Friday, May 18, 2007

Reusing Old Dresser Drawers

A while back I mentioned that my neighbor had put out a chest of dresser drawers for trash day. The chest was in very bad shape, but the drawers where salvageable and sturdy with dovetailed joints.

She told me to go ahead and take them, so they've been in the garage waiting for transformation.

Yesterday I finally got a little time to work on them:









I turned these drawers into planter boxes for the top of our rustic book/storage shelves in the playroom. HT to Nikki (who, BTW just a had a little boy). They are not done yet. I still need to line them with some plastic, and add soil and more plants. I just placed these in temporarily to get an idea of which plants I want in the box. I'll be taking them out of their current containers(maybe). I'm still deciding whether to keep the plants in pots, or replant them directly into the drawer.

My neighbor, who is moving next month gave me all his indoor plants. The smaller ones which trail will be replanted into the boxes.






Another idea to recycle old drawers is to add wheels, and use them as under the bed storage.





These drawers could be made even nicer with stenciling, or hot gluing items to the front. I just needed something plain, so I made them shabby looking with a light coat of creme paint.

More on recycling old dresser drawers:

HGTV: Dressing Up Drawers


HGTV: Recycled Drawers

Funky Chest Of Drawers

I'm still searching for more uses as I've got quite a few drawers left over.

Update: I added my gift plants which are a little bedraggled, but should perk up with some TLC. I lined the boxes with a heavy duty garbage bag, and tucked in the sides. A super large bag of soil filled up both boxes.









See more Make-It-From-Scratch carnival entries at Stephanie's.

7 comments:

a soldier's wife said...

What a wonderful idea!

Mrs. Anna T said...

Thank you, Alexandra! What a good timing! We're moving soon and are about to 'inherit' plenty of old chests and drawers from the previous owner of our apartment. Now I have an idea about what to do with them except throwing it all away :)

Stephanie Appleton said...

I like it! Envious of your plant gift though! :)

Thanks for the Make It From Scratch entry!

Jenn @ Frugal Upstate said...

What a neat idea! They look great.

Heather @ Marine Corps Nomads said...

That's a great idea! They make cool planter boxes. I see drawers by the side of the road fairly regularly, so I may have to pick a few up.

Unknown said...

I have drawers and I want to do something similar, but mine have a front on them that is larger than the drawer itself, therefore they are not flat. Any suggestions? I wanted to dress them up possibly with corner legs.

High on Smog said...

you could use them to build a tool cart... those thing use drawers, and yours are wide and not too deep, which is just right for the job... though your post was in 2007, so you probably don't have anymore of those old drawers.