I have always loved the look of antique and vintage furniture, I just don’t always (or ever) love forking over tons of dough to bring it home. However, I do bring home inspiration to apply to my DIY projects. This time I decided to save my $$$, and tackle a DIY library card catalog.
Of coarse, I don’t have the patience to build a gazillion tiny drawers, so this will be the faux, cupboard version. In my opinion, this is also the more usable version. Unless you have a lot of little things to store.
Find the video tutorial HERE.
When I found this old beat up dresser that had been abandoned in our shed by the previous owners (they are missing a lot of their junk by the way) I knew I wanted to turn it into a DIY library card catalog.
Materials
1 junky dresser
1/2 inch plywood (Use for the door. Size will vary by dresser.)
1×6 pine board (length will depend on how many “drawer” fronts you want.)
2 hinges & cabinet catch
drawer pulls (I purchased a 30 pack for $9.99 from the Zon.)
screws or nails for attaching shelves
paint or stain
Remove the Drawers
The first thing I did was gut the inside of the dresser and trash the drawers. This is really the fun part because you can go wild and crazy with the hammer. If you black out and wake up to a pile of sticks…seek professional help.
I kept the drawer supports on the back of the dresser to reuse as supports for my shelves.
Cut Your Door and Shelves
Next, I measured the height and width of my dresser opening that I created by removing the drawers. Then I used these measurements to cut out my door piece from my 1/2 inch plywood.
TIP: You do not have to own saws to do this project. Most building supply stores can make these cuts for you for free or for a small fee when you purchase your wood from them. My store charges a few cents per cut. Just pre-measure everything really well, and you may even want to draw a small diagram of what you need to be extra clear.
I also cut out three shelves. The shelves are the width and depth of the inside of my dresser. I made this step a little bit more difficult for myself by cutting notches in the corners of my shelves to wrap around the frame of the dresser. This step is completely optional.
Assemble Your Shelves
Before I put everything together, I sanded all my pieces smooth and gave my shelf and door pieces a couple coats of paint. I also, painted the inside of my dresser.
After my paint had dried, which took about five seconds in our 90 degree sun, I assembled my shelves. I opted to screw my shelf boards down to the leftover drawer supports on the back of the dresser. Then I screwed through the outside of the dresser through the frame and into the shelf. I filled the holes with wood putty before painting and they are un-detectable.
There are a multitude of ways you could choose to attach your shelves that would work fine. Another super simple way I thought about, after the fact, would be to use metal L brackets attached to the dresser frame that you could set your shelf on and secure it. Super simple!
The Door
For the faux drawer fronts, I cut 5 1/2 inch strips out of my plywood scraps. If you don’t have a plethora of scrap wood around, you can just use 1×6 lumber. (Or any width depending on what size you want your drawers to be.) I then cut my strips to make 30, 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch squares.
Next, I attached my drawer fronts using wood glue. I used a small piece of scrap wood as a spacer to place the squares. Contrary to what the picture shows, I glued all my pieces down before attaching the door.
I hung my door with two plain ol’ hinges. My door ended up being pretty heavy, so I may add another hinge or two.
Finally, I added my drawer hardware. It was super fun hand screwing 60 tiny screws into place! But, if I can do it, anyone can.
To finish up my DIY library card catalog, I touched up any paint scuffs and added some door latch hardware. Now I just need to fill it with junk and it will be complete.
Hope you enjoy!
