How to Build a Mid-Century Modern Dresser--FROM 2x4s and PLYWOOD!

hey guys it's shira from wichout diaries and i don't know if you've noticed or not but over the years i've built several dressers they're basically my favorite thing to build so today's a really exciting day because i get to share with you another dresser build and this time i think this is maybe my absolute favorite dresser that i've ever built i think i say that with every dresser but this one this one's pretty top of the list i'm super excited to get started with this build so if you're ready to get building let's go dressers are literally my favorite thing to build there are so many ways to build a box and add some drawers and so many styles that you can go with for it so when a friend of mine asked me to build her a modern style dresser i jumped at the opportunity i love modern styles so this was a project right up my alley now in case you're wondering why this dresser isn't finished she wanted to stain it herself so i'm going to show you the build process but for the finish you'll just have to use your imagination i've got the printable plans dimensions and details linked below but for now let's get building i built the main body of this dresser and all the drawers using three quarter inch birch plywood you may have noticed in the beginning of the video that one of the drawer fronts was a little bit darker than the others i tried to use as much scrap wood as possible in this build and that front came from a different sheet of plywood it had been exposed to some sun and had gotten a little bit darker but once the dark stain is applied it should blend in just fine although i tried to use as much of my scraps as possible i still had to cut down some larger sheets and for this i used my circular saw and cutting guides once i had a top bottom and two side panels cut for the dresser body i applied some iron-on edge banding to all the sides of the plywood that will be exposed edge banding is optional but it really does make the piece look a lot cleaner i'll link a guide for how to apply it below but it's really pretty simple you just use an iron to melt the adhesive on the banding onto the edges and sand it smooth after it's cool not going to lie since so much of this dresser was made using plywood most of my time spent building it was used to apply edge banding it is what it is but once the banding was applied and the pieces were sanded well i used pocket holes and screws to assemble the main body i also used wood glue on all of these joints just for a more rigid hold once the glue was dry on the main body of this dresser i cut and installed a middle divider panel i cut this so that it was one inch narrower than the main dresser body so that i could install it one inch inset from the front edge i just used pocket holes and screws again here and double checked pretty often that it was centered in the box [Music] now it was time to add the drawer dividers i used scrap plywood for this but you could also use one by threes or a similar size board they don't have to be an exact width as they're mainly just here for looks i found some thin strips in my plywood scrap pile and cut them down to fit between the dresser sides and the divider panel after applying edge banding i glued and nailed two at the top and two at the bottom keeping them one inch inset from the front edge [Music] [Music] then i drilled pocket holes to attach the four in the middle these needed to be eight and a half inches apart so i cut a spacer block to help keep them in place while i drove the screws again these were all supposed to be one inch inset from the front edge as well that completed the main frame of the dresser so now it was time to move on to my favorite part of every build the drawers i buy my drawer slides in bulk packs of 10 and i went to pull some out of my drawer slide stash only to find i only had five pair instead of six so i browsed around the shop to find another pair that i could steal several parts of this project were actually robbed from other projects in the back of my shop so stay tuned for that my scrap piles and my scrap projects are out of control [Music] anyway once i had my six pair of slides i began installing them into the dresser i've got a detailed guide that i will link below about installing drawer slides but i just basically installed these one inch inset from the front edge of the dresser directly above each divider piece i made sure that each slide was square and straight before driving the screws next up was building and installing the drawer boxes for the drawer boxes i ripped some strips off a three-quarter inch plywood sheet to cut down for the sides i cut down all of my drawer box pieces to length from these strips on the miter saw again all the dimensions for this project can be found in the plans linked in the description once all the pieces were cut i began cutting the dados to install the drawer bottoms i set my blade height and rip fence up and began cutting the quarter inch dados now i get asked pretty often if you have to have a dado blade on the table saw for this and no definitely not i actually adjust my rip fence and cut a blade width then adjust the rip fence again to cut another blade width so that the distance between the outside cuts are a quarter of an inch then i just adjust again and clean up the middle to give me a quarter inch dado it's a little extra work but so is swapping out a