Believe it or not, holidays are coming. Another shocker: We like to make gifts for people, and most of our friends are geeks. That said, the time has come for DIY geek gift ideas! We’ll be posting some of our own every week. To our real-life friends reading this: Spoiler – some of these are for you.
Who doesn’t like to work while sitting on the couch? It allows you (us) to binge watch TNG while attempting to be productive. Instead of singeing your pants/no-pants (we won’t judge) with your steamy hot Macbook, use a lap desk. But wait! Don’t buy one from the Target dorm section that looks like a weird plastic cutting board. Make your own DIY lap desk! Then make one for a friend! Look extra awesome by personalizing it with hand-stamped fabric. We went with a Triforce pattern. Because, Legend of Zelda.
Buy/gather this stuff:
Piece of Wood
Wood Stain
Polyurethane
Craft / hobby board (you know, the extra thin plywood sheets. They have them at every Michael’s/Joann. This stuff)
Foam (1″-2″. The kind you would buy for a chair cushion)
Solid Fabric (we went with black linen)
Cardstock (or any thick paper you can use for a stencil. Cereal box?)
Fabric Paint
Stippling Sponge brush
Hot Glue Gun
Staple Gun
Pick out a piece of wood and cut it (or have it cut when you buy it at Home Depot/Lowe’s) to the size that you would like the lap desk top to be, then sand the hell out of it. Ours is about 17″x14″. Our friend we made it for has a small Macbook Pro, which fits nicely with a little room to spare.
Stain the wood in the color of your choice, and seal it with polyurethane. We used the same Minwax stain that we used on our DIY headboard.
Time for hand-painted fabric! Make extra and use it for a DIY geeky throw pillow. The stencil is made of cardstock that we had laying around, just hand drawn (with a little help from a ruler) and cut out with an x-acto knife. We used a stippling sponge brush to stamp fabric paint (this one) on in very thin layers.
What kind of cat just randomly walks onto things that you are trying to work on? Oh. Right. Every cat. This is Jack. (Jack Meower. Yeah, like Jack Bauer. Dammit!)
Anyway. While your fabric paint dries, cut both the foam and the craft/hobby board to the exact same size – approximately 2″ smaller than the desk top wood. We used a saw for the craft board and an electric carving knife for the foam.
Place the craft board on the foam, and wrap your hand-stamped fabric around both. Do this as if you’re wrapping a gift, but instead of using tape, staple the fabric directly into the hobby board. Trim access fabric to expose as much of the craft board as you can.
Hot glue! Put glue on the underside of the desk top, and carefully press the completed padded base onto it (concentrate most of the glue on where the craft board is exposed. Wood+Hot Glue+Wood=better bond). DIY lap desk, done.
On our otherwise-beyond-repair white painted hardwood bedroom floor.
What do you think of the DIY lap desk? We would love to hear about your DIY gifts or geek home decor projects!
Lisa says
November 5, 2013 at 4:46 amOh, this is really nice! I think I’d use it when I’m being very classy and eating dinner on the couch! (no judging, ok? ~__^) I can’t wait to see all your DIY gift ideas, I’ve got quite a few people to craft for this year! ^__^
Kathryn says
November 5, 2013 at 6:16 pmThis I dig. Cause it’s classy and nerdy all in one. I think I will turn it into throw pillows and use gold paint.
ALICIA says
November 18, 2013 at 11:05 amAwesomeNESSSSSS X 1000 plus added bonus as a huge 24 fan the cat’s name did it for me. thank you I will be making this for a friend of mine, he loves Superman and I found Superman fabric at the store. I was originally going to make pillows but this is so much better. You guys are awesome!!!!!
cheekygeeks says
November 20, 2013 at 8:49 amI think I’ll be trying this out for my hubby for Christmas…he has been so obsessive about LoZ lately…may as well feed the obsession. 😉
rmigneron says
November 20, 2013 at 1:11 pmVery nice ! Love this.
junkyardmonkie says
November 20, 2013 at 1:45 pmYeah, I wouldn’t use a hot glue gun though at the end. It seems pretty good and sturdy until that last step. Wood glue takes a little longer, but that will not come off. Just use wood glue (it’s cheap and it’s everywhere), put a bunch of heavy stuff on top, wait a day, and your foam will stay right where it is.
ournerdhome says
November 20, 2013 at 3:46 pmThanks for the tip! We plan on making a few more of these as gifts, and will give that a try.
Gigi says
November 29, 2013 at 12:41 pmIs there a way to add something to keep it from slipping/sliding down? My laptop sits on top of my fan so it kind of tilts downwards if that makes sense.
ournerdhome says
November 29, 2013 at 11:40 pmGood question! I used to have a lap desk that had a wooden dowel type thing in the front – seemed to be similar to this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbranded-36-in-x-1-4-in-Poplar-Square-Dowel-14-3HWSQED/202287694#.UpmUlBacMzY
You could grab a small dowel like that (I would go smallest I could), cut it to the same size as the lap desk wood, and glue it on with strong wood glue. Or screw it in from the bottom, if you have tiny enough screws.
Donna McNeill says
December 7, 2013 at 10:02 amWHAT A GREAT IDEA! LOVE THAT YOU CAN MAKE THE LAP DESK JUST FOR THAT PERSON’S INTEREST.THANKYOU FOR SHARING.
markj801 says
December 16, 2013 at 7:29 pmThe foam is extremely expensive, know of anything that could be used instead?
ournerdhome says
December 17, 2013 at 9:17 amIf you sign up for the Joann email newsletter (or get their phone app), there is always a 40-50% off coupon available. That should make the foam cost $5-$8 dollars. Something like this http://www.joann.com/22-x-22-x-2in-high-density-chair-pad/9207838.html would be $7, but foam by the yard could be even cheaper, since such a small amount is required.
If you don’t want to go the foam route, a pillow should also work – just cut the wood to the same size as the pillow. 🙂