Dresser with Extra Cabinet

Bob Barker and I decided to make a new desk for my wife. It took some time, but after some back and forth and months of procrastination, we came up with a design. We decided on a white oak top with a waterfall edge on one side. The other side has a cabinet with two drawers. My wife wanted one drawer to be a file cabinet and the other to hold her printer. The other important consideration was to hide the numerous cords she needs for all her equipment.

For years I have used an old Ikea dresser and have left my PlayStation sitting next to it on the original box. It was way past time to upgrade the dresser and find a better solution for the PlayStation.

I wanted to use mainly solid walnut, so that already creates some challenges compared to using plywood, since wood movement would need to be considered in the design.

Although I wanted walnut, I did not want the entire piece to all be too uniform. So, for a contrast I decided to use curly maple for the face frame, PlayStation Cabinet, and the top piece. Unfortunately, after making trips to 5 different lumberyards I was not able to get enough curly maple that was suitable for the build. I did make the top piece with what I could find, but it was not what I was looking for, so I ended up discarding that piece and making the top out of walnut as well.

The curly maple of the cabinet and face frame and not really visible at first, but when opening drawers or the cabinet, it reveals really cool details. Another really cool detail is the panel on the door that covers the PlayStation cabinet. I originally wanted to use a patterned metal grate, but the cost of the ones I liked was about $500 per sheet. That is too much to justify for a single door, so I thought about it and came up with another idea. I made my own patterned insert out od a maple board. It is one solid piece that looks like squares stacked on other squares. This gives good coverage, but has enough gaps so the signal to the PlayStation easily goes through even with the door closed.

Making drawer faces with routed in finger pulls was something I have been wanting to do, and this was the perfect project for it. I considered placed the finger grips on the sides or bottom, but with the cabinet door in the center, I felt the top was a better option for this project.

I used regular walnut for the sides and top, and quarter sawn walnut for the drawer faces. Since they are the most visible part of the build, I figured the grain pattern of the quarter sawn was the way to go. Of course, I made sure to keep a continuous grain going across the drawer faces.

For the finish, to keep it simple with the different types of wood, I went with Rubio Monocoat pure. For the maple, a single coat was all that was needed. With the walnut though, a second coat makes a noticeable difference.

In the end, the dresser came out amazing, and now that my wife has seen it, she already has plans for me to make a full set for the bedroom – including a larger dresser for her, nightstands and a bedframe. So, those will be something I will work on in the future. The full build video is on YouTube, and detailed build plans are also available in my ETSY store.

Full build video on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/r_-23uYXW7k