Furniture doesn’t last forever. As the years pass, even the most beautiful pieces become worn-out, dated, or simply unusable. Still, it’s a shame to have to get rid of furniture simply because you no longer have any use for it—especially when that furniture is made from beautiful and valuable wood.
Well, why not take a different route, and repurpose that old furniture instead? There are any number of exciting, useful, and upscale things your unwanted furniture could be doing around your home; all it takes is some creativity, a little bit of know-how, and a willingness to give your used furniture a second chance. Take wooden drawers, for example. Although designed to fit comfortably in a wardrobe or a dresser, these drawers are generally sturdy and stylish enough to function on their own.
Function how, you ask? Well, let’s take a look. Here are five easy DIY projects that you can make from repurposed drawers.
1. Garden Planter
A garden planter is a great way to give your garden someplace to grow if you have limited yard space. And you can give you plants a touch of rustic class by converting an old multi-drawered dresser to accommodate some seeds and some soil. Keep everything properly watered, and make sure that you find a location with plenty of sunshine, and you’ll have greens sprouting from your old chifferobe in no time.
Materials:
1 old dresser of small–medium height
Soil
Seeds
Plastic plant-bed liner
Directions:
Once you’ve found a suitable spot for your dresser-turned garden planter, remove all of the drawers and set them aside. Using drill and a saw, cut a hole through the top of the dresser, so that the inside of the top drawer will be exposed to the outside even when closed. Next, line the inside of each drawer with plastic plant bed-liner. Return the drawers to the dresser. Fill each drawer with soil. Leave the the top drawer closed, and add soil through the hole in the top of the dresser so that the soil is level with the top of the dresser. Pull the other drawers our from the dresser in a staggered fashion, so that the soil in each drawer will be able to get sunlight. Add your seeds, be sure to water regularly, and you’re done!
2. Cat Tree
If you have a cat (or cats), then you know how the they love to sit in things. Boxes, grocery bags, even certain shoes fall prey to the relentless feline need to fit and to sit. Would your cat enjoy sitting in an old drawer? Why not give it a try; pull out a wooden drawer, set it on the floor, and then leave for a few minutes. If your cat isn’t snuggled down into the drawer when you come back, then maybe we don’t understand nearly as much about kitties as we thought. In fact, the only thing that a cat likes more than sitting inside something, is sitting inside something that’s up high. Well, your cat’s wish is our command. Here’s a fine repurposed-drawer DIY cat tree to keep your friend purring for years to come.
Materials:
5 old wooden drawers6 wooden 2X2 boards
Nails
Wood glue
Directions:
This particular project is fairly simple, and allows for a lot of creativity. Basically, all you need to do build a simple frame out of four of the 2X2 boards, and then attach three of the drawers with the opening facing upward at relatively equal intervals going up the frame. Then use the remaining two boards, and build an additional frame connected to the first through the final two drawers. The end result should be a series of drawers set at different heights that your cat will be able to climb and perch on. Be sure to space the drawers so that your cat can jump comfortably between them, and be careful not to make the structure too top heavy, otherwise you climbing cat may be in for more of an adventure than expected.
Just because you don’t want the old dresser or armoire anymore, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re willing to give up the additional storage that your dresser or armoire once provided. Well, by adding a few wheels to your repurposed drawers, you can move your storage solution somewhere a little bit more discreet (like underneath a bed, or to the bottom of a closet). This may be the perfect recycling project for drawers that maybe aren’t as pretty as they used to be.
Materials:
Several old drawers
4 small casters per drawer
Flat-tipped screws
Directions:
Attach four casters to the bottom of each drawer (on caster at each of the four corners). Be sure to use flat tipped screws, so that the points don’t damage any items you may decide to keep in the drawers. Once the casters are attached, all you need to do is fill the drawers with whatever you want to store, and then roll them out of sight. Position the drawers knob-outward, so that you have an easy handle that you can grab when you want to retrieve them.
4. Shelves
Drawers and shelves are fairly similar to begin with, so it doesn’t take much effort to repurpose some old wooden drawers into a set of beautiful and fun wall shelves. These shelves can be arranged in an almost infinite number of ways, and are versatile enough to be used in any room. And should you decide that you want to go a different direction, these shelves are as easy to remove or reposition as they are to put up.
Materials:
Several old drawers (exactly how many you choose to use is totally up to you)
Nails, screws, drywall anchors
A pencil
A belt sander (optional)
Directions:
First, determine exactly where your shelves are going to go, and how they are going to be positioned. For a nice frame-box effect, position the drawers so that the bottoms of the drawers are flat against the wall with their openings facing outward (if the front drawer paneling extends too far down to allow the drawer to lay flush against the wall, sand it down). Alternatively, you could attach the flat backs of the drawers to the wall, so the the opening is facing upward. Take some time to determine exactly how you want your drawer-shelves to sit. Once you decided how they should look, lightly mark in pencil their positions on the wall. Now, using a hammer or an electric drill, attach the drawers to the wall. Either make sure to attach the drawers to the wall where there are studs, or use drywall anchors to ensure that your new shelves don’t pull away from the wall once you decide to put something on them.
4. Side Table
Sometimes all a room needs is a little accent. If you feel as though this is the case with a room in your apartment, consider upcycling an old drawer into a stylish side table. When placed next to a couch or chair, a side table provides a place to rest drinks, keep a television remote control, station a home phone, etc. However, for this project, you’re going to need a drawer that is large and long. Otherwise, your end table will be too close to the ground to be able to function as anything other than a stylish trip hazard.
Materials:
1 large/long drawer
Weights (or books)
Screws (optional)
A Belt Sander (optional)
Directions:
Turn the drawer so that the flat front paneling is facing upward. This paneling is going to act as your flat table surface, so it should be as smooth and as flat as possible. Remove any handles or knobs, and fill in any open holes with wood putty. Consider sanding the surface as well to create a uniformly flat surface. Next take a moment to determine whether or not your side table is overly top-heavy. If so, you may need to attach some weights to the bottom to keep it from tipping over too easily. Lastly, if you’d like to have a side table that can be easily moved from one location to another, consider attaching four casters to the bottom as well. The drawer opening can be filled with books, magazines, or any other stackable items that you might want to keep on hand.
Furniture may not last forever, but if you’re willing to give it a second chance, it can often find new life in your home DIY projects. Old drawers have hundreds of potential uses, so get your hands on some and start thinking creatively.
Were there any great DIY drawer projects that we missed? Head to the comments section and let us know!
The post 5 Unexpected Uses for Drawers appeared first on Apartment Living Blog.
from Apartment Living Blog http://www.forrent.com/blog/apt_life/5-unexpected-uses-for-drawers/
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