How to Make a Laptop Table for Your Home Workspace

Working from home brings you several benefits regardless of what your job is, so office workers, programmers, and even gamers can benefit from this in the same way. Nonetheless, you need a laptop table if you want to work from your couch or bed.  

People working with personal computers or big monitors don’t need to worry about this since they can get a regular ergonomic desk for their workspace. However, those desks are way bigger than what you need when working with a laptop, so it’s best for you to get a laptop tray for this matter.  

Some people don’t like buying desks or a laptop table for a couch because they don’t want to spend money on those things or to look for a simpler alternative. If you are one of those people, you’ve landed on the right page.  

Here, you can find some DIY laptop stand ideas you can do at home without spending a lot of money on them. Apart from that, you can also learn the materials you know to make a laptop table and the steps to do it, so don’t hesitate to try it!  

Best DIY Laptop Stand Ideas for Your Workspace

As we mentioned before, we want you to know some laptop cart and table ideas before giving you the steps for making a specific type of portable laptop desk. You can check these ideas out to see if one of them fits your home office and work style.   

All the ideas below are easy to assemble with materials you have at home or that aren’t that expensive to buy. Naturally, they don’t have the same features as laptop carts you can find online, but they are still decent if you need a stand for your laptop as soon as possible.  

1. Shoe Box Laptop Stand

The first portable desk for laptop idea on this list may be the easiest one to get since you only need something that most people have in their houses: a shoe box. It could be any shoe box. 

These boxes may not be the most luxurious or stylish alternatives on the market, but they are comfortable to work on, and that’s a priority when DIYing office tools. Regardless of that, you can always paint your shoe box another color or design something to make it look better.  

If you want to go for this laptop stand, you need a ruler, tape, a marker pen, and a box cutter. Turning your shoe box into a laptop stand doesn’t take that much time, and it’s not difficult at all, so it’s an ideal choice for people who are not that skilled when it comes to handcraft.  

You can use your new shoe box stand as a laptop table for a couch since it has the perfect size for you to move it wherever you want. Doing it is not complex at all because shoe boxes are not heavy, either.  

2. Foldable Cardboard Laptop Stand

Are you not interested in turning shoe boxes into couch computer tables? Try using cardboard for the new portable desk for your laptop. The best thing about using cardboard for your laptop cart or tray is you have unlimited designs to try depending on your taste and needs while working.  

Therefore, you can adapt your laptop table to be smaller or wider depending on the office equipment you use and the space you need to use your laptop. Naturally, more complex designs are only achievable if you know how to handcraft things, but there are several benefits to it since you could even make it similar to other ergonomic laptop stands.  

You only need a ruler, pencils or pens, a cereal box, a knife or box cutter, glue, cardboard, and sturdy wrapping paper if you want to make a foldable cardboard laptop stand, but you can use those materials for most cardboard stand designs.  

Building a foldable cardboard laptop stand is excellent for people working at different places since you can fold your laptop stand and take it to other places by putting it in your pocket. It’s worth noting this design works more as a laptop stand rather than a laptop table, so you may need an additional table to use it.  

3. PVC Laptop Stand

When people talk about DIYing a laptop desk for a couch, they often think of shoe boxes or materials such as cardboard and wood, but not many expect you to use PVC pipes for the job. Nevertheless, they are excellent choices since they not only raise your laptop but also hold all your cables to work as a cable tray.  

If you ever need a plumber to fix some things in your house, don’t get rid of the PVC pipes left after finishing the job and save them for this moment.  

This is an easy project, so anyone could pull it off as long as they have PVC pipes, four elbow joints, four tee joints, and paint. Although PVC stands are bigger than cardboard foldable ones, it’s still a small option for you to use in your home office, couch, or bead.  

What you want for this DIY laptop stand idea is to make a two-shelf stand that holds your laptop and has enough support to keep it from falling down when you put your laptop on it. One of the best things about using PVC pipers for your stand is they improve laptop ventilation.  

4. Wood Laptop Stand

Using wood for laptop stands is common and not expensive, but making wood laptop stands often takes more time than the other options on this list. Although there are several alternatives for you to go for, we recommend you choose a bamboo or plywood laptop stand.  

As for bamboo stands, they are not as complex as some may think since it only requires you to measure, cut, and glue the wood to give it the shape you want it to have. Thanks to that, you need little to no tools to get the job done.  

