Four-leg desk or table
A top, four legs, and a crossbar. The easiest piece of furniture there is, if you tighten in the right order.
Not what you bought? Try L-shaped or corner desk · Electric standing desk · Coffee table, end table or console
What you need
In the box already: Allen key · Leg bolts · Wood screws · Adjustable feet · Crossbar or stretcher
Before you open anything
- Work with the top upside down on the flattened box. You will do nine tenths of the job this way.
- Keep screws in their bags. A desk kit often has three screw lengths and the long one through a thin top goes straight out the other side.
- Decide which way the desk will face now, so the cable notch and the modesty panel end up at the back.
Please don't skip these
- Never put weight on a desk whose bolts are only finger-tight.
- Glass tops: lift with two people, never by one edge, and never set a glass edge down on a hard floor.
The whole thing, step by step
9 steps-
Top upside down, good face protected
Lay the desktop upside down on the flattened cardboard. Working this way means gravity is holding the legs in place instead of fighting you.
- Good face down, onto cardboard or a blanket
- Pre-drilled holes facing up at you
- Sweep the floor first — one bit of grit scratches a whole top
-
Work out front, back, left and right
Find the back edge. It is usually the one with a cable notch, a rougher finish, or extra bracket holes. Mark it so you cannot forget.
- Look for a cable cut-out or grommet hole: that is the back
- Compare the two long edges for finish quality
- Put a sticky note on the back edge
Watch out. A desk assembled front-to-back has its cable notch against the wall and all its bracket screws visible. Thirty seconds now. -
Check the screws go in the right holes
Hold each screw next to the thickness of the top. If a screw is longer than the top is thick, it does not belong in the top.
- Short fat screws: into the top
- Long bolts: through the legs into a threaded insert
- Compare lengths side by side against the manual's picture
Watch out. A too-long screw driven into a desktop punches a visible dimple or a hole right through the finished surface. This is permanent. -
Attach the legs, finger-tight
Put each leg or leg plate on its holes and start every screw before tightening any. Four legs, all loose.
- Line the plate up square with the edges of the top
- Start all screws by hand
- Legs should point straight up, not splayed
Tip. Legs often have a top and bottom. The end with the adjustable foot goes to the floor. -
Fit the crossbar or stretcher
The bar between the legs is not decoration. It is the thing that stops the desk from racking side to side. Bolt it in while everything is still loose.
- Bolt both ends finger-tight
- If there are two bars, fit both
- Check it is not upside down — bolt holes usually only match one way
Watch out. Skipping the crossbar because it looked optional is the number one cause of a wobbly desk. -
Tighten in a cross pattern, twice
Tighten opposite corners rather than going round in order, like a car wheel. Then do a second lap. This pulls the desk into square by itself.
- Front-left, then back-right, then front-right, then back-left
- Crossbar last
- Second full lap
Tip. Firm, then stop. Chipboard and MDF strip easily, and a stripped leg plate is a desk that never stops wobbling. -
Flip it over, carefully
Lift it rather than rolling it over on a leg. Legs levered sideways is exactly how leg plates get bent and screws get stripped.
- Lift from the top itself, not the legs
- Two people if it is large or glass
- Set it down on all four feet at once
Watch out. Never flip a desk by pushing it over onto one pair of legs. That load goes straight into the screw threads. -
Level it and kill the wobble
Push each corner. If it rocks, turn the adjustable foot on the leg that lifts off the floor until all four sit down. Then check the top is level.
- Press each corner in turn to find the short leg
- Screw that foot out until the rock stops
- Lay a level on the top, side to side and front to back
Tip. If the legs have no adjustable feet, a folded index card or a stick-on felt pad under the short leg works permanently and silently. -
Run the cables before you load it up
Thread your power strip and cables now, while the desk is empty and light enough to move. Afterwards it is a wrestling match.
- Mount the power strip to the underside with its screw holes or velcro
- Feed cables through the notch or grommet
- Use a few cable ties along the crossbar
Tip. Leave each cable a little slack where it reaches the monitor so you can still tilt and swivel.
If something has gone wrong
The desk wobbles however much I tighten it
Three usual causes: the crossbar is missing or loose, the floor is uneven and the feet need adjusting, or a leg plate screw is stripped. Check in that order.
A screw went through the top
It was the wrong length. Back it out, fill the hole with a wax touch-up stick or colored filler, and use the correct short screw. Compare lengths before driving the rest.
A leg plate screw spins and will not bite
Stripped hole. Push a wooden toothpick or two with a drop of wood glue into the hole, let it set, then re-drive. Or move to a fresh hole a half inch away if the plate allows.
The desk is not level even though it does not rock
Rock and level are different problems. Use a level on the top and adjust the feet on the low side until the bubble centers.
The cable notch ended up facing the room
The top is on back-to-front. Unscrew the legs, rotate the top, re-screw. Twenty minutes and no harm done — the holes are symmetrical on nearly every desk.
Words you will see in the manual
- stretcher
- A bar between table or desk legs. It looks decorative but it is the brace that stops the piece racking.
- leveling foot
- A threaded foot you turn in or out to stop furniture rocking on an uneven floor.
- grommet
- The plastic ring that lines a cable hole in a desktop.
- square
- Describes a frame whose corners are true right angles. You check it by measuring both diagonals: if the two numbers match, it is square.