Night Stand From an Old Drawer

My only problem was that the back of this drawer was really ugly with the drawer base jutting out and that I don’t do woodwork. Fortunately there is a job creation center around the corner, so off I went to find a jigsaw wielding person. To all of you who could instantly run this through your rotary saw in your spectacular backyard workshop with every imaginable tool – this is what the rest of us have to do…

Anyhow, I can report back that the guy used a rotary saw to make a large cut parallel to the side of the drawer and then a jigsaw to cut away the corners. Which left the drawer base flush with the side. He then sanded the edges down with a rotary sander. So at least I know the theory.

Sanding done and dusted – pardon the pun.

Back home, I used wood-filler and my finger to cover the holes where the handles had been, both on the inside and outside of the drawer. After leaving it to dry I sanded it down, together with the whole drawer. I wiped the dust off with a damp cloth.

This is what the wood-filler looked like before sanding it down.

Next, I painted both the drawer and the cube with two coats of chalk paint and a suitable sealer. Strictly speaking you only do the painting after constructing the table but I thought it would be easier to do if it was still in two parts. I figured that I would be able to touch up where necessary. This approach of mine only works if the sealer is a dead match or if you are doing a distressed effect. Otherwise you could complete the painting, then the hammering and touch-ups before you finally paint the sealer. Mine was okay and I managed to get away with using a pencil eraser to remover my hammer marks. But more on that later.

The cube in the process of drying.

For decoration I applied some washi-and electrical tape to the cube because sticking tape is a lot easier than painting stripes. As you can see from the picture above, I went beyond the sides that would be visible. Make sure the tape is very firmly stuck.

I applied wood glue to the top side of the cube and placed the drawer on top of it. I chose to ignore the husband’s mumbling about using screws and instead hammered in about 7 short nails as can be seen above. They don’t look particularly pretty so I suppose this is why you should only paint after you have driven them. Or at least touch up. Or just use less nails – but the husband was convinced that my creation would come apart, so I wanted to prove him wrong and went for overkill.

My hammer left some grey marks which I removed with the eraser.

And there you have it – a perfectly presentable night stand. Which proves that even the laziest woodworker is capable of cobbling together a piece of furniture.