Why You Should Build a DIY Standing Desk in 2024

The pandemic forced most people to continue working remotely. It's nice that you get to be at home but being hunched over the same desk all day can take its toll. Investing in a standing desk would allow you to work in a way that's more beneficial to you and your body. Maybe you have already thought of this but don't want to spend your money to get one. Well, there is a way you can have a standing desk without having to pay full price for one. It’s called building a DIY, a Do It Yourself standing desk, and it’s the perfect project for you to take on this 2022.

Why Standing Desks are Beneficial

Before we get into why you should build and make your own standing desk, it's important that you are aware of all the benefits that are included once your desk is built. Knowing it is going to boost your desire to build it.

Standing desks are basically adjustable workstations. It has an electric motor installed so the tabletop can move to whatever height is better and more comfortable for you. This helps take pressure off your wrists. The sitting disease is probably the biggest pandemic yet. Most workers, especially remote workers, are often glued to their seats. They have tight hips, sore backs, and stiff necks.

 With a standing desk, you can rotate back and forth between sitting and standing. More than that, you can position the desk so even while you're sitting, you can keep great posture and reduce back and neck pain.

More than that, more movement gives you more energy. This means not only are you helping your body, but you are also going to be more productive in your work. There are so many reasons why you should have a standing desk. If you’d rather not spend money on one, a DIY adjustable standing desk is for you.

How to Start

Building your own workstation probably sounds like a great idea but, with so many things to consider, where do you start? How do you build a DIY standing desk? Well, as with everything else, you have to start from the bottom. This means the frame. The frame is essentially the foundation of the desk.

You can either make your own DIY desk frame or purchase a frame to get you started. Now, you are going to have to invest in a frame and spend some money, but the good thing is that it is way more budget-friendly than purchasing the whole standing desk and it already has all the electrical lift features installed so you don’t have to add that yourself.

There are four great standing desk frames available to you and all at a very affordable price. This is a great purchase and helps you get started on making your own DIY adjustable standing desk. It gives you a little starting point and you can build on that.

Top DIY Standing Desk For 2022

1. SmartDesk DIY

The SmartDesk frame is available for a very low price, which makes the fact that it's installed with an effective motorized system even better. It allows you to go from sitting to standing with ease. It has a dual motor and when compared to other standing desks, it has a higher lift capacity. Since it is solely a DIY desk frame, it gives you the freedom to customize your workplace to your wishes. It’s super easy to put together and lifts up to 300 lbs in capacity so even if you have a heavy desktop, the SmartDesk can sustain it! This DIY standing desk frame gets even better because it’s very durable. Manufactured by highly experienced industrial manufacturers and it’s built to last! Get your SmartDesk DIY today and see how much of a difference it can make in your office. 

2. iMovR Studio 470 Base

This lightweight base option is a great addition to a compact workstation. The design is flexible and can be used for your commercial or home offices. This frame is also very easy to assemble just like the Autonomous Frame!

3. StandDesk Pro Electric Base Frame

This DIY adjustable standing desk frame is very cheap and offers a 10-year warranty. If you want a DIY standing desk that fits more into your budget, this is definitely the desk you need. There are some extra features that have the potential to be a great addition or an undesired one depending on who you are.

4. Jiecang Electric Adjustable Standing Desk Frame Structure

This DIY standing desk is actually known for its very affordable price. It also has space for large table tops between 48 inches and 72 inches in addition to its height-adjustable range. 

If you want a more detailed guide on which standing desk frame is perfect for you, read this article on choosing the right standing desk frame. 

Homemade Standing Desks

Now if you prefer to be in complete control over what design you want your desk to be, you can consider homemade standing desks. You can design your desk in several ways with different materials for both the DIY desk frame and tabletops. You can create your own unique standing desk and be as visually pleasing as you wish.

Their DIY adjustable standing desk frame can be made of steel or wood instead of the usual hard plastic. Some desks don't even need a DIY desk frame! Some people have built their own wall desk, where it is positioned on a preferred spot on the wall. This is comparable to the floating corner desk design where the desk is literally placed in a corner on the wall, so it gives off the illusion that it's floating.

