Howdy friends! I hope you are having a fabulous week! Today I am happy to my mudroom storage bench, that I repurposed from a dresser top and some old table legs.
I shared this at My Repurposed Life last year as one of my contributor posts, and I am excited to finally share this project on my own blog!
I love it! You can tell I built this last winter because of the snow on the ground. We haven’t had snow yet this year…and I am sooo good with that! 🙂
It all started with this dresser…I showed you
how to turn a dresser into a bench in September, but lets back up a bit more and see how this dresser repurposing all began…
Last year in October, I cut the dresser in half to
extend a dresser for my
boys bedroom makeover, but it didn’t work out, you will have to read the posts to see why…longish story. 🙂
Since I didn’t use the cut dresser in my boys room I ended up taking the bigger portion (on the right) and made it into a bench. I was left with the top of the dresser (on the left) which was lost on my back porch for quite a while.
I wanted to do something with this dresser top, and another bench seemed like the perfect solution. When I went outside to look at it I spotted these table legs that I had taken off of a table my friend gave me. In fact, I used part of the old table top in my
Kitchen Island with Pantry Storage post, now it was time to use the legs. Repurposing is so much fun!
To cut the legs, I measured the height of my dresser top, and subtracted that number from how tall I wanted the bench to be. I was excited to see that the left over leg pieces are long enough to be repurposed for another project! (top right)
I must admit in hind site, I totally could have used the full length of the legs and turned this into a console table instead of a bench, wouldn’t that have been cool! Either way would work, and I love the idea of a sofa table as well!
I used my dresser top, flipped on it’s side, and set the legs flush with each end. I measured the distance between and cut a scrap of 1×2 to connect the legs together.
I measured the rest of the apron pieces against the bottom of the dresser top and then I drilled pocket holes into each end of the 1×2’s with my
Kreg K5 Pocket-Hole Jig
, and proceeded to build. I attached them to my legs with wood glue and pocket hole screws, leaving me with a cute little bench base.
When I set my dresser on top for a dry fit, I thought it looked too top heavy. The best way to fix that problem was to balance it out with a lower shelf.
So I measured, cut, and drilled pocket holes just like I did for the top aprons into some 1×2 boards to make shelf supports. When I added the shelf support pieces I used a scrap of wood as a spacer so all of them would be at the same height. Work smarter not harder!
Looking much better! I still needed to “chunk” up the bottom a little bit, so I opted for a plywood shelf instead of doing slats, my thought being that it would look “heavier”. Hopefully that makes since… 🙂
All of the 1×2’s I used were scraps that I had on hand, and even some plywood strips that I had left over from ripping plywood.
Speaking of ripping plywood…
I used my last big scrap of plywood for the bottom shelf. So sad!! I ripped it with my
Kreg Rip-Cut
and
Ryobi Circular Saw 
to the correct size. Which was the length and width of base.
Next, I measured the width of the legs and marked where to notch out each corner (top right) on the plywood. Then I quickly cut out the notches with my
Ryobi Jig Saw
(bottom right).
Next, added the shelf with glue and finish nails using my
Ryobi nail gun
.
I had the shelf attached to the legs, making the base complete. Then I flipped over the dresser top and glued and nailed the base onto it.
I also added screws to the top and the shelf as well, for extra strength.
I used spackle to fill all my seams and cracks, followed by a think layer of caulk. Sometimes the spackle cracks so I added the caulk to prevent that, or you could just use caulk. After sanding it all down I was ready for paint!
I used Gail’s
DIY Chalk Paint recipe, which is awesome. I picked a dark grey and used this as my primer, then I painted it with Behr Shipyard in satin, a pretty blue color. #iamobsessedwithblues
I painted the sides of the drawer, I am glad I did, it just looks more finished when it is opened.
I really love how the bottom shelf turned out, especially because it balanced the piece out.
I got the vintage knobs from a box of hardware at an estate sale for $1 and I seriously think they are awesome. They were slightly tarnished, but I liked the look so I didn’t clean them.
Not bad for a hodge podge project? You would never know it was pieced together by looking at it, which is what I wanted.
I think it is so cute and I am thrilled that I was able to get some use out of my cut up dresser!
So what do you think? Are you up for repurposing one of your old dressers into something else that you need more?
I would love to see any of your projects that were inspired from my blog, you can always post a photo on your favorite social media and tag me so I can see your awesome work and so I can share it with the rest of my readers! You can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
Hugs!
Mindi
I will be linking to these parties, Savvy Southern Style, and Bloom Designs
, and proceeded to build. I attached them to my legs with wood glue and pocket hole screws, leaving me with a cute little bench base.
and Ryobi Circular Saw 
to the correct size. Which was the length and width of base. 
(bottom right).
.
Mindi this bench is super cute! I love the extra details that using upcycled furniture adds to a project. I can't believe you got 2 benches from that one dresser. Awesome job.
You always amaze me with your creativity! Both benches are so cute!
I would love to see a tour of your home sometime to see where and how you use all these awesome projects you post!
This is an amazing transformation. You have really done your selves proud. Thanks so much for the great ideas, Sandi
What a great transformation! I would never have looked at that dresser and imagined that. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
hugs,
Jann
You did an amazing job on this. Until I read the post I never thought it was all pieces from different things.