DIY Kids Desk with Shelf Brackets

This post is sponsored by Crates and Pallet.  I’m so
thankful for the opportunity to work with them and as always, all
opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting brands that support House
Homemade.

Good morning! Today I’m excited to show you how I made the desk for the girls’ playroom. They have been big into “needing a desk” ever since we made mine last year. I was so excited to be able to give them a space that made them feel fancy and productive. ; ) You know, it takes a lot of work to be a kid who doesn’t have homework yet.

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For this project you’ll need the following supplies:


Crates and Pallet 12″ forged steel shelf brackets 
A 1×12 for the desk top
3 various sizes of 1″ wood planks for the wall part of the desk. I used 2 1×8’s and a 1×10.
wood stain  a saw
a drill
a level
3″ screws

When I got the idea to make a desk under the window I thought about how I could protect the wall from kicking and, lets be real, dirty feet. I thought it would look really cool to have a plank looking wall as the base of the desk. I wanted the wall color to show through and for the planks to be different widths.

I measured the width of the window and measured the space from the window sill to the baseboard. I ended up buying a 1×12 for the top, a 1×10 for the wall and 2 1×8’s for the back part as well.

I brought them home and cut them down to the width of the window. Then stained them with my favorite stain color.


I  found the studs through the very sophisticated process of drilling a small hole into the wall where I thought there was a stud. If it was easy to drill..No stud. If it was harder to drill.. Stud. Now, this was only acceptable practice because I was going to be covering up the wall anyway. I didn’t have to make too many extra holes because once I found the first stud, the others were around 16” apart.

I made a pencil mark on the window trim where the studs were and drilled my first wall plank in flush with the bottom of the window trim.

 I drilled pilot holes and then screwed in the bracket.

The horizontal part of the brackets have screw holes as well so once I put on the top piece, I used short screws to hold the desk top in place.

The brackets are perfect for this kind of project. They
are heavy duty and I love how they don’t have an angled support bar.
They’re low profile but also have such a pretty finish for places where
they’re displayed closer to eye level. I love the little part that
curves over the wood edge. It’s subtle and a pretty detail.

I saved the last plank of wood until the end because I had to make a cutout in the wood for the electrical outlet that’s there.  I measured where it was and marked it out on the board.

I drilled holes in each corner of the box I drew and used the jigsaw to cut out the rectangle for the plug.

This doesn’t require skill. Just the bravery to do it yourself and the ability to draw/saw straight-ish lines. I promise.

Luckily, I did it in the right spot and was able to install the last board the same way I had done the others. I just pulled the outlet a little further out from the wall and screwed it into the wood instead of the box it was originally in. No rewiring or anything.

The color doesn’t match exactly but I spray painted the plate cover and the little outlet covers brown so that they wouldn’t be as obvious on the wall.

The stools were second hand finds that I cut down to be table height.  The girls love the desk. I catch them sitting there working quietly. They feel so special to have this little space that’s all theirs. Zee-ba lovie and all…