Second Kids Desk

My daughter has been asking for a desk ever since I built my son's last summer. I built it the same way I detailed in the Small Kids Desk article I wrote for the first version with a few differences.

• I used poplar instead of pine for the legs, aprons, and face frame to try and add some durability. I noticed a lot of dings and dents around the top of my son's desk, and I'm hoping the poplar will stand up to the abuse a little better.
• I used the same Walnut stain for the top and drawer fronts, but I painted the body of the desk pink with Valspar's "Hello Dolly".
• Lastly, I added glue blocks to the pocket screw joints between the aprons, legs, and the drawer cabinet.

In this design, there is no support at the bottom of the legs to hold them tight and keep them from prying on the joints. The legs will wiggle a little bit if you push slightly on their ends. I realized that the torque could pull the screws out if too much force is applied to the bottoms such as from dragging the desk on the floor or tipping it up for a move.

The glue blocks add long grain glue joints that resist any movement in the joint. All of the play was completely removed, and all of the joints are now very stiff.

I'm still very proud of this design, and I'm glad I could improve upon it. I'm very happy with the way this came out, and my daughter is thrilled to have a new desk.