The Vine: November 27, 2007
Hey there,
I’m looking for an inexpensive desk — under 100 dollars, hopefully. Why is it that a sleek, simple desk made of metal and plastic can cost upwards of 1,000 dollars? I’ve already checked out Ikea, The Container Store, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. There are a few options that suit me, but I’m wondering if there are any other stores or websites that might carry what I’m looking for. I’ve looked into component systems too, but they seem to add up to more than some of the ready-made ones. Do the readers have any suggestions?
Living In A Hallway
Dear Rocking To The Dawn,
(Nobody else felt the Judas Priest? Okay.)
My current “desk system” is a door-sized piece of plywood I had cut at Home Depot, balanced on two bookcases. That definitely fits into your price range — but as it happens, I’m kind of over that set-up, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for smaller, simpler desks that don’t cost a fortune, and here’s what I’ve got on my short list:
1. The Parsons desk from West Elm. (It also comes in chocolate; just noodle around the site a bit.) Pluses: elegant, clean lines; the colors will go with almost any decor. Minuses: you have to build it yourself; not a lot of drawer space.
2. The go-cart and trig desks from CB2. Pluses: quite a bit cheaper. Minuses: the more industrial look doesn’t go with as many design schemes; the go-cart one only comes in orange, and while I work orange as a neutral, not everyone wants to do that; zero storage.
Neither of these is $100 or less, although the CB2 options come closer; my suggestion as far as staying in your budget is to identify two or three desk styles you like, whether it’s one of these or Ikea or whatever; then sit on eBay and Craigslist searches until one comes up secondhand for the right price. It could take a while, but you won’t spend more than you want to, and you won’t have to build the bastard yourself.
Readers?
Tags: Ask The Readers retail
I looked at Staples.com under compact and student desks and found a wide variety of desks for $150 and less. You could also check out yard sales. Good luck on your search.
I’ve always had luck with Walmart or Target. Their stuff is, for the most part, metal and plastic, with some wood items to spice things up. Quality isn’t the best, but for under a hundred bucks they’re great. I got one about five years ago, and only recently got rid of it (mostly because it was too big to fit into my room).
Have you tried Target?
They have some cute stuff these days.
http://tiny.cc/Target
Home Decorators Outlet is always my first place to check for inexpensive furniture. We have ordered several things from them – the quality is usually pretty decent. They seem to have several options in your price range.
http://www.homedecoratorsoutlet.com/s/maindesks/
My current desk came from Target a couple of years ago; though it doesn’t appear to be on the website anymore, a quick browse through the available options reveals a lot of different styles ranging from $50-$250. Mine is incredibly solid and durable, though it only has shelves on either side, not drawers.
My brother has a set-up similar to yours, Sars. He bought two two-drawer filing cabinets and set up a length of countertop from Home Depot on top of them. It allows you to set the length of your desk however long or short you want it. I can’t imagine he paid more than $100 for it. (Or actually, my parents.)
I highly recommend Craigslist, as well as yard/garage sales. Also if you have one near you that sells furniture, I have had remarkably good luck with Goodwill. I got my current desk from them – a monster that had tons of storage and I think was previously used in a school – for $20.
Craigslist is your friend. Where I am, there are always TONS of desks listed. We picked one in great shape up for our daughter for $40. Use listpic to do your search — you get all the listings with pictures and prices on one page, super easy browsing! http://sfbay.listpic.com/ (with links to other cities)
What about Target or Wal-Mart? they ship, sometimes for free, depending on the product, and they always sell cheap online. I’ve found they both have a lot more product on their website than they do in the stores.
I wouldn’t even try major retail. For desks, yardsales, thrift shops, antique stores and flea markets are _the_ hands-down best way to go, period.
I got a beautiful solid oak Danish Modern WITH matching deskchair for $25 at an estate sale less than six months ago. I went to a wonderful store called Diversity Thrift (their logo is a rainbow – awesome) and found literally dozens of desks in their warehouse one day. Go secondhand, absolutely. MUCH higher quality, MUCH more style, and sometimes some neato provenance or history. Even better, you can feel good about shopping at some of these places. Charity shops actually benefit something other than some corporation’s bottom line.
I second the e-bay suggestion. You can tailor your search by location, so you only find desks that are within driving distance to pick up. This is how I found both my solid wood king-sized bed ($100!) and a solid wood dresser (also $100!).
I got a desk from BigLots! five years ago for $50, it’s just particle board, but it’s held up quite well over the years and a couple of moves. They have quite a few cheap glass/plastic/metal desks too.
http://www.biglots.com/Furniture/item.aspx?cid=13&scid=41&iid=1873
(You might have to create a login name to view this).
This is the set up I just got, in black, and I love it:
http://www.homedecorators.com/pop.php?img=large/r2459400850.jpg&type=alt&parentId=2459400
Here’s just the desk: http://www.homedecorators.com/P/Horizon_Ladder_Desk/850/
It’s sleek and not that wide off the wall (33″ I think). I have a file cabinet next to the desk along with a drawer set up (nicer than plastic, not that it matters, but it looks better).
It arrived in under 4 days and it was so easy to put together. It’s sturdy as well. It’s a little more than $100, but not much, and it really is great.
I have to second Staples (in store or online at staples.com). I actually got this one http://tinyurl.com/yvvoht even cheaper at a surplus store down the road from my Staples, but it is large and also under $100 at Staples. They have smaller and sleaker, too, which may better suit your needs.
Whenever I’m looking for stuff like this, I set up a craigslist RSS search (like “desk” or “entertainment” or “piano” or whatever). Then I just add it to my Google Reader feeds, which alerts me any time a new post has been made that matches my criteria, and I can check it out and see if it needs.
