a wood chest of drawers

Wood from construction sites - scraps, battens, beams and formwork - is more than affordable. Plus, we love the rustic look of the untreated wood. You can find pieces of all thicknesses and lengths. Here, wood suppliers offer 6 or 10 feet (2 or 3 meter) long boards that are 6 or 10 inch (15 or 25 cm) wide and 1 inch (27 mm) thick. The thick boards are what give the finished piece its appeal, along with the irregularities in the wood and the overall assembly. Imperfection is what we like in handmade pieces and exotic furniture, so why not also allow for some degree of "imperfection" in your building projects? No, your chest of drawers will not be perfect - instead, it will be beautiful, sturdy and authentic!

The pieces are joined with wood dowels inserted into holes made with a hand or electric drill. The drill bit should match the diameter of the dowels. For example, if you are using 6 mm diameter dowels, use a size 6 drill bit. See these dowel joinery instructions for details.

Three 6-ft (2-m) long boards are enough to build this little chest of drawers, which was designed to hold three woven baskets (9-by-9¾-by-6-in.) from Ikea - otherwise, make your own recycled hardboard drawers, it's fun too. You can use pieces of a narrow batten as drawer stops. Nail them into place so that the drawer will fit in about 1 cm from the front edge of the chest. The size of the chest was calculated based on the size of the drawers. This storage unit can be handy in the bathroom, bedroom or hallway. You can adjust the measurements to fit the space you need or have. For info, the chest of drawers pictured on this page is two-feet-10-inches (85 cm) high, one-foot-1-inch (34 cm) wide and one-foot-1-inch (34 cm) deep.

chest of drawers plan

January 2007 [furniture-instructions]
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