Freestanding Folding Desk 800mm Wide in Birch Plywood

Folds flat and stands against a wall like an ironing board, for anyone who cannot drill anything at all. Slightly deeper than the wall version because it has to stand up on its own. Completely freestanding, nothing touches the wall.

A folding piece earns its place only if folding it is quick enough that you actually do it. Every mechanism here has been chosen on that basis rather than on how clever it is. Gas struts where a hinge would be heavy, friction stays where a lock would need two hands, and a positive stop at both ends of the travel so nothing drops the last centimetre and marks the wall. If it takes more than five seconds, people leave it open, and then they have bought a piece of furniture that is permanently the size they were trying to avoid.

Specification

• Dimensions: 800mm wide by 450mm deep open, 220mm deep folded, 740mm high
• Floor footprint: 0.18 square metres folded
• Material: 18 layer birch plywood with the edge left exposed and lacquered, so the layers read as a stripe
• Finish: hardwax oiled or sprayed, hardware in your chosen finish
• Capacity: 60kg evenly distributed on the open top
• Assembly: flat packed, about 45 minutes
• Getting it in: Flat packed in 1 carton, largest 860mm by 780mm by 160mm. Through a standard 762mm door: on its side, yes. Into a small lift: yes
• Weight: approximately 24.9 kilograms
• Height: 740mm, or specify 720mm or 760mm at no extra charge
• Mechanism: friction stays, one hand, positive stop at both ends
• Folding time: about three seconds, which is why people actually do it
• Cable notch in the back edge with a removable cover
• Wall fixing: none, it stands on its own

What you get

• The desk, flat packed
• Friction stays and catches, pre fitted
• Hardware in your chosen finish
• Levelling feet and felt pads
• Hex key, spanner and printed instructions

Assembly

Flat packed, with a hex key, a spanner and printed instructions in the box. Fittings are cam locks and threaded steel inserts rather than chipboard screws, which is what lets a piece be taken apart and reassembled without the joints going loose. We reckon on three moves and have tested to ten.

If you are renting

Freestanding, no wall fixing needed and no holes in anybody's plaster. An anti tip strap is in the box if you want it and there is nothing to make good if you never use it. Felt pads are fitted to every foot as standard, because the other way to lose a deposit is a scratch across a floor you did not lay.