Functional black Gorm workstation

Materials: (4) 19"x20" Gorm Shelves, (2) 19"x12" Gorm Shelves; (2) 30"x12" Gorm Shelves; (4) 68.5" Gorm Posts, (10) Ekby Valtar brackets in black, (3) 8'x8"x1" boards, (2) 10'x12"x1" boards, (2) 4'x8"x1" boards; black paint; cherry wood stain; polyurethane; L brackets; Kasset Black boxes

Description: My husband and I needed a good workstation for the both of us. We had a lot of books, and wanted to incorporate them in a clean, simple way. I came up with my Ikea hack from this other desk hack here. I really preferred black and dark cherry stained wood (the top is cherry, although it looks black), plus we wanted to be able to spend as little money as possible. The Gorm unit was the cheapest I could find.

So we gathered all of our supplies, which included needing to go to Lowes and getting many cedar boards. We painted all of the Gorm shelves black, as well as 2 of the 8'x8"x1" boards.

We then cut the Gorm posts to the right height. This was actually kind of scary because all of the holes needed to line up perfectly, which a few didn't. So I sanded the ends to make everything even. It was a lot more work than one would have thought. I also sanded the planks of wood that would become stained.

At this point, we began installing the units. We put the Gorm pieces together, as well as attached the Ekby brackets and black shelves to the wall.

To attach the planks of wood together, we used leftover Gorm pieces. We actually did not drill through the predrilled holes in the Gorm posts because we thought it would be stronger.

From there we attached the top to the L brackets, put everything away, and Voila! A new desk!

See more photos of Lauren's Gorm workstation.

~ Lauren Ellis