Monday, July 1, 2013

The Handbuilt Bedroom, pt. 6: Drawers

Last night I was visiting with a friend and she told me she had missed seeing anything new on my blog!  It’s been two weeks since I posted last—two weeks of crazy business with lots of projects inside the house.  So it’s not that I lack for things to write about, I just lack motivation to write at the end of the day!

It’s time to get back to “The Handbuilt Bedroom” projects.  You can see the other posts here:

The plan was always to build drawers for the queen-size storage bed, according to Ana White’s plans.  The drawers for the dresser were SUCH a royal pain in the patootie though, that it took me a while to work up the ambition to tackle the project. (You can see the bed frame build here.)

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Here’s what I learned, though…it is a far, far easier thing to build drawers out of plywood rather than boards.  Far, FAR easier!  Gotta love those nice straight pieces.

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I chose to use 1/2” plywood for my drawers rather than 3/4”.  It’s only a little cheaper, but significantly lighter!

Above you can see my little drawer modification.  Ana White’s drawer plans have you build a four-sided drawer box, and then you end up attaching the drawer front to the box.  It uses a LOT of wood, and your drawer faces are so thick that the bolts that come with the drawer pulls are too short to use without countersinking them.  When building the dresser drawers—I found that incredibly annoying.

So rather than building a double-thick drawer front, I used scrap plywood (and 1x3’s when I ran out of scraps) to build just enough of a short front piece to hold the drawer square.  For the six BIG drawers I built for the bed, it probably saved a half-sheet of plywood.

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The drawers are not deep back-to-front, but they are VERY deep top-to-bottom!  I lot of people modify them to make them deeper, but in my son’s narrow room it simply didn’t make sense.  He still gained a ton of extra storage.

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I used 3/8” hobby stock birch to trim out the drawer fronts.  It’s expensive—but so nice that it’s already perfectly smooth and straight!

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So there you have it…drawers for the Farmhouse Bed.  This is a great bed thanks to Ana White’s terrific plans, and I think it could outlast an earthquake!

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic Inspiration Exchange
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special The DIY Show Off
Beyond the Picket Fence Coastal Charm
Knick of Time
Mod Vintage Life
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect Sawdust Throwdown
Common Ground My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours All Star Block Party
A Little Knick Knack
The Scoop!
No Minimalist Here

8 comments:

Homeroad said...

You are flipping amazing girl! Those drawers are great, so much storage for the kids.
Great workmanship... you are pro!
Susan

Jaime Costiglio said...

Korrie I'm so jealous!! Those drawers are perfect and I'm taking note of your modifications because that double thickness (and weight) does bother me too! Nicely done.

Sharon @ Elizabeth & Co. said...

Totally awesome Korrie! Look at all that out-of-sight storage. And best of all, you did it yourself!

My Repurposed Life said...

the drawers are awesome, I love how you trimmed them out Korrie! great job girl!
gail

Full Circle Creations said...

Great job Korrie! They turned out wonderful.

Cynthia said...

This is truly amazing!

Cynthia

knuckstermom said...

What a great idea. I love the economical solutions, and I agree, you can't OVER Appreciate straight wood! Ask how my ladder shelf has a slight twist away from the wall.....deep sigh!

Rachel said...

You truly amaze me..... I wish we could be neighbors so you could teach me. Actually, we wish we could be neighbors to my dad and use his shop and equipment! :D