Back in 2008 I had been on a few year hiatus from woodworking.  After seeing the prices on bedroom sets for our expected child, we were stunned.  My wife and I had wanted something of quality that would last the test of time.  After a bit of deliberation (and some hesitation from my wife), we had decided I was getting back into woodworking.  I ended up getting a table saw, jointer, planer and a few other tools and I was ready to dive back into the hobby I missed so much.  When discussing the prices of furniture versus the costs of getting back into woodworking, it really was a no brainer.  We ended up saving a lot of money that day.  Of course I have purchased more tools since then, but we did save that day, haha.  I decided to start the bedroom set with a maple dresser.  My wife really liked the customization that was available when you build stuff yourself.  She got to pick what the dresser looked like, wood species, what size it was going to be and how many drawers it was going to have.  She was happy and so was I.  And they lived happily ever after….oh and I describe the build below.

designed in sketchup
(bottom 3 drawers will be equal in height)
upright dresser
Glue up of face frame (ambitious glue up for me in one shot) – all joints are mortise and tenon DSC_1202
no glue mock up without panels
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final clamp glue up – with panels in place set with glazing points
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top all glued up
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biscuit slots cut near the top to secure the top clips
clips i made to secure the top
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top attached with said clips – you can also see I secured the panels in rabbets I made with glazing points – I normally have the panels centered in a groove in the rails & stiles, but I wanted more exposed edge to champfer the inside of the rails & stiles
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closeup of the champfered top (I’m a fan of arts & crafts, and mission style furniture)
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I wanted to add some pillowed walnut plugs for an accent.  I cut these in by hand.DSC_1059DSC_1065DSC_1063
drawer parts all cut to size and milled with all the proper daddos and such
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because of the panel construction, I needed some stable mounting spots for the slide hardware
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All drawers in and functioning perfectly.  My wife loved these ball bearing full extension drawer slides.  No more wondering what is in the back of the drawer.
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Dresser fully completed and outfitted with modern brushed nickel hardware.
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Thanks for stopping by.  As always, questions and comments are always appreciated & welcome!

10 Responses

  1. Spunjin

    That’s a great looking dresser, Nick. My wife asked me to make a pair of night stands after I made a wall hanging “head board” for our bed. That was almost 4 years ago. Still no night stands. Also, it’s been over 2 years since I put in laminate flooring in our house and not all the base boards have been replaced.
    There is just so much more fun stuff to make.

    Reply
    • Nick

      Alway more stuff to do than time to do it – the end of the list is too far away

      Reply
    • Bill

      Wow really nice Nick. I really like it. Mortise and tenon. Little walnut accent. Cool. And they thought Shaft was Bad. Shaft ain’t got nothing on you.

      Reply
  2. Steve Collins

    Really nice job on that dresser, Nick! Mortise and tenon joinery on all of the face frame ought to be adequate to hold it together for a while :>)

    Reply
    • Nick

      I worked on it on again off again for the better part of 2 months – if I had to guess how many hours I would say around 40, maybe 50?

      Reply
  3. Connal jackson

    Hi Nick. that is a great piece of work. By chance, do you have plans you can send me?

    Reply
    • Nick

      Thank you – I don’t have plans for this one as I made it a few years back – I doubt I will make plans anytime soon but anything is possible.

      Reply

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