If your need is not pressing that’s what I would do. If you’re willing to be patient (a few weeks / months), I’ve always been able to find something that fit my needs
Hi
Long-time lurker. Can I suggest you post a request on your local freecycle (www.freecycle.org) listing before buying anything? I recently got an amazing old wooden desk from mine all I had to do was collect it. So free and good for the environment.
Good luck
Can Hallway get him/herself into a Costco? This (assuming the link works) is not the only sub-$100 listing in Costco’s Office category.
Plus, Costco is awesome.
If he/she prefers to go the Staples route, Hot Deals Club is good at covering Staples sales.
Hmm, there are some awesome recs up there. But I just wanted to share that I bought the MIKAEL workstation from IKEA for $90, chose not to install the keyboard tray, and I really like it. Real life pic here from when we first set it up, and now it has a proper lamp and looks even better. And, it was easy to put together and not too heavy.
Have to agree with those who suggested craigslist. I have had great luck furnishing a good portion of my house on the cheap using that site! You can definitely find a desk in your price range – and if it’s looking a little tired, it’s super easy to spruce up furniture with some paint.
I’ve had good luck with Craigslist in the past. Especially around May when many college students are looking to unload a lot of superfluous stuff.
Also, I don’t know if Ms. Hallway can visit an IKEA store vs. just shopping online, but often you can find more stuff in person than on the website, and for something like a desk they have a gazillion things that aren’t necessarily marketed for everything they can be used as. Example: my breakfast nook table is actually a desk (only thing we could find that was the right size) and works great. Several people I know use their modular table top / legs system as desks. Nice ’cause you can easily adjust the height, comes in several colors/finishes, but doesn’t include storage. Thankfully you can also buy little file cabinets and sets of drawers at IKEA.
I personally love my corner desk. Fits nicely into my small space- tons of room on the shelves since it goes up an it’s actually really lightweight (A must since I’ve moved about once a year for the last 13 years).
Here’s one similar to mine at Office Depot- and only $120
http://tinyurl.com/2hx4c2
I just got something like this little guy: http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?level=SK&id=186422&Ns=p_Price_2|0&Nr=200000&N=2314926&An=browse
at OfficeDepot, but mine has wheels, which I dig because I can wheel it over to the couch or bed and work while slounging.
It’s a question of fast vs. better. If you need a desk tomorrow, just go to Target or Costco, spend your $100 on a piece of decent-looking particle board, and be done with it. If you have a little time to poke around, do the yard sale/estate sale/craigslist thing, and end up with an amazing piece of furniture you will love forever for the same price.
I’m still sad about having to get rid of the desk I had in college when I moved to a tiny NYC apartment. My stepdad found it for me at a yard sale for $90. The thing was solid oak, weighed about twelve thousand pounds, and was the size of a twin bed. It was an unbelievably wonderful piece of furniture–talk about storage space! Sadly, 6×9′ rooms do not accommodate such beauty.
one of my friends used to have a desk that was two sawhorses with a large glass panel balanced across it — I think it was an Ikea set but you could probably rig a similar thing on your own as long as the glass had treated edges & was thick enough not to break. and it looked totally awesome.
I’ll second the ‘Stuff you didn’t know IKEA had’ vote – I bought my charming ALVE secretary-style desk (with optional add-on top hutch) last weekend, and would never have seen or cared about it in the catalog/online.
It wound up running $400 with both pieces, but I think the desk alone was $200 – and has a drawer and lots of space and so forth.
Third for Staples. I got my desk there…eighty, I think? No drawer space, but it has a..platform-thinger for the monitor, main desk range, a keyboard tray, and then a little stand for the printer. So, negatory on storage, but it does a good job of keeping everything up on different levels to free up space.
I use a door, similar to Sars, except it’s…actually a door. You ask for a “slab door” at the hardware store, which means no hinges or doorknobs, just door-shaped goodness. Get a flat one, and put it on some crates or bookcases.
I have been using mine for 10 years, since college. One day I got bored and screwed on some prefab legs, a little crossbracing, a shelf, and painted it death-metal black.
But even by itself, it’s the best desk I’ve ever had.
If Hallway lives near a university, she can try to check if they have a surplus warehouse where they sell older furniture. I got a gargantuan metal teacher’s desk for $5–sturdy, drawers out the wazoo, etc. The thing weighed a bomb (and probably could have doubled as a bomb shelter), and my husband rejoiced when we moved to an apartment where it wouldn’t fit up the stairs, but I never have been able to find its equal, either in functionality or price.
@ JenK: Bomb shelter desk LOVE! I paid $20 for mine when the nonprofit my friend works for were selling all their old desks and buying anonymous blond-wood laminate ones. Owning a metal teacher’s desk means I have to hire movers every time I move, but that’s not altogether a bad thing. And it is, as you said, awesomely functional and everlasting.
Someday I’ll get around to dragging it into the backyard, stripping the scratched, blah “almond” paint and Kryloning it candy-apple red (my version of orange-as-a-neutral).
I bought a Hudson desk from Target and though there’s some assembly required, it really does look and work much, much better than the $130 pricetag would suggest.
http://www.target.com/Hudson-Computer-Desk-Ash/dp/B000E125BM/qid=1196275749/ref=br_1_9/602-5689520-0006232?ie=UTF8&node=3527981&frombrowse=1&index=target&field-browse=3527981&rank=pmrank&rh=&page=4
I would like to second Office Depot. I got my very small yet very shelf-y desk there four years ago for 40.00 on sale, and when I checked their website they had several deskes in the 50-100 dollar range.