The best desk for an ADHD child, how to make your own (A helpful illustrated guide)

A secretary desk decreases stress and promotes sleep.

Sitting in the storage shed we had a 100-year-old secretary desk. I was excited to finally use it when we redecorated my daughter Maria’s bedroom.

Why should you make a secretary desk for your child’s room?

Several years ago I read that you should not have a desk in a child’s room because unfinished projects on the desk can cause stress and sleeplessness.

I decided to try using a secretary desk in my daughter’s room to see if this type of desk promoted calmness. I found that it reduces stress caused by clutter and unfinished projects.

I realized how calming it was to shut the leaf on a desk and hide whatever was inside when we replaced a kitchen sideboard with an antique kitchen cabinet. The antique cabinet had a built-in secretary desk.

The reason for the furniture exchange was the insane amount of junk that my kids put on the kitchen sideboard!

Flat surfaces tend to collect a frightening array of junk! When my kids absentmindedly laid dirty socks in the fruit bowl on our kitchen sideboard of all places, I hastily got rid of the sideboard while my kids were snoring that night!

The new kitchen cupboard without any flat surfaces for junk collecting turned out to be the perfect replacement.

Adjusting our home environment for ADHD

I am originally from the USA but moved to Sweden 16 years ago when I married my husband David who is Swedish.

On one of our many trips to the USA, we started longing for home, and we realized that home was now in Sweden.

Two of my three kids have ADHD. My son Lage (13) has ADHD predominantly hyper and my daughter Maria (10) has ADHD predominantly inattentive.

They both have dyslexia as well, so looking at half-finished homework on their desks before bed causes them higher levels of stress than the average child.

Homework is laborious, frustrating, and time-consuming for them.

My third child Zoe who is almost six isn’t displaying the early signs of ADHD that her siblings did. I hope we won’t have to repeat the long Swedish screening process for ADHD with her.

Over the last ten years, I read many books about ADHD and dyslexia. At one point I remember reading that having a desk in a child’s room can be stressful. Children get stressed because they feel their homework or their projects are never finished.
Annie Eklöv

This is caused by the fact that desks are rarely cleaned off. When children go to bed and see the desk in their room piled high with half-finished work they can have a hard time settling down for sleep because of this unconscious stress.

I wish I could remember where I read this so I could give credit, but unfortunately, I have not kept all the books I read and I’m not finding it on google.

We have a small house for five people around 100m2 or 1076 ft2. The only place my daughter can be sure to have quiet for homework or craft projects is in her room.

My solution to this problem is the secretary desk which we call sekretär in Swedish. Sekretär comes from French and means secret.

You can shut the desk at bedtime and keep your unfinished homework a secret.

The desk we refurbished had two small and three huge drawers underneath the desktop. This was the perfect piece of furniture for a tiny room. It did double duty as an electronics hub, toy cabinet, and desk.

Did the secretary desk help decrease stress?

Maria does not seem stressed by the desk in her room. Most of the time the leaf on the desk is shut which gives a nice clean impression.

When she is done working she often automatically shuts the desk leaf and moves her chair back into the corner where it belongs.

Continually having a chair in front of the desk drawers hindered her from opening them. She began putting the chair back without anyone asking her to.

This desk makes a huge difference in her room. In her old room, she had a regular little desk that she continually put stuff on.

When she wanted to actually use the desk she first had to excavate it from all her random stuff! This means that she only actually used the desk a few days after she cleaned her room. By the time she needed to clean again, the desk was piled high with junk!

The slanted angle of the desk leaf hinders her from putting things on it, and it’s apparently too much trouble to open the desk to put random junk inside it.

The inside of the desk remains basically clean with a bit of homework, coloring, and a few random toys inside.

Just eliminating the sort of desk she had in her old room made her new room much cleaner and calmer!

If you don’t have the time or money to completely redecorate making or buying a secretary desk for your child’s room may be a quick fix.

How to make a secretary desk from an old byrå.

Things you will need

An old dresser a shorter version would be best although you can probably cut the top drawers off a tall dresser if you have the proper saw. Make sure that it’s sturdily built and made out of wood.

Plywood probably one big sheet is enough

Table saw

Wood glue

Electric drills may be needed for drilling holes for the screws. Some wood types crack when you screw directly into the wood.

Electric Screwdriver

Screws

A chain or other cabinet hardware for holding the leaf when it’s folded down

Two hinges for the leaf

Sandpaper

Paint

Paintbrush

If you have an old dresser which is the right height to sit and write this is perfect for making a secretary desk. If it is too high you may be able to cut a few inches off the legs to make it the perfect height.

If you look at the picture below you will see a side view of the lopsided box you will make and set on the dresser to make the secretary desk.

Take the measurements for the top of the dresser and make the new piece the same length and width. The height can be as low or as high as you need.

Below: a picture with a list for cutting all the pieces you will need from plywood.

You can see the general shape below, but the exact size will depend on the size of the byrå that you are using.

First, cut all the pieces out of the plywood as shown above.
Second, apply wood glue where wood meets wood. This isn’t 100% necessary, but it will help the top of the desk to be sturdier.
Third, Screw the box together. (If you have trouble with the wood cracking you may want to drill holes for the screws first)
Fourth, when the wood glue is dry sand any rough edges.
Fifth, screw the hinges on the desk, then screw the leaf onto the hinges. Depending on what kind of hinge you buy you may need to cut out a bit of the plywood so the hinge sits flush with the top of the plywood.

The picture below is from a 100-year-old desk so it’s not very flush, but you should be able to see the general idea of cutting away the wood so the hinge sits below the surface.

Below you can see how the hinge looks on the outside of the desk.

Sixth, screw on the chain or hinge to hold the desk leaf up when it’s in the down position.

You could make a wooden pull to rest the leaf on like my daughter’s antique desk.

This will take time and you will have to make the top drawer smaller to accommodate a wooden pull on each side.

Seventh, paint.

Eighth, enjoy your new secretary desk!

To read about how a monochrome redecorating scheme helped my daughter be calmer in her room click here https://theadhdminimalist.com/how-to-create-a-minimalistic-monochrome-bedroom-with-easy-to-use-storage-a-helpful-illustrated-guide/

If you need a quick fix for your child’s room and don’t have time to redecorate, read about how to minimize toys and reorganize here. https://theadhdminimalist.com/decluttering-kids-toys-and-other-monsters-in-their-rooms/