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Plaster & Disaster

Triumph. Tragedy. DIY.

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Building a Mid-Century Dresser for the Bedroom

Today I have a nice long post for you, and it has it all: DIY mid-century furniture, disaster, more disaster, even more disaster, badly lit basement photos, and finally a redecorated bedroom. What more could you want from a DIY blog? (Also today is my 30th birthday, but let’s not dwell on that.)

The topic today is my bedroom, where I’ve know for some time that I want to replace my tall dresser in the back corner with a long and low dresser. This was part of the plan when we moved Sam’s dresser into his study to hold office supplies, since Sam thus needed somewhere new to keep his clothes and I thought a long low dresser would be perfect for us to share. Here’s the corner in question:

Dark gray bedroom jewelry display

I love this dresser — it’s part of a matching set with the dresser we moved to Sam’s study and my bedside table, and the set is a family heirloom. It’s not leaving the house, I just know there will be a better place for it down the road and a long dresser will work much better in this particular space.

Of course I wanted something with tapered legs, but I had visions of buying a chunky solid wood dresser off craigslist and then building a DIY mid-century base for it myself. Here in Boston, it’s very rare to come across a mid-century piece for less than many many hundreds of dollars, unless it’s laminate and requires painting — and I really wanted a natural wood piece.

So, I trolled craigslist for many weeks, waiting for the right piece to come along. Finally, I came across this solid piece with the perfect dimensions, and snapped it right up. I mean yes it’s orange, but that’s easy to change right?

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Before building the new mid-century base, I knew I first needed to remove the thick base along the bottom and then build a thin new base to mimic the framing around the outside of the rest of the dresser.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

I removed the drawers, and Sam helped me lift the dresser onto the large work table in the basement so I could get to the base to remove it.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

It was as simple as removing some screws and then prying the base off with a screwdriver.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

This did leave behind some staples that had also been holding the base on, which I trimmed off with my go-to tool: the dremel.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

To build the new base, I’d originally thought of using a large piece of plywood. However, I realized that it would be expensive to buy a single piece of plywood large enough to cover the full base of the dresser. Instead, I could mimic the look of a solid piece by building a frame out of inexpensive 1×3″ boards. I cut them to size on my table saw:

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

And then use my kreg jig to drill pocket holes to assemble the frame:

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

With the frame assembled, I attached it to the bottom of the dresser using the same screw holes and screws that had attached the original base.
 Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Next it was time to build the new base with tapered legs. I found a super helpful tutorial on The Design Confidential that gave me an idea of how I wanted to build the base:

 

I used rough 2×3″ lumber to build the frame and the legs, though in retrospect I should have used finished 2×3″ boards because the rough lumber took stain differently than the rest of the dresser and it’s a bit noticeable.

To cut the legs, first I drew out my desired dimensions:
Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

I rough cut each piece to length, and then clamped all four legs together and used my tablesaw to cut all the legs to the exact same length.
Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Making the angle cut for each leg wasn’t simple. I don’t have a chop saw or miter saw, which I think would make this easier — instead I have a circular saw (which doesn’t work well for something this small), my table saw (which requires a lot of work to cut angles), and my jig saw (which doesn’t cut as smooth a straight line as I wanted for these legs). To get the cuts, I used my jig saw to cut a “jig” for the table saw, ie angled pieces of wood that I used to position the leg pieces at the right angle to push through the table saw. Here’s what an actual jig looks like (not my version), just to give you an idea:

I didn’t take a photo of mine because I’m not sure it was entirely safe and I don’t want you to copy me and accidentally saw your hand off. But fortunately I ended up with four tapered legs and two intact hands.Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

I cut the rest of the frame on my table saw, and then laid out the frame and legs on my super awesome workbench.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Like with the first frame, I used my kreg jig to drill pocket holes and assemble the whole thing.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Ignore the three holes here… I ran out of long pocket screws and had to drill a new hole for a shorter screw.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

I screwed the frame into the dresser from the top, and voila!

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

The last step was to use some veneer edging I had left over from the coffee table project to cover the edges of the 1×3 frame so it would look like a single solid piece. (For details on how to use iron-on veneer edging (which is awesome), check out this post on how I made the top for my coffee table.)

Creating a sleek plywood tabletop -- Plaster & Disaster

Before the veneer on the left, after on the right:

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Next up was staining the dresser. I decided to use gel stain, since I’d read good things about it as an alternative to stripping and sanding the original finish.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

The only prep work required was a light sanding, and then I brushed on the gel stain.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

That left me with a beautiful finish, and I was done! Yay!

