How To Build A Dresser in 145 Days

You read that right folks, a dresser. Oh and for those of you thinking "Didn't she just make a dresser?" Well YES, yes I did. Therefore this is clearly one of those have no business/totally not necessary type projects, but sometimes I am clearly on team "Doing too much". It's happening though, so don't judge me and the life choices I am making right now. First, let me give you some context. This all started way back when. I bought a typical dresser from Walmart when I graduated college and got my first apartment. So not the epitome of quality, but got the job done. Then at some point during one of my many bedroom redecorating designs decided it no longer matched the room, and rather than buy a new one opted to upcycle it.

 A year later after I moved into my house, I decided it didn't really go with the look of my new room. At this point I contemplated just buying a new one. The drawers were not very stable, and it was beginning to fall apart. After 13 years it was easy to justify replacing the $150 dresser. However, as I started looking I quickly realized that dressers or at least nice ones with substantial space are expensive. Again I decided to just reinforce the drawer slides and up-upcycle it again to go with the new room

However, over the last year I have fine tuned my drawer making skills, and the thought occured to me...maybe I could build a dresser. I thought about it, and decided to go for it and attempt it. It sounded just that easy when I said it to myself too. However, this turned into one of the most painstaking projects I have ever done. So stay tuned, this one is going to be a doozie.

July 1: Day 1. I started out with a design. I was going for a mix between modern and glam and maybe a little art deco. So I headed to Home Depot and got 5 pieces of large wood, and cut them to size on the table saw. Can I just pause to say how much I love my table saw. It has taken my building to a whole other level. I don't know how I was getting by before.

I gave each piece a thorough sanding. Then I screwed the pieces together, reinforcing the joins with wood glue.

For the top and bottom trim I added 2 1/4" trim from Lowe's. When it comes to trim and simple moulding I prefer Lowe's. They have a better selection and better prices in my opinion. I cut the pieces on the miter saw, and used my nail gun to set it in place. 

Next I added in the front separators to define spaces for each drawer. Then I nailed 3/4" trim to the entire front edge. This gave the whole piece a uniform appearance from the front. I was also hoping that when the drawers closed, the added trim would create dimension and keep the whole piece from looking flat and boxy.  

What do you think? So far so good. Now I needed to paint it. Normally I always paint wood furniture with a roller and/or brush. However after I primed it, I did not like all of the nooks and crannies I had to get into. So, I decided to try something a little different. I was going to spray paint it. I rented a heavy duty paint sprayer to paint my deck, and it was magic. I thought I could have the same effect here. I went to Home Depot and got a couple cans of spray paint along with a spray can nozzle attachment. 

This was going to be new because I have never spray painted something this large before. If it works though I may start spraying everything. I laid down a tarp outside on my driveway, then carried the piece outside.  

I sprayed the entire outside, however it was taking quite a bit of paint to get full coverage. So I used a roller and can paint for the inside. Since no one would see that part, I wasn't as concerned with it looking perfect or the exact same as the outside. I let the whole thing dry outside for about an hour, and then brought it back into the garage to finish drying overnight. The verdict was just...okay. The spray paint is easier to apply. However, 1)The coverage on such a big piece was not as uniform as when I use a roller. 2)Spray paint particles go everywhere, so I had to do it outside, and tarp the entire driveway. My driveway is in the front of my house which means it also had to be brought back inside every night when I was done. 3)It's HEAVY! I got tired of lifting and carrying it. At one point I put it on my dolly just to roll it 6 feet. 4)The spray paint didn't come in the sheen I wanted. There was no Satin. I thought the Semi-Gloss would be okay, but after the first coat it was looking ultra shiny. Almost like 90's-My Dream Room Furniture. So the spray paint wasn't necessarily bad. Just not ideal for this project. I ended up taking a trip back to the Depot and got a can of satin latex paint. Since I did a coat of spray paint, I only needed 1 coat of can paint. Once it dried over night, I finished it with a coat of polyurethane. 

Now here comes the hard part, the drawers. I carried the base inside my office to keep it safe and clean from airborne wood chips. For the the drawers I used 3/4" plywood for the fronts and 1/2" plywood for the sides and backs.

Wouldn't you know the cheapest route was to buy the big 4'x8' sheets. You get the biggest bang for your buck that way. I had Home Depot cut the wood initially into smaller pieces so I could fit them in the car. As I was gathering measurements for the drawers themselves, I realized that all of the openings were not exactly the same size. Kind of a bummer considering I spent quite a bit of time making sure that they were. The left side was 1/8" wider than the right, and the back also seemed to vary slightly from top to bottom. From my previous drawer installation issues, I know that you have to have extremely precise measurements. That meant for the drawer widths I would have to accommodate for the variances. I measured each window individually to make sure I was precise in my cuts. Then I got going on the saw. I basically turned a giant sheet of plywood into this. 

