The Harvey Ellis organizer can also serve as a desk with the addition of the blotter you see below. The blotter is made of three parts, two cleats that nestle into the recess of the outer panels of the door, and a panel that forms a smooth surface. We covered the desk panel with a faux leather. But it could be made of cherry like the rest of the project. Rare-earth magnets installed in the cleats (that are glued to the desk panel) hold the insert in place.
CLEATS FIRST. Start by cutting the cleats to size and planing them to thickness (they need to be flush to the rails and stiles of the back of the door). Then you can chamfer all the bottom edges. Details ‘a’ and ‘b’ show where to drill holes for rare-earth magnets in the cleats and the back of the door. Epoxy all the magnets in place. Sizing the desk panel is next.
DESK PANEL. As you see in Figure 1 the desk panel has chamfered edges and is covered with faux leather. With the cleats in place, temporarily attach the desk panels with double-sided tape. When the position of the desk panel is correct, pop the insert out, trace the location of the cleats on the back of the panel. Then remove the tape and permanently glue the cleats to the desk panel.