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Just kidding, I hated the gel stain — it was blotchy, showed all the brushstrokes, and even after a week of letting the first coat dry it still felt sticky to the touch. I’m sure it was user error, but It just wasn’t working for me.

I pouted for a little while, and then decided to strip the new gel stain finish plus the original finish and stain it normally. I used Citristrip, which claimed to be safe for indoor use and not have any strong fumes.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

I brushed it onto every surface, and was definitely pleased by the light orange scent and nothing nearly so terrifying as I had expected given how much people seem to avoid stripping furniture.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

My only complaint was that the directions suggested leaving it on for up to 24 hours, but actually it was good to go within 30 minutes and dried shortly thereafter, so I ended up having to recoat every surface to get a wet finish for the next step: scraping off the Citristrip, and with it the finish. I used a spackle knife for this very strange task.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Below is the top of the dresser after the first round with the Citristrip. Given that I was removing two layers of finish (the original finish and my ill-fated gel stain mess), I did a second round after this.Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Next up: time to sand, sand, and sand some more.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

The sanding made such a huge difference, revealing the lovely raw wood underneath. Below are two drawers side-by-side, the one on the left has been stripped but not sanded, the one on the right is sanded. Goodbye orange!

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Here’re the top of the dresser halfway through sanding:
Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Of course Murphy needed to help. (This was actually a huge problem during the project — Murphy could not help climbing all over the dresser, which made it very difficult to leave it alone and let the stain and poly finish dry — I kept finding paw prints on the drawer fronts and dresser tops.)Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

I also had to sand down the base of the dresser — the raw wood had taken the dark gel stain very well, but obviously I wanted it to match my new stain so I went to work with the orbital sander (before on the left, after on the right). The iron-on veneer edging sanded down pretty well, which I had definite;y been worried about since it’s very thin.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Finally it was time to stain again. I used Minwax English chestnut, which I thought looked like a nice mid-tone common to mid-century pieces.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Another drawer side-by-side, this time the raw wood on the left and a first coat of stain on the right:Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Now at last I was done!

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Hah! Just kidding again! This was my first time stripping and sanding a piece of furniture, and apparently I didn’t sand as evenly as I needed to for the wood to take the stain evenly. The side (above) was definitely the worst, but the drawer fronts and top were also a little blotchy. There was nothing to do but sand down these surfaces again and restain. You can imagine how I was feeling at this point…if this thing weren’t so heavy, I might have just thrown it out the back door and given up.

Many hours of sanding and staining later, I was finally satisfied with the finish — there are still a few slightly lighter spots, but nothing nearly so striking as the first go-round. I finished it off with a coat of Minwax water-based poly and let it cure for a week.

Creating a sleek plywood tabletop -- Plaster & Disaster

This is a photo from making the coffee table, but just focus on the Polycrylic in the foreground. You get the idea.

Then Sam and I hauled it upstairs into the bedroom. Finally, the finished piece! And I promise I’m serious this time — I don’t think I could have taken any more setbacks.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Ultimately it has about as much storage space as the tall dresser, but it feel better for sharing since Sam and I each get one side. I’ve really been working to pare down my wardrobe, so this has me continuing to move in the right direction.

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

I love how the space looks with a long and low dresser — it really feels like a big change in the corner. I’m also just relieved to be done sanding.

 

Building a mid-century dresser -- Plaster & Disaster

(Sharing at  DIY Like a Boss, Remodelaholic, and Link Party Palooza)

Comments

  1. 1

    Katie says

    Happy birthday!! I showed Ian the picture of your old dresser and asked if this was a dresser you had growing up or if it was from sam’s family. He said that he had no idea, he said he just didn’t make it a priority to remember what his sister’s dressers looked like growing up!

    • 2

      Sage says

      Thanks Katie! We’ll have to forgive Ian on this one, the dressers come from our family but they weren’t in our bedrooms growing up (I think maybe they were still in our grandma’s house?). So maybe he *would* remember my actual dresser if we showed it to him? 🙂

  3. 5

    Steve Trombulak says

    Sage, I am SO IMPRESSED! Excellent work … and excellent problem solving. Doing work like this involves a lot of trial, error, and correction. Very nicely done!

