I had this old chest of draws sitting around in my workshop for a few years now. So I thought it about time to dust it off and get creative.
To turn it into an awesome LEGO themed piece of furniture I used the following;
Materials
· 1 can of spray primer
· Spray Paint – 5 bright colours to match Lego bricks
· Old Pallet wood (to make the draw handles)
· Wood glue
Tools
· Electric Screwdriver/drill
· Sander
· Jigsaw.
The Prep
I started by removing all the draw handles and giving every surface a good sand. This removed all of the old varnish and scratches it has acquired over the years.
Now with this project I didn’t want to see too much of the wood grain coming through once painted. Because lets face it Lego doesn’t have wood grain running through it. To combat this I gave the chest of draws a good coating of primer.
The Cutting
While that was set aside to dry I turned my attention to making the circular LEGO tops that would be used as the draw handles.
I decided to glue two pallet boards together to get the right thickness, and draw/rough cut twenty 1 1/2 inch circles.
This took a little while but using my trusty 1970’s bandsaw and my bench top sander… it made getting consistently sized circles a lot easier. Now don’t worry, If you don’t have a bandsaw or bench sander to hand… A jigsaw and hand sander will do exactly the same, it just might take that bit longer. Alternatively I could have bought a 1 and a half inch Dowel online and cut it into 1 inch thick pieces. But with wood prices at the moment that would have cost over £20 and the pallet boards where free!
The Layout
Once the primer had dried, I marked out how I wanted the “bricks”. In my design, I chose to mix it up a little – making it look as if some bricks were stacked differently. I think this bought some uniqueness to the piece but this is where your creative comes into play! Use the chest of draws’ features to your advantage.
The Paint
Once I was happy with my design and I had worked out what brick will be what colour… I got spraying! Ensuring I had masked all other areas up to reduce overspray.
The Snag
It was at this point I hit a snag… Despite sanding and priming the wood – it seems something that had previously been spilt on the dresser had soaked deep into the wood and repelled the water based paint. This is one downside to working with old/reclaimed furniture.
To combat this I took it back to bare wood, paying particular attention to the affected area and rubbed it down with a little white spirit. I then re-primed and re-sprayed the area and the paint took perfectly.
The Finishing Touches
Once it was all painted I used a black acrylic paint pen to enhance the change between colours. This also helped cover any small paint bleeding that occurred during the spray.
To finish I just added all the handles/wooden knobs I made earlier to the dresser!
Now I could have finished it there, but as this was going to be kid’s furniture. I wanted to protect it that little further. Therefore I gave it a couple coats of Lacquer. This added to the gloss effect and also gave it a further smooth, plastic look.
The DIY LEGO chest of draws
And there we have it, from an old disused chest of draws to some fancy new storage for any LEGO crazed kid!
