threestronghouses: A Dresser Redo

Here is my latest project:

It's a bit rough, I know. Three of the drawer slides have fallen off (thankfully they just need to be reattached, more on that later, Part II perhaps?) and there are multiple scratches and nicks.

The first thing to do is assess the damage. Yes, I looked it over before I bought it ($10!) to make sure all the repairs were in my (sometimes imagined) skill set, but you can only determine so much in someone's driveway. Take everything apart, remembering to save all screws and hardware in a bowl/box, just in case.

First up for repair, the bottom two drawers both have missing corners.

My first brilliant idea to fix them was using wood filler. I previously fixed a corner on a cabinet box and it worked great. Once again, I recommend Elmer's. Really, just make sure that it's paintable or stainable if need be. (Depending on the project, you can buy wood filler to match a variety of existing colors so you don't have to paint/stain it.) Here's what I ended up with. I used tape to hold the filler in place while drying. Simple, shallow fixes usually dry quite fast, within 15 minutes, and are ready to sand. I let these dry overnight.

Unfortunately, my brilliance was short lived. The minute I went to sand the edges the entire corner popped off! It was dry alright, just not stuck to the drawer like I had hoped. Not to be dismayed, I hatched a second even more brilliant plan! :) I took composite board left over from an earlier project and cut it into small sections. The kind I have is thin enough that all I needed were scissors. Next, I aligned the corners of the composite pieces together to fit snugly into the drawer corners and glued pieces together to make it 3 layers thick. Then, I glued it to the drawer. Clamps are best when using wood glue, but this was impossible for one of the drawers so I used my trusty blue tape again to hold it in place.