{"id":903,"date":"2024-09-23T10:10:40","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T02:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php\/2025\/11\/22\/diy-modern-farmhouse-murphy-bed-how-to-build-the-desk-free-plans\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T14:42:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T06:42:12","slug":"diy-modern-farmhouse-murphy-bed-how-to-build-the-desk-free-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/?p=903","title":{"rendered":"DIY Modern Farmhouse Murphy Bed \u2013 How To Build The Desk (Free Plans!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"ThisHey everyone! \u00a0Last week I shared how I teamed up with Rockler Woodworking and Hardware as well as PureBond plywood to build a gorgeous Modern Farmhouse Murphy Bed for my office. \u00a0If you missed the tutorial, you can find that here. \u00a0Today, I\u2019m continuing on from that post and sharing the free plans and tutorial for the desk modifications. \u00a0It took a lot of careful thought and consideration to come up with the modifications for the desk. \u00a0There were a few really important elements that I needed to take into consideration. \u00a0The most important being the ability to fit the entire Murphy Bed unit in the room and still be able to open and close the door. \u00a0After all, our guests would probably appreciate a little privacy. \u00a0I also wanted to make sure that there would still be enough space to sit at the desk if the Murphy bed was down. \u00a0Mostly because I know my kids will enjoy laying on the bed reading books or playing games while I work in the office. \u00a0Plus our guests may appreciate a place to sit and use a computer or work on anything without having to fold up the bed in order to use the desk. \u00a0This left me with a 20\u2033 desktop, which is 4\u2033 narrower than the average width, but still plenty big enough to work at. \u00a0You can download the free plans for the desk modifications here. \u00a0They will walk you through every step of the desk modification build. \u00a0I\u2019ve included affiliate links to products I used in this post for your convenience.<\/p>\n

The printable plans are very thorough, but everything is actually really easy to put together. \u00a0Let\u2019s get started, shall we?<\/p>\n

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I started by assembling the bookcase. \u00a0You can see the rabbeted edges to allow for the 1\/4\u2033 plywood backing to sit flush against the back edges of the bookcase. \u00a0I added the middle fixed shelf first. \u00a0Since I was planning to paint the book case but stain\u00a0that shelf, I did not glue it when I added my 1 1\/4\u2033 pocket screws. \u00a0I did<\/em> accidentally glue it to the shorter cabinet vertical which made for fun times when trying to take it off to stain it. \u00a0Thankfully it all came apart without any plywood breaking apart. \u00a0The reason for it being attached now is to provide some stabilization until the bookcase is ready to be painted\/stained.<\/p>\n

\"edited-3232\"Next, I attached the bookcase top and header rails. \u00a0You can see that I attached it so my pocket holes would be at the top of the book case. \u00a0This saved me from having to fill them later when it was time to paint. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"edited-3234\"The bookcases from both the original plans and my modifications went together quickly and easily. \u00a0I think I had them both put together within maybe 30 minutes to an hour. \u00a0As you may remember from part one of the Murphy Bed project, I modified the height of the middle fixed shelf on the narrower book case to match the height of the fixed shelf on the modified book case. \u00a0The idea of them not being at the same height would have driven me crazy! \u00a0It meant changing the size of the bottom drawer for both book cases, which wasn\u2019t hard at all.<\/p>\n

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Once the book cases were built, I built the desk cabinet. \u00a0I attached the fixed bottom with 1 1\/4\u2033 pocket screws and wood glue. \u00a0The top of the cabinet bottom should measure 5 1\/4\u2033 up from the bottom of the cabinet verticals. \u00a0The bottom moulding will be flush with the top side of the fixed bottom.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0I measured cut all of my bottom moulding to size and then set it in place and attached it with 1 1\/4\u2033 brad nails. \u00a0I really love the look of this DIY moulding. \u00a0It was so easy to make and I can customize it to any height I need!<\/p>\n

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I drilled pocket holes into the top of my cabinet sides with my Kreg R3, attached the plywood backing, and finished it off with paint.<\/p>\n