If you want a motorized DIY desk frame but don’t want to necessarily spend money, it could be very difficult to figure out how to make one. Luckily, there are counterweight desks. With counterbalanced standing desks you only need tools that you can probably buy at your local hardware store, so it saves a lot of money and produces a great result.

If you don't have a DIY desk frame you don't necessarily have to have a wall desk either. Some people just use their bookshelves or place a small tabletop over the arms of a treadmill so they can walk and stay really active while working. There is even a DIY standing desk made completely out of cardboard with different levels that allows you to switch from sitting to standing!

These styles definitely save money since most of the supplies could be found in your house but you most likely won't have as much control over your preferred height as you would with an adjustable desk. If this is your preferred option and you need more ideas, check out these examples to build your own homemade standing desk.

Corner Office Ideas

One of these homemade office ideas that are very popular is a corner office. There are many alluring benefits of having a corner office desk. It gives you easy access to your desktop items and it can basically fit into any office space since all you need is an available corner. Because of this, you have more space in your office since your DIY standing desk is confined to one corner and it actually provides more desk space than a rectangular desk. Some disadvantages of this desk are that you might need more materials to build the corner office and it limits your screen privacy since it faces inwards.

Your corner desk can be as simple as joining together two desktop surfaces and placing them on the corner wall. This is similar to the floating office. Sometimes it can even be as simple as attaching one long desktop to your wall. This set-up is very minimalist but if you don’t like clutter, you are going to live this look.

Not all corner DIY standing desks have to be floating ones; you can purchase an L DIY desk frame kit. Autonomous provides these as well as the rectangular desktop that was mentioned above. It comes with the base but not the desktop; that part is up to you to decide.

If you love the idea of saving space and building your own corner desk, check out some DIY corner desk ideas.

Standing Desks for Different Purposes

Now you have the options to purchase a base DIY standing desk frame and customize the rest of your standing desk or you have many ideas on how to actually create and make your own standing desk. Most of the DIY adjustable standing desk options you see are for your offices but standing desks are for more than just remote workers.

Gaming Desks

Nowadays, video games aren't just a pastime. People play video games professionally or stream for large audiences. This requires a lot of sitting, sometimes for several hours at a time. Luckily, you create your very own gaming or streaming DIY standing desk.

Now the building of a gaming desk might be time-consuming especially if you have a busy schedule. Plus, it might be hard to get started on building your own if you have never done something like this before. These are a couple of the cons but building your own standing desks saves you money since you don’t have to buy new things. Maybe you might like it and turn building into a hobby later on!

Gaming desks are a lot like regular office desks. You could even use a home office desk as your gaming or streaming table, like the SmartDesk 2 (Standard). Autonomous also has a desk specifically for gaming: Autonomous Standing Gaming Desk. Perfect for gaming, as the name suggests and allows you to switch between sitting and standing very easily.

Then you’ve got the L shaped desk which can pass as a streaming or gaming desk because of all the extra space it has! You can have a floating desk or bookshelf desk just as mentioned above. Get creative! You can even use old furniture and transform it into a desk.

If you decide that it may be too complicated to build your own DIY standing desk, there’s dozen of places that sell gaming or streaming standing desks. A lot of gaming desks are the same as regular home desks; do take into account how much space you will need for your monitors. If you need more ideas check out these DIY gaming desks for inspiration.

How to Build Your Own DIY Standing Desk From Scratch

Building your desk completely from scratch would be the hardest thing to do but this gives you the freedom to really personalize it. When beginning the construction make sure you start from the bottom up with the DIY desk legs first and then add more to create the DIY desk frame. You need construction and safety tools to complete this. Next, just pick out or create your tabletop and there you go: your own do it yourself standing desk.

Other Options

It does take a lot of work to make a DIY standing desk, but the result is worth it. It is also understandable if you decide that you don’t want to go through the trouble of building and making your own standing desk. If you believe an industrial manufactured standing desk is a better option for you check out these adjustable standing desks. Autonomous has standing desks of the highest quality for an affordable price. They have a sleek design that is great for aesthetics and a smooth and quiet motor system.

So, although the DIY standing desk would be a great and productive project for you this 2022, don’t worry if you aren’t up to it. There are always other options, like the ergonomic standing desks at Autonomous! Either way, your new DIY adjustable standing desk is going to benefit you, mentally and physically.