January always brings on the urge to de-clutter and organize. This cute desk organizer lazy susan was the perfect start to getting my desk in order and it’s a simple build made entirely with scrap wood!
Good morning my friends!
Happy 2021 (I hope) – or at the very least – Happy fresh start!
It’s a new year – with vaccines a reality!!
I’ve also consumed just about all of the Holiday treats in my fridge, so just having those gone will constitute a diet 😂
And it’s a Monday – which always gives me hope for big things for the coming week…. like the carpet cleaning company I just booked to come and save me from the accumulated messes of the last year (that my little steam cleaner couldn’t get out).
I’m full of hope today guys!
Today’s project is a little one – but in the spirit of getting back into the swing of things, and starting my year off better organized – it seemed the perfect build to share today:
my little lazy-susan desk organizer!
The idea and plans are all Jenn’s over at Build Basic:
I love everything about this geometric lazy susan tray! The size, the colour, the geometric pattern, the hot chocolate… EVERYTHING!
But I don’t need another tray this size – lazy susan or not.
What I did need was a desk organizer, and a lazy susan version was ideal!!
Jen has all of the details and simple building instructions over on Build Basic: geometric lazy susan tray, so I’ll just tell you how I altered it to create my mini-desktop version.
Desk organizer lazy susan
I had these scrap bits of wood ¼” thick by 1″ wide leftover from the slatted plant stand I built for my Aunt.
I followed Jenn’s instructions but cut my pieces to 4 ¼” long with a parallel 30° angle on either end.
I went with 4 boards per geometric section, which gave me an overall size of 7 ½”” across.
I played with a few sizes – since I had the wood in my scrap bin – and decided to make a couple of matching coasters and a third size as well.
I liked the grooves on Jenn’s tray, so I sanded a small chamfer on the edges of each board before gluing the pieces down to a 1/8″ piece of MDF.
Per the instructions, I cut the edges for my tray with 30° perpendicular mitres on each end. Mine are 4 ¾” long.
Instead of gluing the frame to the desk organizer itself, I laid out the frame pieces in a row on a piece of painter’s tape, put glue at each mitred cut and then rolled the boards together around the tray base. I did put a bead of glue along the base of the tray as well.
It’s not a perfect a fit to the tray base, but the mitred corners are perfect.
(I still have work to do on measuring for mitres 🤦🏻♀️)
No nails at all so far – just wood glue!
Once everything was dry, I gave it a final sanding and then applied a “weathered oak” stain.
I finished my desk organizer with a coat of Varathane triple-thick for durability and protection.
I still love Jenn’s brown stain more – but this is closer to the finish on my desk (which I’ll show off later this week), so the brown will have to be for another day.
I found the centre of the bottom of the desk organizer and then attached a 3″ lazy susan to the bottom.
That’s it guys!
My desk organizer lazy susan is just a bit larger than my outstretched hand, but it holds these containers I found on Amazon perfectly!
The weathered oak stain doesn’t match the weathered oak stain on my desk because one is spruce and the other is red oak – but it’s kind of close?
Speaking of… the smaller version of this geometric tray I used as a stain sampler:
I have so many stains in my She-Shop that it’s nice to have a visual sample of how each will look on spruce.
(I’ll show you how they look on oak with my desk reveal).
The stain sampler is only about 6″ across, but displays 9 different stain options. I love this thing!
But not as much as my desk organizer.
The other 4″ trays made cute, matching coasters for my desk so I ‘seem’ all glam and coordinated. 😂
Bring on the New Year baby! I’ve got a fancy new (to me) workspace and I’m organized and ready to roll!
Thank you Jenn for sharing your brilliance and free building plans with us!
*These are affiliate links to items I used in this build. For full Amazon affiliate disclosure, please see the sidebar or bottom of the page.
Lazy Susan desk organizer
Have a great one!