Girls Desk Project

[Mike OMelia]

Hoping someone here can give me an idea of "standard" measurements (height, width, depth) and drawer height & width.

I have only this picture to work with. Worse, I have to now order wood since my hardwood supplier closed shop, so I have to estimate board feet. But, with standard measurements, I should be able to build a sketch in Sketchup


Thanks,

Mikedesk.jpg

[Sean Hughto]

Do you have to build an exact reproduction of what is in the picture?

Cause if not, you have the chance to make something custom - that fits the space where it must go perfectly and the person who will use it.

Will yours be painted white?

Cause if so, you need not stress much about ordering wood as you can get more if you need it and matching won't matter.

[Mike OMelia]

Exact copy? No. Painted? Yes. But Lowes/Home Depot only sell Poplar, then Oak. I want something harder than poplar. GuessI could paint oak

[Sean Hughto]

The Borgs near me carry maple too. I'd make the top legs and drawer fronts out of maple, but the rest could be painted poplar and be fine. Poplar would be better for the drawer boxes too perhaps in that they would be light.

[Yonak Hawkins]

I admit I don't have much experiecne to base my opinion on but, if it were me making a desk for a child, I'd assume she would want to use it after she grows. I'd make it a normal desk size and give her a cushion for the seat.

My office desk measures 30" tall and 31" deep, although that dimension could be dictated by the space you have and the intended usage. I doubt there's much of a standard for desk widths. Mine measures 60". My seat measures 20".

The desk in the picture appears to be, say, 4" ~ 5" below the door knob and door knobs, I'd say, are usually about 36" from the floor. It seems that would make the desk a normal height.

[lowell holmes]

If you go to 3D-Warehouse and enter child's desk, you will find 10 or 12 desks. They should give you the dimensions you seek.

[Jim Rimmer]

Exact copy? No. Painted? Yes. But Lowes/Home Depot only sell Poplar, then Oak. I want something harder than poplar. GuessI could paint oak

Is there a McCoy's near you? they might have some options. When I was in a place where I couldn't buy from a local source and had to order, it forced me to be more accurate with my estimates and I ordered from my cut list pieces pre-cut to rough size rather than a long board I would cut down. Pricing was in linear inches based on width and thickness so no charge for cutting.

[Lee Schierer]

If you have the over all dimensions of the unit shown in the photo you can easily scale practically ever dimension you need from the photo. Lets say the width is 42" according to the dimension given for the item. Measure the width with a scale (engineer speak for ruler) graduated in at least 32nds of an inch. Divide the measurement you get for the width by 42 to get a conversion number for all width measurements. Then measure the leg width. Multiply the measured dimension by the conversion number you just found and round that number off to the closest 1/4 of an inch, you will then know the actual width of the leg. Repeat this process for any horizontal dimension you need from the photo. Use a similar conversion number process for vertical dimensions and for depth dimensions. You should have 3 conversion factors that you use, one each for widths, heights and depths. You can guess that the shelf verticals and horizontals are 3/4" thick.

I've used this technique many times to build custom pieces similar to items that were found in catalogs.

[Dave Richards]

If you Google 'desk dimensions', you'll find hundreds of drawings that show desk sizes. Make the height a standard such as 29 or 30 inches and make the depth 20-24 inches. The girl won't be small forever. Make the desk something she can continue to use for a long time. If you're going to make a 3D model, you can play with the width and the drawer sizes until you like what you've got. Also consider things like the legs. Are you going to turn legs for this project or buy them? If you're going to buy them, source them first and get dimensions for them so you can work with them during your sketching. I find Osborne is a great source for turned legs and I often get use their DXF downloads to make 3D models to use in SketchUp projects. I wouldn't be all that difficult to use that image of the desk to create a SketchUp model of it.

[Charles McKinley]

I used a "Pixel Ruler" when making plans from pictures. The one I had allowed me to enter in a known measurement, such as the length or height, and convert the number of pixels to inches to scale everything else from.

[John A langley]

Mike it looks to me like your desktop is 24 deep by 48 wide you want 24 inches clearance from the floor to the bottom of the drawer you also want at least 24 inches wide in the knee space The hutch above I would not make any bigger or taller than an adult sitting in the chair Head high