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Cost
$ $ $ $ $
Difficulty
• • • • •
Time
10h00

Hammers, and Nails, and Paint, Oh My!
I turned an old dresser drawer into a stand for my mirror and light. I didn't have to buy a thing, thanks to Dad's scrap wood pile and my husband's Bin of Miscellaneous Bits.

Plus I got to use power tools! I love power tools.

I'd posted it on my blog, but I wanted to also share it with my CO+K friends. Enjoy!

Posted by J. Pario from Lincoln, Nebraska, United States • Published See J. Pario's 22 projects »
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  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 1
    Step 1

    This is what I was using to elevate my lampstand. (The only other option was applying make-up only to my chin.)

    I wanted something with storage underneath.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 2
    Step 2

    First, I found a drawer that would fit in the space.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 3
    Step 3

    The dresser is long-gone, but I saved the drawers. The front plate on the drawer is bigger than the sides, so it doesn't rest flat on the desk. Plus the front plate blocked me from storing anything underneath.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 4
    Step 4

    First I took off the handle....

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 5
    Step 5

    Then I got a hammer. The side were just glued (I thought). At any rate, there weren't any of the those lovely dovetail joints, so I figured taking a hammer might work. I could always resort to the saw if it didn't.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 6
    Step 6

    Next, we cut a thin piece of wood from the scrap-wood-to-burn pile (thanks, Dad!) and glued it across the front of the side where the front plate had been.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 7
    Step 7

    We nailed the piece down so it wouldn't float away on the glue.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 8
    Step 8

    Some more glue, and then clamps.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 9
    Step 9

    The wood for the front was scrap wood from my father's workshop. I think it was a cabinet door gone horribly wrong.

    We cut the misshapened, almost cabinet door to size.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 10
    Step 10

    We used a router to soften up the edges.

    Then we sanded it using an orbital sander and two increasingly fine types of sandpaper.

  • Step 11

    We put the hinge on, which involved a good deal of measuring and hesitation on my part.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 12
    Step 12

    We discovered that because of the sides of the drawer being higher than the piece of wood to which the hinge was fixed the door would not open as far as I had wanted. Dad got out a utility knife and whittled down the soft pine a little bit to help with this problem.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 13
    Step 13

    This is what it looked like undecorated

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 14
    Step 14

    Decorating meant removing the swinging door, then priming.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 15
    Step 15

    Painting the front panel involved carefully placing tape.

    I had to think backwards--wherever there was blue tape, there would be white, and whatever was left white would be covered in blue paint...

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 16
    Step 16

    I used blue paint plus a gold paint pen, and I painted right over the primer.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 17
    Step 17

    The paint was left over from when I painted the ceiling in the computer room. (Wasn't my husband surprised!)

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 18
    Step 18

    I used a gold Sharpie pen paint for the gold stripes. The black tape is "artists' tape" and it didn't work all that hot, but then, I didn't use it for its intended purpose. I ended up having to touch up the gold stripes because I didn't use painters' tape.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 19
    Step 19

    Removing the tape is always fun!

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 20
    Step 20

    I free-handed the center flourish, and then had to add more flourishes to disguise the fact that it wasn't quite centered!

    You can see my practice attempts on the scrap cardstock. I was most worried about this step but I'm really pleased with how it came out.

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 21
    Step 21

    Finally, I screwed the hinge back in place....

  • How to make a table. Dresser Drawer => Lampstand - Step 22
    Step 22

    And I got to enjoy my new lamp stand!

    You'd never guess it was a beat-up old dresser drawer without a dresser to call home.

    I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

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