I decided to get a 22-inch monitor for the home office and do a ‘top down’ setup at the desk. That meant that I needed to raise the monitor so that it peeks above the monitor on my Macbook Pro. I looked for thick books, boxes and a few other props to get the right height and finally settled on this hilarious little plastic wash basin.

It was the right height and had enough surface area for the monitor base to rest safely on, but unfortunately it looked ridiculous and spoilt my mojo! I knew I had to make my own monitor stand that looked much much better.

So it was off to Ikea, armed with some vouchers I had that were about to expire. In my mind, I wanted to get a cheap shelf board and also see if I could get some cabinet legs or some metal bits that would double up as legs for the stand. After browsing the shelf range, it was a little tricky cos they were too wide or too heavy.

I didn’t fancy having to do any sawing, so I settled with a sturdy pine chopping board for about $10. Next I went to the kitchen cabinet section to pick up the Capita 11cm steel legs; a set of four costs $10.

The next steps are easy enough. Just measure a 1cm buffer from the edge and mark it with a pencil, and also mark where the screws have to go in. Bring out the good old drill and put the screws in. Make sure the screws go in straight so you don’t end up splitting the wood.

Do all 4 leg bases then twist the legs on and there you have it, a chic monitor stand for $20.

I think you can probably get cheaper chopping board or wood elsewhere…Maybe Daiso. If you wanted to, you could stain the chopping board a darker colour before you put the legs on, so it can match your furniture. I’ll do that another day.