How To Turn A Dresser Into A Makeup Vanity

"I was looking for antiquarian dressers on Pinterest when I stumbled across people using them as vanities," says reader Caleb Kettler, who decided to make 1 himself. "The trickiest function is fitting in the plumbing."

Indeed, to make mode for the trap, you lot'll take to change the drawers. Who better to demonstrate how to do that than This Quondam House principal carpenter Norm Abram? Now, his version of the project is pretty involved; the dresser here is all curved openings, and it got a new elevation of marble with a drop-in sink, requiring more than modifications.

You lot can brand an easier go of it by plopping a vessel sink right on top of a rectilinear piece. Either way, the approach on how to build a DIY bathroom vanity from a dresser is the same. Come across for yourself equally Norm walks you through the steps to adding a truly original focal point to your bath, all while preserving a precious flake of drawer space.

Faucet: Rohl Viaggio Country Bath Collection, about $370

Dresser to Vanity Overview

Analogy past Gregory Nemec

Project Timeline:

Mean solar day ane: Modify the drawers (Steps 1–8).

Twenty-four hour period 2: Complete the vanity (Steps 9–17).

How to Turn a Dresser Into a Bathroom Vanity

1. Cut the Drawer Sides

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• On this dresser, the upper drawer must be removed to permit room for the drop-in sink. That means the drawer face up has to come off and be reinstalled later to create a simulated front end.
• Clamp the drawer to a piece of work surface and use the trim saw or handsaw to cut along the sides of the drawer where they run across the face, as shown.

2. Cut the Drawer Bottom

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• Flip the drawer upside downwards and fit the oscillating multi-tool with a flush-cutting blade or grab a handheld flush-cut saw.
• Cut forth the back side of the drawer front, where the lesser meets information technology, keeping the blade snug against information technology.
• Gear up bated the drawer front besides equally the parts of the drawer frame—you'll utilize them in Pace 4 to modify the lower drawer.
• Utilize the drill/driver to unscrew the dresser pinnacle.

3. Mark the Lower Drawer

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• To brand room for the plumbing, yous'll demand to build a cutout into at least one of the drawers—in this example, the lower one.
• Residuum the drawer upside down on your work surface, and measure and marking spots 4 inches to the right and left of the drawer's centerline.
• Employ the straightedge, every bit shown, to draw cutlines on the bottom of the drawer. Transfer your marks to the back of the drawer.

iv. Cut the Drawer

Photo past Anthony Tieuli

• Clench the drawer so that yous can work on its back.
• Using the rafter square every bit a guide, follow the cutline forth the back of the drawer with the trim saw. Keep the drawer clamped, and continue following the cutline on the bottom of the drawer until y'all accomplish the face up.
• Use either the multitool or the handsaw to finish the cut and dissever the cutout where it attaches to the confront.

five. Cutting the Internal Sides

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• Have the upper drawer's back and utilize the sliding T-bevel to find the bending where ane end meets the front, then transfer the angle and cutting the terminate.
• Hold the piece upright in the cutout, and marking it where the back of the lower drawer intersects it. The new piece volition exist sandwiched between the drawer front and the drawer dorsum.
• Cut the piece on the miter saw. Measure, mark, and cut the opposite slice.

6. Attach the Internal Sides

Photograph by Anthony Tieuli

• Dry-fit the newly cut pieces. One at a fourth dimension, remove them and run a dewdrop of forest glue forth the edges where they attach; fit them in identify, and secure them with the pneumatic nail gun and i¼-inch eighteen-judge brads, equally shown.
• Wipe away whatsoever backlog wood glue with a clammy cloth.

7. Add the Corner Blocking

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• Rip angled blocking from 1 stock on the table saw. Brush the right-angle edges of the blocking with wood glue, position them between the drawer sides and confront, and tack them in identify.

Tip: If you lot don't take a table saw, brand corner blocking from cove or quarter-round molding.

