Fix Them Drawers! With Mr Cottage

Well, it has been a while and I have been forced uh, er... encouraged to do a post on my recent household honey-do list cross off. I am not much of a writer and so this all does not come easily or I guess naturally for me.

Well, it all started with the silverware drawer and too much silverware.  You know the story, it is all good and fine until one day and the bottom drops out and silverware is all in your Tupperware and it is just one hot mess down there. Follow me you guys?  Come on, we can be real here, right?




RoseVine Girls Soap Mold



My very broken drawer.

Well next we find a handyman (not me) that was some friends sisters boyfriends (you get this right) and he took the drawer (ok 2 drawers - we had to put the silverware someplace... it couldn't stay in the Tupperware drawer now.)  So and so takes it and gives it to said boyfriend who is not heard of again and leaves the aforementioned drawers out in the rain and snow (insert unhappy wife).  Finally, she gets them back from boyfriend and returns to unhappy wife and I deal with it by sticking it in the dark recesses of the garage (ahem).   Well... forward a year... ok-ok forward about 10 years?  I don't know, who is counting?  The thing is in the garage!  Who thinks about that stuff?  Anyway, the third drawer breaks and the fourth (sharp knife drawer) is going.  Wife looks at me and says, "Honey, this is the last drawer."  Well, the one over the Tupperware was a great one for the return drop for all things plastic.  It was like returning the movies at Blockbuster... well before Blockbuster died and became a thing of the past.  But still there was a slight thrill as you heard it clang down on the rest of that mess (shhh don't tell wife this.  She always wonders why that thing is a mess... he, he, he, he)  Anyway I guess the thought of another drop box for the pans and one for the bowls was not so exciting to her.  This is my journey.  Ha, ha, I always wanted to say that.  Am I sounding professional?  I hope so but somehow doubt it.  Ok, so here I was, warned by the wife that final drawer is taking a powder and I was asked to make a soap mold for the girls and so here I am making this pretty mold and she notices that it looks amazingly like a strong and beautiful drawer (I am going down fella's).  I look at it helplessly and as much as I hate to admit it, it looks like a drawer.  So back to trusty home improvement store to buy more strong beautiful wood (1/2"X4" poplar for the sides and 1/4" thick poplar sheet for the bottom) and work on the drawer project (long overdue, but don't tell her I said that).

So, I started taking the drawer pieces apart and measured them.  Taking those measurements I cut the wood that I bought at Lowes to those sizes. I glued the pieces with wood glue and clamped them together and let set for 30 minutes. I then started the assembly.  I predrilled the holes for my nails so we would have a neat finished product and the wood would not crack.  Here I am working on this below.

Nailing the drawer together after pre-drilling holes.

The next step is hooking the bottom of the drawer to the box.  I cut the wood to specifications using my jigsaw then began nailing around the edges.



Nailing the bottom of the drawer on.

I had removed the drawer face from the old junky drawer and fastened it to the front of the drawer box that I just finished using screws.




Clamping the drawer front to the box as I screw it into place

From here I took the rails off of the old drawer and placed them on the new ones with the overhang in the back.  Here it is as I am putting it in.  Pretty great if I do say so myself and do you know the value of a really happy wife?  It is priceless.  I must say I felt pretty bad about not doing it sooner and letting myself talk myself out of it and thinking I couldn't do it.  Fear of failure is pretty lame.  I did it and it felt really good.
It is a great way to make your kitchen look better and not spend 50 thousand dollars on a new kitchen.
The wood can be cut by the guys and gals at your home improvement store and this honestly can be done at home by people that are not very handy normally and the look is amazing and it is so much stronger.

Proverbs 10:4-5 (from the Bible Gateway)

A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.