Sauder Select Engineered Wood Computer Desk in Brushed Maple

TLDR: I did it! A very sturdy and beautiful desk is completed. Recommend going into this knowing it will take some time. Have a large carpeted space to work on. Watch a few old movies while you are at it. It is worth the effort! 11:30 am. I use a hand truck to scoot the box into my apartment. I open the box next to my door because I can’t move it any farther. As I take the pieces out one by one, fear grips me. What if I get 90% done and realize I am missing a part? Next thought – these Styrofoam pieces are cool; I wonder if I can use them for something. Next thought, stop saving trash and move on! I start laying out pieces. Most are labeled with a sticker or by etching or stamping on the part A few have nothing as far as a label. I become confident in my power of deduction and elimination to identify the mystery parts. The instructions and illustrations seem to be written at my level, which is beginner level. Next, ooh, I find the packet of hardware. It is so cute, all bubble wrapped and sorted. My confidence grows. Next, I find the metal pieces for the slides for the pull-out tray. They are impressively heavy. At the bottom is the big piece, EE. EE is heavy! 11:45. Hmm, that big piece of cardboard it was packed in, I wonder...oh yeah, “Stop saving trash”. Off to the recycling bin and to buy a Phillips head screw driver and measuring tape. I have those somewhere, but apparently, I need two, so they can keep each other company, because the first set is hiding from me. I am back from the hardware store, our local Farm and Fleet. It took a while. There is some cute stuff there. I spent $23.00 on the tools. And two bags of hips. And a bag of caramel corn. I will cook carrots and tofu later – it will even out. While shopping, I realized there are some fun people here, and I should have showered first. I came home and showered. You never know when you will need to go to the hardware store again. 12:45 and back at it. Not really, I Googled “Crafts with packing styrofoam.” Not helpful. But I did learn not to recycle the styrofoam, as it takes a lot of energy to process. Better in the trash. Wait, I already said that. 1:00 and back at it. Sorted the big pieces. It appears the two unlabeled pieces are D260 and D263 Large drawer sides, right and left. I see that a No.2 Phillips screwdriver is required. I did buy a No. 2. Whew! Okay, now sorting the hardware. It is 1:45 and I do not know where the time has gone. 2:30. Why, yes. I can confirm that all parts are present and counted. I got a little confused so labeled them with sticky notes. Fear grips me again. What if I drop and loose an essential screw or nail and I can’t finish. Why, yes. That has happened to me in the past. Well, actually, I just had to go to the hardware store in shame. But I have learned. I have a good feeling about this time. Sad discovery. Part B has a small chip on one edge. I took a picture. I am too far in to give up now. We will see if it shows in the finished project. 3:17 First step done. DO I have the Hidden Cams in straight and the Cam Dowels in far enough. I have no reference point. It’s hopeful though. At least, per instructions, I did not tighten the HIDDEN CAMS in this step. 4:00 step 2 is completed. I checked the list twice more than Santa would have. It was a little hard. Taking a break. 5:50 and my break is over and I fastened the six angel brackets. Step three done. Step four was nerve wracking and step five was hard. I don’t want to talk about it... 6:25 and I am determined. One step at a time. Step 6. More hidden cams. There is a nice illustration for how tight is too tight, and a warning for not going tight enough. But I would need to stand on my head, with a flashlight, to see the tiny guide clearly. So I am continuing to go by feel plus a little crank a little bit tighter. 6:55 and done with step 6 and step 7. Good news, the little chip is on the back and inside. That ended up okay. Step 8 is attaching the bases. They are cute arched pieces, so this is satisfying. And so now finally I see what those angle brackets are for. Bracket to desk, Bracket to arch. Attached. They slide in the groove of the arch pieces, so easily, with a little tapping, align with the holes of the desk. Step 9 is easy. Extra heavy pressed board is nailed to the backs. Hmm. This is supposed to add substantial stability. Okay? It looks good though. I wonder if I can tip this upright by myself. Meanwhile, I will construct the drawers while enjoying a movie. I am glad to be done with big pieces on the floor. Now I am working with small pieces on my ottoman. It’s 8:00 pm. There are several tricky steps with the drawers which are manageable because of the small size and weight. 9:45. I am on the second movie. I am not going for speed at this point. Putting on the hinges and attaching the door was easy peasy! Believe those instructions that tell you how to adjust up and down and in and out. You get a perfect close. 10:45. Here I am with completed Deskie. I named her Deskie after spending the day building our relationship. Building – get it! She is sturdy and sharp looking.