8. Cut the Slide Blocking

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• The grooved dresser drawers slid on wood guide track. To update the dresser drawers with optional heavy-duty slides, install blocking flush between the leg framing.
• First, measure out between the front and back of the dresser frame just above the wooden guide, equally shown.
• Cut a 1x4 to that length. Make 1x4 blocking for the other side the same way.

9. Install the Slide Blocking

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• Add spacers to make full the gap between the blocking and the dresser, securing them with gum and brads.
• Wedge a cut 1x4 between the leg framing just in a higher place the wooden guide on each side, and toenail the ends into the framing.
• Use the hammer and pry bar to remove the old wooden drawer guides.

10. Set the Drawer Rails

Photo past Anthony Tieuli

• Follow the slide'south installation instructions to position the inner rail against the side of the drawer. Check that the hardware is square to the back of the drawer, and marker the prepunched holes on the blocking.
• Hold the rail in place, and secure it to the drawer with the included inch wood screws. Echo the process on the other drawer side.

xi. Secure the Slide to the Dresser

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• Measure below the dresser's crosspiece co-ordinate to the slide's installation instructions, and mark that spot on the blocking.
• Extend the slide rail from the runway to access the screw holes, and hold the track in place, with its superlative edge at your mark.
• Fasten one side of the track to the support with an included screw. Square up the runway before driving a second spiral, then drive screws through the remaining holes.
• Install the slide on the other side in the same way.

12. Add together the Drawer Supports

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• Use the hammer and pry bar to remove the eye drawer guide from the bottom of the dresser frame.
• Measure and cutting 2 pieces of ½-inch-thick fleck to connect the front and back of the dresser frame. The supports should residuum on the back of the frame and be flush with the front border of the dresser. Infinite them nether the new drawer sides, glue down the supports, and tack them in place with ane¼-inch brads.

13. Make the Confront Braces

Photograph by Anthony Tieuli

• To attach the confront of the upper drawer, make L-shaped braces. Showtime, cut 3-inch pieces of 1x2 and gum them together, edge to face, in an 50-shape, as shown.
• Tack the pieces together with 1-inch brads.
• Make four braces, two for each side of the drawer confront.

14. Adhere the Face

Photo past Anthony Tieuli

• Agree the confront of the upper drawer in place on the dresser, and position a caryatid in the corner where it meets the dresser frame.
• Tack the brace to the frame and drill a pilot hole through the brace and into the face of the drawer.
• Secure the face with 1-inch wood screws. Screw the brace to the dresser frame and install the remaining braces. Slide the lower drawer in place.

fifteen. Secure the Piece

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• Position your new vanity in the bath, its back edge about 3 inches off the wall.
• Apply the stud finder to locate mounting points and cut 2 pieces of 2x4 scrap.
• Marshal the scrap with those marks and screw through the back of the vanity into each 2x4 with a pair of 3-inch wood screws.
• Button the vanity confronting the wall and drill an angled pilot hole through each 2x4 and into a wall stud, and fasten it with a 3-inch wood screw.

16. Trim the Sink Hole

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• One time the marble countertop was cut for the drop-in sink, Norm had to make a curved cut in a cross support in the dresser frame. If your installation requires a similar cutting, set a compass to the width of the sink rim and follow the opening, mark a curved cutline on the cross support. Follow along the line with a jigsaw.

17. Install the Sink

Photo by Anthony Tieuli

• Dry-fit the sink in the opening in the countertop. If it still hits the crosspiece, remove the sink and proceed to trim the crosspiece until it fits.
• In one case it does, run a bead of silicone caulk on the underside of the sink's perimeter and press the sink in place.
• Install the drain and faucet and make the plumbing connectedness.

Tip: To ease installation, attach your fixtures before dropping the sink in.

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Tools

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/bathrooms/21016636/how-to-turn-a-dresser-into-a-bath-vanity

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