  5. 9

    Roma Ruth says

    Happy Birthday Sage from Roma & Dawn

    (And me too … Jane, helping Grandma on her iPad:)

  6. 11

    Judy says

    Very good job. It was certainly a prolonged project. Set backs are not fun. You did a beautiful job.

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

  7. 13

    chris aka monkey says

    happy birthday to you happy birthday to you ….. you look like a monkey and you act like one tooooo ha ha this is so awesome sage you should have the puffy chest with this one xx

  8. 15

    Mary Anne in Kentucky says

    I am totally impressed you did all that work with a cat around helping. It looks worth the struggle. The legs convince me they’ve been there forever.

  9. 17

    Ananda says

    What a nice transformation, from the addition of the legs to the difference the stain makes. I’m very impressed with your vision and your perseverance! I have one question though. How did you get the drawers straightened out? In the original photo, it looks like they are misaligned, especially the top right drawer.

    • 18

      Sage says

      Thanks Ananda! The drawers actually aren’t misaligned in real life, it must be a trick of the eyes in the original photo! Phew!

  10. 19

    Melva says

    Hi Sage, seems it was a nightmare of a job! However, the end result is simply stunning. The wood grain & color look beautiful. Your perseverance paid off!

    • 20

      Sage says

      Thanks so much, Melva! It’s certainly a pain when things don’t go as planned, but I just had to stick it out. I definitely learned a lot for next time around!

  11. 21

    Rebecca says

    Your dresser turned out awesome! Nice job. I want one. Thanks for sharing all the steps it took you to make it. I always feel frustrated when people say, “I did this, this, and this and totally transformed this furniture.” It always takes me lots of redoing and undoing. Plus, your story was fun to read.

    • 22

      Sage says

      Thanks Rebecca! I’m so glad you found the detailed write-up helpful — it takes discipline to remember in the moment to snap the right photos and then write up such a long post, so it’s always so helpful to hear when people appreciate that approach (rather than short and sweet with a focus on before-and-after). Glad you found the rollercoaster of triumph and disaster entertaining! 🙂

  12. 23

    Anni says

    Love how this turned out and pinning for future reference, because I would really like to try something similar. It is SO helpful that you let us know what didn’t work as well as what did. Thank you for a great post! 🙂

  13. 25

    lavacha says

    Happy birthday Sage, and thanks for telling I’m not the only one with a helpful cat resanding and restaining stuff multiple times…

  14. 27

    Molly says

    Seriously impressed because I was seriously not feeling optimistic with how the original attempts at stain were working out. I cannot believe the transformation. AMAZING job! I love it!!!

  15. 29

    Missy says

    I love that you made this old dresser into something that fits your style. Very cool! Give gel stain another try, I love it! Found you through Link Party Palooza. 🙂

  16. 31

    Crystal says

    I’m really impressed. The dresser turned out really nice. I have shared your pain in my past with stain not taking evenly! I have used a pre-conditioner prior to staining before and it works really well to help make the stain take more evenly. Thanks for sharing…it’s really beautiful!

    • 32

      Sage says

      Thanks for the tip, Crystal! I find I often have to learn the hard way — I read people raving about pre-conditioner and still thought “I probably don’t need it,” and now I’ve learned how much work it might save and will totally jump on the bandwagon next time!

  17. 33

    Jenny Kavanagh says

    Those legs are great, I’m impressed. And I love that you kept at it. I have striped and finished a lot and it is always the ones that should be easy that decide to be a booger!

    • 34

      Sage says

      Thanks Jenny! It’s always a gamble what projects will end up being a breeze and which ones will go south right away….

  18. 35

    Linda says

    I love the finished dresser and sympathizethat you had to resand and restain. Worth it in the end tho. My question…why did you strip the stain before sanding? I would be inclined to just sand. Does stripping first cut down on the amount of sanding necessary? Would it make a difference if I was going to paint instead of stain? Thanks for your awesome details, you are going to be saving me lots of headaches, i’m sure!

  19. 36

    Sage says

    So sorry for the delayed response, Linda! Because the dresser was stained and finished, it would have been really hard to sand away everything without stripping it. But if you’re painting, you definitely don’t need to strip first just sand well and then prime.

  21. 39

    Michelle says

    This turned out so great! I took on a similar Craigslist dresser project, so it’s great to see someone else as willing to hack off the bottom of a dresser in order to make their mid-century modern dreams come true!

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