Learning to Make Door Desks

You’ve all heard about the legend of Amazon door desks, right? The idea is that startups that haven’t yet made a profit shouldn’t waste their money on things that don’t matter to customers. Thus, Amazon pioneered the use of “Door Desks” — that is, using a door, 4 wooden legs, and a few metal brackets to create a functional and solid desk.

We share the belief that frugality is a great thing, especially since we’re investing our own money, and that of our families, in making TeachStreet a reality! Plus, we’re always up for learning new life and home skills.

So, we thought we’d share what it really takes to construct a Door Desk — we headed to our neighborhood Lowe’s and picked up the necessary materials:

• Doors – ~$20
• 4×4 Legs, which we sawed down to size – $10
• Brackets, per desk – ~$15
• Screws, per desk – ~5

TOTAL COST = ~$50 per desk, not counting the blood, sweat and tears that went into construction, and the cost of the U-Haul rental.

I’m not sure if it was worth it, when you consider that you can pop onto Craigslist and pick up a fairly inexpensive collapsible table, but maybe we should just think of it as a team-building exercise!

And, not only is it useful, but that’s one handsome desk!

Below is a video of our newest employee, and some door desk leg cutting!