I found this cool post on IKEA Hackers that I’d like to re-post here for the record. I think it’s quite ingenious what people come up with out of necessity, either because they don’t have a lot of money or because they simply can’t find the furniture they really want.
This simple desk requires two Expedit shelves, which currently go for 12,99 EUR for the small Expedit and 29,90 EUR for the big Expedit. So you could build a desk like this for EUR 42,89 (which is about $55).
Read more at IKEA Hackers. While you’re there, you might also want to check out the bedroom dress boys.