Part 4 – Closet Island Progress – How To Build Drawers The Easiest Way (Plus, The News You’ve Been Waiting For)

First, I needed to indicate you that I made a little bit of a design change. I had initially deliberate on placing 4 drawers in every part. This was the plan for the aspect that faces the hanging garments aspect of the closet…

After which on the aspect that faces the jewellery/mirror aspect of the closet, I deliberate for this configuration, with 4 drawers on the left aspect and cupboards on the proper aspect.

So I made a decision to make the 2 sections on the hanging garments aspect of the closet deeper and solely have three drawers in every part. The packing containers themselves are 8.5 inches excessive, however there will likely be more room as soon as the drawer entrance goes on. The drawer fronts on these will likely be about 9.25 inches excessive. Clearly, drawer packing containers don’t sit proper on high of one another in a dresser or cupboard. Right here’s what these drawer packing containers seem like…

And right here’s what they seem like within the part that can have drawers on each side. I made them as huge as I might whereas leaving a fraction of an inch between them the place the backs meet.

However on the aspect that faces the jewellery/mirror aspect of the closet, I made a decision to maintain 4 drawers. The underside one is a deep drawer, and the opposite three are shallower. Clearly, they’re not put in but, and once more, drawer packing containers aren’t stacked on one another like that after they’re put in. There will likely be house between them as soon as they’re put in and the drawer fronts are on.

First, I extremely suggest utilizing staples as a substitute of nails to assemble a drawer field like this. My drawer packing containers are made out of 1/2-inch plywood, so I used these 1-inch slender crown staples. (Please forgive my messy wooden filler-covered fingers.)

For these, you want a slender crown stapler, which seems identical to a nail gun. I bought this Porter Cable slender crown staple gun at Residence Depot. I typically use it for upholstery initiatives, nevertheless it’s additionally nice for initiatives like these straightforward drawer packing containers.

As I confirmed you yesterday, I minimize these 5 items for every drawer field. The underside piece is minimize to the completed size and width of the drawer field minus one inch in every route. So if I need my completed drawer field to be 35″ x 14″, the underside piece is minimize to 34″ x 13″. The back and front items are minimize to the identical width because the as the underside piece (34″) and the peak that I need this drawer field to be (this one is 4.5″). And the perimeters are minimize to the completed measurement of the drawer field (14″) and the peak of the drawer field (4.5″).

I used my desk noticed to tear the plywood to the right widths, after which used my miter noticed to chop them to the precise lengths I wanted.

Assembling these is as straightforward as stapling the back and front items to the underside piece, after which stapling the ends on. It actually can’t get a lot simpler than that. You may see right here that I used 9 staples to staple the back and front items to the underside piece (the drawer field is clearly turned the other way up right here). So the benefit of utilizing staples is that these 9 staples are just about the equal of 18 nails. I put them roughly 4.5 inches aside.

As soon as the back and front had been connected to the underside piece, I connected the ends, stapling that on all three sides.

Right here’s a take a look at it from the underside. I bought a bit aggressive with the sander on this piece. 😀

However you’ll be able to see that the aspect items prolong 1/2″ previous the underside piece on all sides to cowl the sides of the back and front items.

Staples typically go in cleaner than nails, they usually don’t tend to bend as they go in and are available out the aspect of the wooden like nails usually do. However they do generally take a chip out of the plywood, as you’ll be able to see right here. However that’s nothing {that a} little bit of wooden filler received’t repair.

And that’s it. It truly is the best kind of drawer field to construct, and because it’s put along with staples, it very sturdy. I don’t know that I’d suggest this very primary kind of drawer field for a kitchen or one other room that will get a ton of visitors and use every day. For these, I’d in all probability suggest one other technique of meeting. However for one thing like this dresser, I personally suppose they work completely.

And as soon as it’s assembled, I fill the staple holes on the perimeters with wooden filler, after which sand the entire thing, particularly ensuring that all the joints the place the items come collectively, in addition to the highest edges of the drawer field and the corners the place they meet, are all sanded clean.

You can even use iron-on edge banding to cowl the highest edges of the drawer field to offer it a very nice, clear, completed look, which I’ll in all probability do on these.

On a random word, do y’all bear in mind this wallpaper I designed to go within the studio toilet? Clearly, I received’t be utilizing it in there now because the plan is to show that rest room right into a walk-through pantry, so I’m contemplating utilizing it to both line my drawers or possibly use on the perimeters of the drawers only for a enjoyable little bit of colour when the drawers are open.

The colours aren’t good for this room. The wallpaper has a number of purple in it and no darkish blue. However does it actually matter? It received’t present within the room until I open a drawer, so actually, the colour is only for enjoyable and just for my enjoyment once I open a drawer.