My girlfriend has given me an assignment: build a breakfast bar for the corner of the kitchen, with a tabletop that is 55" by 13". We would buy two stools to go with it. She wants me to build it myself so it's (a) as cheap as possible, and (b) exactly the way we want it. I have no experience with carpentry or DIY but I have a hammer and an electric screwdriver.
- Is it feasible to build a breakfast bar that could double as a standing desk for me? This would involve positioning the tabletop so my MacBook would sit at eye height (55") and putting in a second shelf so my keyboard would be at arm height (36"). Would a breakfast bar that's 55" high look ridiculous?
- If yes to #1, what's a good design that would accommodate a laptop on top and a second shelf for the keyboard?
- Where can I buy the wood shelf/tabletop and legs? I live in New York, where Home Depot does not offer cut-to-fit services for wood. Ideally I could order online, and ideally the legs would come with a screw/bracket kit to attach them to the tabletop, the way these legs do, though I'd prefer wood legs if possible. As for the tabletop, no need for an expensive antique oak slab–just simple and beautiful light wood would do fine.
Best Answer
I like the enthusiasm, that's great. A couple suggestions: 1. Start off with a solid design, including what sort of materials might work. Let the wood material options drive some of the design which would help to save costs.
Explore the wood section at the depot and see what is offered.
Wood can get expensive. So let the options of wood drive the design.
Break down the pieces into their own distinct unit and determine the best way to connect them. It sounds to me you want a lot in your first project, so break it into pieces and build the breakfast bar first. This way the project wont take weeks to complete. You build the bar, it gets installed and you can work on the other pieces.
Decide the finish, if you plan to paint, the quality of the wood can be less as it will not be seen, however if you plan to stain, the quality needs to be higher. For example a 2x4 can be painted and look great, but try to stain over the ink stamps and its awful.
As for legs, be creative, since you don't have any saws, get a hand saw at least, and be creative. I bought a bunch of 1 inch square 36 inch in length pieces for some furniture pieces I was building. They worked great as the legs and were cheap, and already precut.
Final suggestion is to go slow, as this is your first project take your time, plan accordingly and have fun!