blade for just a few cuts so whatever works works after all of my daddles were cut i edge banded the tops of the drawer box pieces then cut down the drawer bottoms i cut down a quarter inch plywood sheet to make the drawer bottoms and dresser back panel i set the back panel aside for now and use the circular saw and miter saw to cut down six drawer bottoms i ended up cutting one an inch too short and didn't want to run to the store for just one sheet of quarter inch plywood to finish this up so i ended up robbing the drawer bottom out of this old desk from the back of my shop because it was big enough to trim down to what i needed i will end up robbing the back of the shop again for one more thing later but for now i went ahead and drilled pocket holes and assembled the drawer boxes with the quarter inch plywood bottoms [Music] once all six drawers were assembled i installed them into the dresser body [Music] i had enough scraps from one of my plywood sheets to cut all six drawer fronts but just like with the drawer bottoms i ended up cutting one too short and didn't want to cut a whole sheet of plywood for just one drawer front so remember that cabinet that i stole the drawer slides from well i ended up stealing the side off of it and cut out the drawer front from that it's been exposed to some sunlight so it's a little darker than the rest of the project but once my friend applies the dark stain it should blend into the rest luckily that was the last part of this project that i had to steal i installed these drawer fronts using one and a quarter inch wood screws from the inside of the drawer boxes so that they covered the door box openings and were about an eighth of an inch from the dresser sides now my design called for leaving most of these divider panels exposed and allowing more space than usual between the drawer fronts there's nothing scientific or technical here it's purely just for looks so if you wanted to make your drawer fronts larger to hide the dividers you definitely can now the dresser body is complete and all that's left is the base i built the base using two by fours for the support and some scrap poplar that i had laying around the shop for the legs you could also use standard one by lumber or three quarter inch plywood for the legs if you wanted i ran the two by fours and a rough poplar piece through the planer and trim the rounded edges off the two by fours just to clean them up a little i used the miter saw to cut the base frame pieces to length and drilled pocket holes into the ends of the short pieces to assemble a 2x4 frame that will just help support the weight of the dresser in the middle i assembled this super basic frame using pocket hole screws making sure to keep the piece in the middle centered then i began making the very last piece for this dresser the legs i used this exact leg design in a few projects in the past so if they look familiar you may recognize them from the dog bed the dog bowl stand and the upholster storage bench that i built previously i actually pulled up the diagram for those plans to copy for this build and trace the design onto my poplar piece once i had the first leg cut out i sanded it and used it as a template to trace out three more from the same board after they were all sanded i brought the base back out and used some wood glue a speed square and a couple of two and a half inch wood screws per leg to attach at each corner at a 45 degree angle [Music] once the base was together all that was left was to attach it to the dresser since this dresser was really heavy with all the drawers installed i removed them labeled them then flip the dresser upside down and center the base onto the bottom i used several two inch wood screws to attach the base to the bottom plywood panel and then flipped it back over and i almost forgot i stapled the quarter inch plywood backer that i cut earlier onto the back of the dresser and then reinstalled the drawers and now she's ready for stain or paint or whatever you would want to do with this honestly i'm kind of digging the unfinished look but i know that's probably not the popular opinion you can add handles or knobs to this or just leave them off for a more minimalist look i think my friend plans to add knobs but if you wanted to do without hardware you could use the drawer slides that you can push to open for this piece instead either way this is a really classic design and i hope you've enjoyed watching it as much as i enjoyed building it if you're interested in building your own be sure to check out the plans that i've linked below and if you enjoyed the video and want to follow along i'd love if you'd subscribe so you don't miss out on what's coming next thanks so much for watching friends and until next time happy building

Channel: Shara Woodshop Diaries

Views: 190,327

Rating: 4.9646163 out of 5

Keywords: diy dresser, diy dresser build, diy 6 drawer dresser build, mid century modern furniture, mid century modern furniture build, mid century modern furniture building plans, how to build a dresser out of wood, how to build a dresser out of plywood, how to build a dresser, mid century modern dresser build, simple diy furniture projects, woodworking projects and plans, modern dresser how to build, how to build a mid century modern dresser, plywood furniture, plywood furniture diy

Id: gJAOVQbgZso

Length: 12min 58sec (778 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 09 2021