Sharing a simple DIY on how to make a home office printer cart. Not only does this fit perfectly under a floating desk, we added wheels for easy mobility! [post contains affiliate links, which means we may make a small commission, at NO additional cost to you, if a purchase is made. thanks for supporting north country nest!]
Last weekend, while Brett was away for hunting opener, I put together this home office printer cart from our scrap wood pile. It was a really, really easy project and relatively low cost – we had the pipes on hand but I had to pick up the right size flanges and ordered casters off Amazon.
We’ve been working on this office for a few months and this is the first piece of “furniture” (aside from the built-in desk) we’ve added. Yes, there is a vanity across from the desk but that’s not permanent; more of a placeholder until we find (or build!) the perfect file cabinet. It’s been a slow process because I wanted to work in the space for a bit and figure out what feels right.
Since I spend a majority of my day in this room, I didn’t want to rush through anything and this printer cart is a perfect example of why you can’t beat doing a test run before you buy. Originally, I planned on putting the printer on top of the file cabinet. When I moved the vanity into that space, we put the printer on the one side. It works fine for Brett since he has a laptop but when I brought in the desktop, the printer location wasn’t helpful. I’d have to unplug the printer, clear off a space on the desk and connect everything just to print off one or two sheets of paper. It was not at all convenient.
Thus, the idea of getting a printer cart was born. I looked online and found a few that were good enough, but nothing that really got me excited. So, instead of paying for something that I would only partly like, I decided to build one myself! The size can be customized to whatever fits best for you; I wanted ours to fit underneath the floating desk and not be wider than the front panel. It ended up being about 16.25″ deep, 25.25″ wide and 16″ tall with the casters.
Home Office Printer Cart Supplies
- Kreg Jig
- Wood clamps
- 2 1/2″ Kreg screws
- 1 1/2″ Kreg screws
- Minwax Special Walnut wood stain
- Casters (x4)
- 1″ industrial piping – ours are 12″ long (x4)
- 1″ flanges (x8)
- Cotton cloth
- Orbital sander
- 80 grit sand paper
- 2×6 boards cut to 24″ long (x6)
- 1×1 board cut to 16 1/4″ long (x4)
- Matte black spray paint
How to Make a Home Office Printer Cart
Step one. Grab three 2×6 boards. Using the Kreg Jig, cut three holes along the long edge and one on both short sides. The middle piece will get three holes on both long sides.
Step two. Using 2 1/4″ inch Kreg screws, screw the boards together. We’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth repeating. For the love of all things woodworking, use a clamp to hold the boards in place.
Step three. Secure the 1×1 boards to the short ends. See that clamp?! 🙂
Side note: I originally started with trimming around all four sides of the 2×6 boards but wasn’t a fan of it – that’s why there’s Kreg holes on both long sides of each long board. Just goes to show – it’s okay to try things out and it’s equally okay to not like it 🙂
Step four. Sand the entire piece down so everything is smooth… because slivers from Kreg holes are absolutely no fun. Not that either one of us would know. One that’s done, you have the top (or bottom) of your printer cart!
Step five. Repeat steps one through four to make the bottom… or top.
Step six. Once the boards are all nice and smooth, it’s time to stain! I went with Minwax’s Special Walnut and put on two coats.
Step six. Grab your pipes and flanges and give them two coats of matte black spray paint. Once the pipes and flanges are dry, screw all three pieces together (flange – pipe – flange).
Step seven. Once the stain is dry, secure the flanges to the TOP of the board that will be on the bottom. I lined them up in the corners, making sure the screw holes did land on top of a seam. Then, flip over that board and secure the other flanges to the BOTTOM of the top board… confusing, I know!
Step eight. Flip the entire piece over and secure the casters to the bottom of the bottom board. Then, you’re done!
Now, we have this handy cart that rolls underneath the desk – no more hauling the printer around. Hallelujah!
The printer lives on the top portion and for the paper storage, I cut off one side of a cardboard gift box. Prior to the cart, I had everything in the vanity drawer so didn’t have to worry too much about loose papers flying around. Now, they’re right by the printer and able to stay in a semi-nice pile.
To hide all the wire chaos that emerged, I put the router, router wires and printer cords in an industrial bin. That way they don’t get caught up in the wheels and most importantly, it just looks a lot better 🙂
Friends, I think it’s pretty safe to say that this DIY option was a much better route than buying something we weren’t completely sold on. And since this turned out so well, I am leaning even more towards building a file cabinet for us. Stay tuned!
All our best,
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