Apr 15, 20223 min read

DIY LEGO chest of draws

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.