A couple of months ago we purchased a gorgeous early 19th century dresser that was unfortunately a bit too far gone for restoration. The drawers were in good condition, but the frame was falling apart. Furthermore, we thought that the interior wood in the drawers was too beautiful to be hidden. We sat with those drawers for awhile until we decided that they’d best work as shelves.

Since there is no such thing as a new creation, all we had to do was pinterest (Can that be a verb like to “google”?) some ideas and figure out if we wanted them staggered or straight, yada, yada. Due to our lack of patience and not wanting to run to the hardware store for brackets or support, we followed DIY videos that showed folks popping screws directing into the drawer backs to secure them to the walls. (*Tip: Use anchors in the wall!)

We’re not crazy about this technique. First, you’re adding holes to the most conspicuous area. Second, objects will be sitting on the top and bottom, so you’re relying on that drawer being held together properly. That being said, a bracket on the bottom would be viewable also, so what to do? We added some extra nails and glue to the drawers that we didn’t wait for to dry (in other words, useless) before installation.

For a finished look, the screw holes should be filled. Did we do that? What do you think? It’s a friggin store display!

But it looks nice anyway, right?