Flea Market Find, Drawer Shelf DIY

• By Joan
• October 23, 2019
• 5 Comments

Drawer Shelves, Upcycled and Recycled DIY

We’re headed back to my pile of flea market finds today with this pair of old desk drawers.  The boxes are in good shape with dovetail corners and oak fronts.  They are about to become a fantastic pair of wall shelves.

What was not in good shape were the bottoms.  The plywood was warped, flaky, stained and falling apart.  All that just made the deconstruction that much easier and as a bonus…I have more wood for the fireplace.  🙂

For added shelving I’m using these oak boards, leftover side bedrails, also from the same flea market.

Cut plywood to fit for the bottoms of the drawers.  Use the same thickness wood as what you’re replacing so that it fits in the side channel of the drawers.  It should just slide in.

If your wood is thicker than what you’re replacing or if there is no channel, use small nails to attach directly to the back of the drawer frame.

I don’t know where these drawers were stored but not much finish was left on the wood.  It was super easy to just sand down any remaining varnish on the drawer fronts and get the oak ready for a final finish.

The old oak just soaks up the added oil. The top drawer has one coat of   Danish Oil Wood Finish.  Rub on with a rag, let dry and repeat if necessary.

I painted the sides of the drawers, inside and out, with a nice creamy gray chalk paint.

The bottom drawer has a coat of vintage wax to finish off the chalk paint.  The vintage wax really changes the color of the paint, if you want to keep more of the gray color use a clear wax.

Finish off the backs of the shelves.  I’m using a nice heavy wallpaper I picked up from the architectural salvage yard.  I also considered paint, fabric, scrap wood…use what you have.

Install the oak bed rail shelves.  These have finish nails thru the sides and screws from the back.

From the back you can see the screws that hold the shelves up and the picture hangar wire attached to screw eyes thru the sides of the drawers.

All ready to hold a bunch of knick knacks.  Inspired yet?

Those weren’t my first drawer shelves.  This trio, while much smaller, were a flea market find from 2017.  Their backing is an old map.

My updated flea market flips…  Of course the  shelves made from the desk drawers,  lamps made from the jack stands, a star made from tobacco sticks, whale weathervane from a jack, coffee table from silo doors, and a pair of raised stencil headboards from a free roadside find.  If you want to see all my treasures from the flea market, you can find them here.

Shared at Salvaged Junk Projects,

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