Most people making a bamboo laptop stand peel off the wood’s outer shell to give the stand a soft touch and make it more visually appealing for them and the people looking at it. The downside to bamboo is that you can’t carry it around with you, and doing so could break it.

Plywood stands may not be as common as other laptop stand ideas, but they are better for people who often get neck and shoulder pain after working, so this is the option for you if you want an ergonomic stand for your laptop table. Firstly, you need to get two plywood pieces.  

The trick is making an interlocking cross with those plywood pieces to make moving the stand easier for everyone. Although this idea’s design is beginner-friendly, we don’t recommend children or teenagers try it since you need to use a jigsaw to make the stand.  

Apart from the jigsaw, make sure to get sandpaper, scissors, an orbital sander, glue, a square file, and a disc sander. The reason this process is not that complex is you can make the template for the interlocking cross and then cut the plywood with the jigsaw.  

5. Acrylic Laptop Stand

The last laptop stand idea on this list is making an acrylic laptop stand, and as it happens with PVC pipes, acrylic is excellent for laptop ventilation. Making an acrylic portable desk for your laptop gives you a more visually appealing product than the one you would get with shoe boxes or cardboard, so go for this option if you care about those things.  

Similar to cardboard, you can make the design you want with acrylic, and we recommend you study which option is better for you and what design would fit your working style better. After you choose one, get its measurements and lock them into an illustrator. A laser cutter is more than enough to do the job.  

However, if you are a beginner making acrylic designs with a laser cutter, we recommend you make a small prototype first to try things out and see if your design is as efficient as you think it is. 

You can go on with the full design if the prototype you made turns out okay. The good thing about using acrylic is that once you try it, you can design many other things with it and add some other features to your laptop stand.  

What Tools and Materials Do I Need to Make a Laptop Table?

Choosing the design that you want for the new desk risers for a laptop or laptop table is essential since that’s what tells you the tools and materials you need to make it. Each laptop cart or laptop table for a coach needs various things to be made, and that applies, too, to the laptop table we are teaching you to make on this page.  

What that means is that you can use the materials and tools we are naming below for this specific laptop table, but they may not be enough for other laptop desk ideas.  

Sizes change depending on how big or small you want your desk to be, but you can start off with a 1''x12''x4' common board and a 1''x2''x6' one if you want to go for a smaller alternative. Aside from that, get four connecting bolts and four nut inserts. Matte polyurethane and stain are also needed for the process. 

We recommend children are not involved or close to you in the table-making process since they could get hurt by messing with the tools you need to make the portable desk for your laptop. Look for a table saw, a nail gun, a drill, and a pocket hole jig and screws.   

How to Build a Laptop Table

Getting to the final part of this article, it’s time to learn how to make a laptop table for your home office! This design is made to fit almost all home offices and workspaces, so you shouldn’t have trouble fitting it into yours.  

The first step is to cut the boards with a table or chop saw. Make sure to cut three pieces from the big board; one at 24’’ and the other at 8’’.

After doing that, rip off the 8’’ pieces to 8’’ wide and cut four pieces from the smaller board; two at 22.5’’ and two at 8’’.  

You need the pocket-hole jig to assemble the top of the laptop table. Screw the pieces you cut from the small board together and try to make a rectangle with them. Use the nail gun to center the box on the underside of the top, and you should have the whole top of the DIY desk after nailing it in.  

Installing the nut inserts and bolts is not that complex even if you haven’t done it before since you only need to measure and mark ½’’ and ¼’’ on each corner of the cover for the bolt hole.

Next, drill two holes in each corner since that’s where your bolt will go through to get into the foldable leg of the table. Once you have the legs, drill two holes for your nut inserts and screw them in with an Allen wrench. Try to see if everything is okay and stable before going on.  

The last step is to sand all the pieces and cover them all in stain. Let everything dry overnight and cover the table with a polyurethane sealer. Now, you are more than ready to assemble everything and start using your new laptop table! 

Bottom Line

As you could see, DIY laptop stands and tables are not that complex to make once you fully get into them. They may not be as resistant or good as a portable standing desk, but they are still enough for most offices. Apart from that, DIY tables are yours to change and design the way you want, and that’s something others can’t offer you.