I will say that it was quite difficult to rip larger sheets of plywood on the table saw. You have to hold and guide at the same time. I spent an evening putting the bases together. First I lined up the back and the sides, gave it a layer of wood glue, and secured it with the nail gun. Then repeated the process with the fronts. Now, I think in this case I should have used shorter nails. Too much left over made it difficult to shoot all the way into the 1/2" plywood. A few times I fired at a slight angle, and the nail poked out through the side. I had to stop and do quite a bit of repair along the way.  

Next I added the bottoms. There is an attachment I can add to my table saw called Dado Plates. It will cut a large enough groove into the side wall allowing you to slide in the drawer bottoms. I do not have one of these yet. It also requires that I remove the safety guards, and I would like to get a little more comfortable before I attempt that. Instead I opted for 1/8" square dowels placed at the bottom of each drawer. I used glue and clamps to get a good hold. 

Once everything was completely dry, I cut the bottoms out of handy panel and added them inside. Then I added some extra wood glue into the creases for reinforcement. 

I will admit that at this point I was a little worried. As I measured to cut the bottoms, I realized that the drawers were not complete rectangles. Probably because of the variances in openings from the base. When doing drawers you need complete symmetry from front to back so the drawer can stay on the track when opening and closing. I was off by a smidgen on each drawer. It wasn't much so I thought it would be okay.

All I had left was to put the finishings on each drawer. One of the drawbacks to using plywood is that it is a man made material, and that means the edges are unfinished. Basically they're ugly. Ugly enough that you can't just leave them. I found many solutions to covering them, but I needed cost effective and efficient for 8 drawers. The one that fit that criteria was Edgebanding Tape. 

It is almost like really thin wood with adhesive on the back. I cut the length of tape that I needed, and then used my craft iron to iron it down.

Once it cooled completely, I took a razor blade and trimmed off the excess.

Last I created a template using a large piece of craft paper to act as guide to drill holes for my handles. 

After that I painted all 8 drawers. The outside I painted black, and the inside I painted white.

I was so close I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but little did I know this is where it got interesting. I started out by making sure that there was enough clearance on each side for the slides. Then I measured where each drawer slide needed to be inside the base, and on the drawer itself. Then I screwed everything in place. 

 I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I added hardware to the first drawer, and then proceeded to put the drawer into the base. Well guess what? It did't fit. It was too wide. I pushed, I shoved, I shimmied, and nothing. 😡 I didn't get discouraged. I just tried another drawer. I added the hardware, and put the drawer in. Once again it didn't fit. This time the back of the drawer fit into the track, but as I pushed the drawer in, the sides fell out of the track in the front. My worst fears were coming true. 😡😡

So the short version without all of the huffing, puffing, and many expletives that happened is as followed. I did not measure exactly. Well I did, I know the rule measure twice and cut once. When the drawer openings from the back to the front were not the same I should have stopped. Something told me to check the pieces and the fit. I did not listen to that little voice in my head, and here we are. I put everything in the garage and debated what to do. I do not know, but honestly in full disclosure I am pretty frustrated and discouraged right now. I hate for a project to take me so long, and so much blood, sweat, and tears, get all the way to the end, and not work.

Woosah, Woosah...10 Days Later...

Let the damage control begin. I have collected my life and my thoughts. I have contemplated several ideas on how to handle this. Some of those ideas are to start over again, cut into the drawers to square them off, use bottom slides instead of side ones, the list goes on. The issue is that I kind of ruined both the base and the drawers. With the base there were no guides for the center piece, so I think it was a little off from top to bottom. This prevented either side from being an exact 90 degree rectangle. That then caused me to cut the drawers a little off to compensate. So both pieces needed to be addressed. 

So first I worked on the base. I'm still not fully sure of my exact plan because nothing is sounding like an easy quick fix. First, to help with the measuring I made a caliper tool. They are fancy rulers that measure the inside and outside of things. In stores they only sell small ones that measure less than 12". I checked online and for a large one and they will run you hundreds of dollars. I was shocked. So I went to the next best thing. I took to the magical world of Google Images, found a good reference, and made one. I used a metal ruler and some scrap wood I had in the house.

So first I measured the back and front openings. I thought through a few different ideas. I settled on adding a couple pieces in the middle to square up the inside, and then go back and cut the drawer down to make them fit the new opening. To make sure my measurements were spot on I added guides to the top and bottom. Something I should have done the first time.

Then I slid a piece of 1/2" plywood into the middle on both sides to create new side pieces. 

I added some scrap wood and filled it in with wood filer to close in the gap from the front. I finished it off by giving it a couple coats of black paint. 

