$169.95 Ikea Standing Desk including a chair!

I've been reading about how bad sitting all day long is for your long term health. So I was really interested in the nice Ikea Hacker wide desk, but the cost was still a bit high for my current budget. During a recent trip to Ikea with our next in line for college this fall, I began to formulate a plan for a desk that was better than the cheapest options and not quite as spendy as the aformentioned Ikea option. What I ended up with is the following -

Here's my bill of materials:

• 1 Vika Amon 150 cm x 75 cm table top - $39.99
• 4 Vika Kaj adjustable legs - $15.00 each
• 4 Leg bases made from scrap material - no cost
• 1 Ekby Jarken 119 cm x 28 cm shelf - $14.99
• 2 Capita shelf brackets sets (only need 3) - $14.99 each
• 1 Franklin (29") Chair, on clearance - $24.99

Now in order to make this work I had to adjust the legs a bit higher than the suggested max length. So you'll need to consider whether or not you're comfortable with this for yourself. I'm just under 6' tall and have the table top height set just shy of 1 meter (39" actually) which seems just about right for me and the monitors I have. I also used much bigger washers on the bottom of the Capita brackets to make them more substantial. Also, the wide Ikea standing desk was constructed using a 24" table top and the one I used is 29 1/2", so I used the brackets in the reverse orientation shown on the wide desk to keep the shelf closer to my standing position. And I used large (1 1/2" - 2" diameter) washers on the bottom of the Capita brackets to beef up the mounting a bit.

I used the desk a bit this past weekend and I really like it. Can't wait to lug it into the office in the morning and start using it daily.