I am thrilled with this desk. The finish is rich and satiny. The cabinet and drawers operate smoothly. It feels and looks elegant. At 69, I have put together several pieces of furniture over the years, but I was concerned that this might be beyond my current skill level. My fears were unfounded. The parts were well marked. The directions were clear and easy to follow. They even provided QR codes that linked to short videos for each step. All in all, a great purchase for an unbelievably good price.

I have used other Sauder products and this was a similar experience. The desk arrived beautifully packaged with no visible damage. It is very heavy, but that is expected. The delivery people (it takes two) brought it right in the house where I unpacked all the pieces. NOTE: some of the drawer pieces did not have a letter designation like all the other parts, but it was intuitive how to assemble them. I found the directions to be concise and easy to follow. The only issue I had was in moving the desk into position, and putting any pressure on the top did cause the top to lift. I wondered if the pins that insert into the came should be secured perhaps with some strong glue. I ended up putting two L brackets on the right side of the desk inside the right hand drawer. There are two pieces that fit into the hole for cords. I ended up not using the half moon one as I felt it crowded the cords. The drawers do not pull out as far as I would like so the rear of the drawer is harder to access. The finished desk looks quite nice and feel it was a good buy at a reasonable price.

The desk is very attractive and functional. It is well made and sturdy. The instructions are very easy to follow and all parts are well organized and labelled. The pieces are heavy but that is what makes this desk sturdy and attractive. It does require patience in the assembly process which took me approximately five hours. All you need to assemble the desk is a #2 screwdriver and a small hammer. It is well worth the money and the time it took to assemble. I am already enjoying it . Good work Sauder!!! Bill

This desk is a solid unit and it looks great too. Typical "RTA" unit (Ready To Assemble) that went together easily and the instructions were clear. The keyboard tray is very wide and is able to hold a laptop and a scanner side-by-side, which was a big plus. Lots of room for all of the typical office gear. We had an upper shelf from another older desk that also fit on top of this Sauder desk, and it still left lots of space for everything. All told, this unit works well and we are very happy with it. The only thing that we changed was the knobs for the drawers and the door, as the ones that came with it were a bit industrial looking. We highly recommend this desk.

The best desk I've ever owned. Very strong and sturdy.. The finish is great and this perfectly fits my room. I only wished they had this in Black or Greyish but nevertheless i still love it. Downside to this is that it took me almost 5 hours to assemble. The Instruction manual and the video provided could've been better.

Good value for the money Downfall... The keyboard tray is not super tall so of the tray is in you can't squeeze in your hands to type or use the mouse quick quick. The finish is very fragile, the mouse wore off some of it already and anything scratches it. Good space for storage, easy to assemble. looks good and has ample space for screen and laptop set up

This desk should be double the price as it's a fantastic deal!!! It's very solid, the instructions were extremely clear to understand and we assembled the desk in 2 hours. Shipping was really fast and the desk was in mint condition out of the box. I highly recommend that two people work together to assemble this desk as it makes it that much easier. I highly recommend this desk. Buy it.... You will not be disappointed.

We bought this desk a few weeks ago and are loving it. It looks beautiful and my husband put it together all by himself in a couple of hours. I asked him how it was to assemble since I had read a few complaints on amazon.ca about the assembly. He said it was not harder than anything else he's had to put together. The desk arrived within a week of order. I searched a long time and through many stores to find the perfect desk for our space and I'm glad that I found this one. I love the keyboard tray because I still like to use a desktop computer when I'm working on a complex document. I also like how the computer tower is hidden away. I find the desk is a perfect size in terms of desk top space and storage. It seems like a piece of furniture that will last a long time. It was a good investment.