize the space, so I sketched up a design and got to work.

The design called for floating shelves above the desk with built-in lights, and three lower cabinets at the ends of the desktop to allow for maximum leg-room underneath. Here you can see the lower cabinets on the far right and (somewhat obscured by my tools) on the left.

I designed the desktop to be made of three large sections of black walnut. Here you can see me gluing up one of those three sections.

Once I had the desktop sections shaped and dry-fit in my shop, it was time to install them. The first two sections would go along the wall, with the third coming in at a 90 degree angle to create the T-shaped desktop. In order to install it safely by myself, I made up an angled support to hold the two rear sections in place while I joined them on site. Then I lowered that support and eventually slid it out, allowing the partial desktop to settle into place.

Here the third section of the desktop as well as the third lower cabinet are in place.

The completed desk. The lower cabinets were painted in a dark blue color which offset the color of the black walnut top nicely. Each lower cabinet has one drawer and a door for storage underneath, and the outer lower cabinet has drawers on either end and the storage space below is accessible from both ends.

A closer shot showing the finished black walnut desktop and how the three sections come together. Custom slots were cut near the rear wall to allow for installation of the client’s monitor brackets.

Underneath the desk are two tapered legs made from solid maple. These support the desktop above as well as the embedded steel reinforcements that are used to strengthen the desktop. The floating shelves along the rear wall provide a place for components to be stored, and the panels along the rear wall are removable to allow cables, etc to be concealed.