Now back to the drawers. The plan was just to pull them apart and reset them. Well guess what the dresser gods said NO....not just no but HELL NO! I went to pry the front piece off and they did not budge. I even went out and bought a mallet so I could really go to town, and still nothing. I barely put a crack in them. I couldn't believe it. While I was totally bummed that my plan was not working, I was also a little amazed and proud at how well I had made them. That is a plus. So breaking them was not happening. I put them to the side and took a mental break.

Plan B was to cut into them. I grabbed my hand saw and got to work. It took me 5 minutes to realize it wasn't worth it. The wood blade did not like having to cut through the nails. The metal blade cut the nails, but was having issues cutting through the wood. The whole situation was smoking and smelling up the entire garage. I thought to myself by the time I not only cut them apart, but had to refinish and put them back together I would have been fully over it. It was not worth it. So Plan C, build completely new drawers. Just the thought was like a punch to the gut. However, sometimes cutting your losses and starting from scratch is the best avenue. I called my uncle and got a second opinion, and he agreed. It was time to lick wounds, dry my tears, and put on my big girl pants. 

Building Drawers - Take 2...

The next day I headed to Home Depot to get more plywood so I could build more drawers. For the most part I followed the same steps as before. I did however do a lot more testing in between each step so I did not have a repeat of the previous debaucle. I put together the back and sides of each drawer, and then added the slides. I thought it would be a good idea to test the fit of each drawer before I built the entire thing. Because if this happened a second time, I would have just thrown the whole damn thing out.

I tested each and every drawer, and good thing I did. I was trudging along and everything was fitting. I almost stopped fitting and just plowed ahead. I stopped myself, and kept testing. Wouldn't you know I got to the right side, and the drawers didn't go in. I measured and the backs were 1/16" too wide. Can you believe it? Just 1/16" would have caused a catastrophe. So I pulled them apart, shaved off a little, and put everything back together. I got all of the drawers in and fitted. 

Since I had the pieces already in, I decided this was a good time to also add the drawer fronts. That way I knew exactly where they needed to sit. I added wood glue and placed the front pieces down. 

Once the glue dried, I pulled the drawers out and added nails with the nail gun. Shocker, they did not slide out so easily. The fronts were a smidgen too big, and when I tried to pull them out they got stuck. Some of them had to get a vicious tug. So I went back in and used my planer to shave off around the edges of the drawers and the base in some places. It wasn't perfect but it had to do.  After shaving and repairing, I repainted all 8 drawers.

Once the drawers were completed I added back the hardware, and add the drawer pulls. Well the pull holes were a little too wide so I had to redrill them all. Issues were becoming the norm at this point.

Once all drawers were in

To complete the project I added liner inserts to the bottom of the drawers. I got some thick poster board, and retrieved the fabric that lined the previous dresser.

I wrapped the fabric around the poster board and used tape to secure them on the back. I did not glue the poster board down in case I want to ever change it in the future. 

So the dresser was complete, but you know I was not excited. I was happy to be done, but if I was honest it looked a little plain. I was going for a simple design, but this was too simple. I stared at it awhile and decided to add some extra. Back to Home Depot I went. I did some more research and got trim to go around the edge of each drawer. 

I also now wasn't sure about the pulls. They looked great in the store up close, but from far away they didn't resonate the same way. So I tested the pulls that I already had on the previous dresser. 

I actually liked the single pulls better. Also the bling added an extra level of flair. I laid them on the floor and filled in the 2 holes drilled for the original pulls, and replaced them with 1 single one.

And with that the dresser was FINALLY complete! YAY! (And big sigh of relief)

What do you think?! I am pretty pleased. Mostly I think I am super excited about having it done. I'm so glad I added the extra trim and changed to knobs. Definitely makes a difference. I had a wonderful friend who helped me carry it upstairs. Once it made it up there, I had to add the legs. The legs I pulled off of the current dresser. I drilled holes in the bottom and screwed them in.

I covered the back of the dresser using black mat board. I used 2 pieces and cut them to size, one for each half

Then we were totally done. 145 days later, and we have a dresser. This is it in my actual bedroom.

So what do think? Good job for a first dresser. It's definitely not perfect, but I'm proud of myself. This was hard, hard work. Definitely one of the most challenging and pain staking projects I have ever done. I don't know what I was thinking. All of the roadbumps did not help either. I have never had so many problems on such a large scale. It wasn't all a waste though. I did learn a lot from all of my mistakes. This better last me a long while though. I probably won't be attempting this again, but you never know. All it takes for me is to have a cool idea and a little excitement. I can't promise that I won't come up with an even more perfect idea in a year and try again. SMH already.

Until then...It's on to the next project!