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To build the cabinet doors, I needed to add a dado groove into the inside edges of the rails and stiles. \u00a0I used my router with a 1\/4\u2033 straight bit to accomplish this. \u00a0For the stiles, I plunged the wood onto the router table approximately 1 1\/2\u2033 from the end and then lifted it up before I got to the other end. \u00a0This made it so I didn\u2019t have any holes to fill later on.<\/p>\n

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I attached the cabinet together with wood glue and 1 1\/4\u2033 pocket screws.<\/p>\n

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I drilled the holes for the cabinet hinges\u00a0and hung the door. \u00a0These hinges make it easy to adjust the door once it is hung, in case it doesn\u2019t go in perfectly the first time. \u00a0I found that two pennies on the bottom and sides of the door worked great to get the right gap.<\/p>\n

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I replaced the baseboards in the office before beginning this project. \u00a0I left it off of the wall the Murphy Bed was going on, but didn\u2019t think to do that on the side the desk was going on. \u00a0I pushed the desk cabinet up against the baseboards where it would be going and marked the cut area with a pencil, then cut them out with a dovetail saw. \u00a0It was definitely one of those face-palm moments where you realize the baseboards should have just been added later.<\/p>\n

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When the desk was ready to be assembled, we installed the rear cleat into the studs and then installed the front support rail. \u00a0You can see that we gave the rear cleat a quick coat of paint to match the wall color and camouflage it a little. \u00a0Pay no mind to the fact that the cabinet door is swinging the wrong direction. \u00a0I realized my mistake later and had to flip the door around. \u00a0Nobody ever said DIYers were perfect:)<\/p>\n

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The desk was secured to the cleat, rail, and desk cabinet with 1 1\/4\u2033 pocket screws.<\/p>\n

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To keep the desk from sagging under pressure where it met with the fixed shelf, I added a 1\u00d73 over the seam and screwed 1 1\/4\u2033 screws from the under side to keep everything tight and secure.<\/p>\n

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I built all 7 of the drawers from 1\/2\u2033 plywood and gave the edges a good sanding to round them off a bit.<\/p>\n

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I originally planned to install the drawers with side mount drawer slides, but couldn\u2019t find any at Home Depot. \u00a0Being impatient and just wanting to get it done, I didn\u2019t want to wait to order some, so I bought 12\u2033 undermount drawer slides. \u00a0NEVER AGAIN! \u00a0After fighting a losing battle with three of the drawers, I gave up and hopped on Amazon and found some 12\u2033 side mount drawer slides at a great price and got Prime shipping!<\/p>\n

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Once all of the drawers were installed, I added the drawer fronts and hardware. \u00a0To get the gap just right on the drawers, I found that 2 pennies and a dime worked perfectly to get me just what I was looking for. \u00a0If I needed to make an adjustment after installing the drawer fronts, I was able to easily do so by adjusting the drawer slides a little.<\/p>\n

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I am pretty much in love with how it all turned out. \u00a0Not only do I now have a gorgeous guest bedroom, but a completely functional office space! \u00a0The desk came together just as I had hoped and gave me everything I was wanting as far as workable desktop space and enough room to move around, even if the bed is down.<\/p>\n

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While this was definitely the biggest furniture project I\u2019ve ever built, it wasn\u2019t the hardest, so don\u2019t let the size intimidate you. \u00a0The printable plans I drew up as well as the plans from Rockler break down all of the steps and are easy to follow. \u00a0<\/p>\n

If you missed the earlier parts of this office remodel, you can find them all here:<\/p>\n

Modern Farmhouse Office Remodel (The Plan)<\/p>\n

Paint and baseboards<\/p>\n

Replacing the flooring<\/p>\n

Modern Farmhouse Murphy Bed (Part 1)<\/p>\n

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DISCLOSURE: \u00a0This post was sponsored by Rockler Woodworking and Hardware and Purebond plywood. \u00a0All opinions and ideas are 100% my own. \u00a0This post also contains affiliate links for your convenience. \u00a0Please read my disclosure statement for more information.<\/p>\n

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Hey everyone! \u00a0Last week I shared how I teamed up with Rockler Woodworking and Hardware as well as<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1049,"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903\/revisions\/1049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/veryauto.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}