How To Upcycle An Old Dresser Into A Chair And Ottoman

So here is a fun diy furniture project! Did you know you could take an old dresser and turn it a fabulous matching dresser chair and ottoman?  Yup.  Paige Hemmis shared this clever trick on Home & Family, which airs weekdays at 10 am ET/PT on Hallmark Channel. I got permission to share this how to upcycle an old dresser project with you here.

How To Upcycle An Old Dresser

Photo Credits: Copyright 2016 Crown Media Family Networks/Photographer: Jeremy Lee

Paige Hemmis is takes a old dresser and gives it new life by turning it into a stylish chair and ottoman. Paige’s big tip is to make sure you use the correct size of brad nails to safely secure your chair. This entire DIY will cost you only $50 compared to over $300 if you bought it in a store.  It is a great way to upcycle an old dresser that you currently own or you can go thrift store shopping for this diy upycle furniture project.

Materials Needed for Dresser to Chair and Ottoman Project

How To Upcycle An Old Dresser Into a Dresser Chair

1) Take your old chest of drawers and remove all drawers. Do not discard them…you will need them for the ottoman later.
2) You will need to remove the top next. You can do this by either using a hammer to hammer it off from the bottom up, or you can take the jig saw and cut it out.
3) Depending on how many drawers you have, you will need to cut out the center pieces that hold the drawers up and separate the drawers from one another.
4) If your dresser has side rails, you are good to go. If it doesn’t, you will need to cut two pieces of 1”x2” at the length of the depth of your chair. These will act as reinforcement pieces to be used to hold up the seat.
5) Cut your plywood to fit inside the dresser, resting on the reinforcement side pieces.
6) Make it slightly smaller than your space since you will be adding fabric to it, which will make it slightly bigger.
7) Take your beadboard and cut a piece to fit the backing and the sides. Set aside.
8) For the bottom cushion, set the plywood on top of the batting and draw an outline with a marker.
9) Cut out the batting. If your batting isn’t thick enough, add layers and layers until you reach your desired size.
10) Lay the plywood on the fabric and use your marker to draw around the plywood. You will need this to be larger than the plywood, so mark about 5” LARGER than plywood all the way around.
11) Lay the fabric on a flat surface, lay the batting on top of the fabric and add the piece of plywood.
12) Use the hot glue gun to secure the fabric around the plywood by folding it over. You can use the brad nail gun to secure into place.
13) If you want to add paint to your dresser, now is the time to do it and let it dry.
14) Add your beadboard to the back and sides of the chair with wood glue (or liquid nails) and hold in place with brad nails. Make sure to get the correct size of nails so that they do not go through the back of the dresser.
15) Place the bottom cushion on the dresser.
16) Decorate with cushions or pillows and enjoy your new chair!

If you prefer video format, here is the how to upycle an old dresser into a chair part of the project:

How To Upcycle An Old Dresser Drawer Into an Ottoman

You will need most of the materials listed above and you will use the dresser drawer that you removed to create a storage ottoman. The video will show you how to use plywood to reinforce the strength of the drawer and attach 4 bun feet hardware to give it legs. Then make the ottoman lid using the same techniques you used to create the bench.

What a great diy furniture project, right? I loved learning how to upcycle an old dresser into a dresser chair and matching ottoman. I hope you enjoyed it too.

Do you think you will give this upcycled furniture a try?