I’ve been clearing out my spare room this week, in anticipation of all the painting and repair work that I start next week (easter/spring break are going to be my work days!)
My biggest issue has been what to do with my desk. I currently have an old target computer desk that is on its last legs. I thought about painting it, but to be honest I just want to move on. I’m considering swapping my desktop computer for a laptop -we bought my best friend’s macbook, so I’m going to try it out for awhile. If I can ditch the extra hardware, that frees up a ton of room. My only concern was the mouse – I like a real one – but my husband pointed out that we have a cordless, so never mind that. Then I won’t have to have piece of furniture dedicated solely to the computer.
I have in mind something like this:
This is the Bedford project table from Pottery Barn, which can be yours for the low, low price of $1100 plus shipping. Seems like a lot to pay for something that is basically a few storage cubes topped with wood. I’m certain I can make my own for less. Then I can place it in the center of the room and use it as a combo desk and cutting station.
I found full plans for a knock-off here. I am reasonably certain I have the skills for this, and my Dad (an actual professional carpenter) will help me.
I would ultimately like a new corner sewing desk, so that I can make my serger and machine easily accessible, but I can wait on that. My current desk is an Ikea Malm, and it serves its purpose well.
Plans are shaping up – now I’m considering wall colors (I’m thinking a pastel? Something light and bright…)
Green apples - Stitchywitch Creates 
This also looks a lot like the Ikea Expedit range, which is much cheaper than Pottery Barn! But Im not sure if the height of the Ikea unit would work for a cutting table, without some modification.
Pottery Barn are smoking crack asking that much! I was thinking of the Expedit range too…perhaps Dad could add a plinth to them if you needed more height.
Ooh, I love the link to the knockoff! That looks like something that would actually be easy to accomplish! Thanks for sharing, and good luck with your re-do!
I see the other commenters already got there, but I think there are some articles on Ikea Hackers on how to make one of these out of Expedit cube shelves. I’ve been planning one for my sewing room, but first I need a sewing room…
Add me to the list of people who were thinking Ikea Expedit cube shelves! I’d love a sewing room to have something like this in. Unfortunately I work from home, so our spare bedroom is my office, complete with work computer and printer etc.
I thought of Expedit cubes and Ikea Hackers too! You’ll have to show us what you end up doing. Are you going with a lower, typical desk height, or a higher cutting table height? Hope you enjoy your productive spring break!
I made the ana-white modern craft table which is similar to the one you have shown. Mine turned out very well. Ana-white is a great site for building plans.
Some ideas (and perhaps very obvious):
Firstly, If you are going to use this desk for your laptop and work, and you’re a righty, make sure you leave plenty of room to the left of where you’d place your laptop. Sounds simple, right? But most standard desks have drawers on the right hand side – restricting where you can sit and resulting in limited desk space on the left. (Suits you fine if you’re a lefty!)
Secondly, I’d be making your desk/station a minimum of 180cm (70″ wide). The widest of fabrics are 150cm (60″) wide, and then it gives you additional space each side for placing your tools when cutting. I’d be trying to make it as deep as is physically possible to allow more fabric to sit flat – imagine how easy cutting silks or slippery jerseys would be! (Rotatory cutter + mat all the way!).
Thirdly, you can pinterest all sorts of clever storage tricks, but definitely consider cutting some holes for your plugs and cords to go to (or insert a powerboard onto the side – one of Kenneth King’s books has a DIY good workstation diagram). Maybe even a hole to attach a bag underneath to sweep all scraps into quickly if you can’t be bothered with a bin 🙂
And finally, if you can think of how to make it work, see if you can get your cutting/sewing table to double as a giant ironing board (with the appropriate heat protection etc). It makes prepping fabric so much faster and effective!
And personal taste, but I vote a strong lilac and butter yellow combination.
I made something very similar using two bookcases from Target. They look just like the ones in the picture (a square divided into 9 cubes). I positioned the shelves, nice side facing out, about 3 feet apart.Then I got a big piece of the melamine covered plywood from Home Depot and put that over the top as a work surface. I also added a shelf which runs from the top center cube of one bookcase over to the top center cube of the other bookcase. This added more storage and helped stabilize everything. At first I covered the work surface with the ironing cover for the hobby table that is sold at JoAnn’s ( a Sullivan product, I believe) which just happened to be the right size for my table. However, recently I got rid of that and replaced it with the cutting mat they make for the hobby table. I much prefer the cutting surface! The mat is expensive, so definitely use a coupon; but it is worth it.