When I revealed my mid-century jewelry display, you might have noticed that the low dresser I used was in need of some repair.
Well, not only did the veneer need some love, the bottom drawer had completely fallen apart and in the photo above, I just shoved the drawer front in an snapped a pic before it could fall out.
Most of the time it looked like this:
I finally had some time and energy to give this little gem so first thing was first, I sat out to glue the drawer together. Here is where I started.
Like any good DIY-er, I gathered the few supplies I had on hand, determined to complete this project without purchasing any additional tools.
Now, if you’re thinking ‘those clamps don’t look big enough’ you would be correct. To do any kind of major wood working/repair you need legit clamps like this one but again, I was determined not to purchase anything for this project so I made do.
I started by cleaning all the surfaces that were going to be glued and fitted them into place before I applied the glue. Once the side piece was in place it was mostly holding together except for the hinge so I used my way-too-small clamp to ghetto rig a solution. Again, I don’t recommend trying this at home.
After that glue set (about an hour) I repeated the process with the drawer front. This time there was enough tension coming from the 3 complete sides so I didn’t have to ghetto-clamp anything.
And that ladies and gentlemen is what I call a successful project!
The second item on the agenda was the top drawer which as you can tell, was missing quite a bit of veneer. There is a soft spot in my heart for veneer but this piece was too far damaged to be repaired. Plus, since so much of it was already gone, I could tell there was a workable piece of wood underneath!
See what I mean?
I was able to remove most of it with a wood chisel and hammer but I had to use this technique for both ends which proved to be the most stubborn. After that it got a good sanding and a few coats of primer. . .
. . . and then a pop of color!
