Back to the Drawing Board

Sitting at my desk and painting for hours on end was getting to be such a pain in the back. It’s difficult to keep my posture upright when I’m focused on tiny little details. I really wanted a drafting table, but even after searching Craigslist for used ones, I wasn’t coming up with anything I really liked or could afford, so I decided to build my own!

I have some basic tools, but no knowledge or experience making furniture. Despite all of that, this process was pretty easy and I ended up with a simple, adjustable, large drawing board.

First, I bought all of my materials at the hardware store. The priciest piece was the 2' x 3' birch top that is my drawing surface (a whopping $14). I had the guy at the store cut pieces for the frame and support pieces.

I then screwed the frame together using wood screws and inserted two pieces in the middle of the frame that will hold the pegs used for adjusting the tilt. I also screwed a dowel between the two support beams.

The longest part of the process was sanding and finishing the top. Once it had multiple coats and was sanded smooth, I screwed the support brace on the back. This was the trickiest part because it needed to match up with the pegs on the frame.The last step was drilling holes and hammering in the pegs. 

I’m really happy with the outcome. Despite starting with some slightly warped beams, the end result is very stable and sturdy. It is really large, so there is a lot of room to lay out my paintings and reference photos. It would be nice to have a clever way to hold the artwork in place. Currently I’m using blue tape and that works well, but maybe in the future I will come up with something better. Any suggestions?


Total cost: $32

Update: I added a little more space and functionality with a folding table that slides under my desk when I'm not working.