How to Make a Bench from a Dresser

13 December

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Every Sunday I go to my daughter's house, which is also a rental I own that she rents from me, to work on house projects.


We have completed several cool projects and I'll share links to those at the end of this post in case you have yet to see them.


We have been working on a project for the dining room over the last few Sundays and today I'm ready to share it.


I've been dying to start this project for some time but others took precedence. It's finally time though; I'm going to show you how to make a corner dining bench from a free curbside dresser 😀


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


Supply List

My dad found a dresser with a free sign on it sitting on the curb and brought it to my daughter when she first moved into the house. At the same time, I scored a vintage dresser from a friend and gave that to my daughter too.


She chose to use the vintage dresser (like mother, like daughter 😉) for her clothes, but we kept the other one because I had an idea brewing in my head.


This is the dresser my dad picked up. It did have drawers but we removed them before I took this picture. It's not what I'd call a "nice" dresser, just a cheap particleboard piece. You can see some of the trim was missing and someone had used it for a drawing canvas, but it was perfect for this project. (Pay no mind to the messy garage, we're gathering items for a garage sale next spring).


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


This is our inspiration from @themaryhouserevival on Instagram.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


To determine the proper height to make the benches, I used a regular dining chair, placed it next to the dresser, and drew a line even with the chair seat onto the side of the dresser.

TIP: if you are recreating this project, make sure you take into account the thickness of the seat you plan to add. When we first started, I included the feet on the dresser in my measurement. We then decided not to use the feet which would have made the bench too short for a dining table but our foam plus the wood we used added about 5 more inches so it all worked out.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


Once I had the basic height marking, I used a tape measure and a straight edge to draw a straight line for cutting on both sides and the back of the dresser.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


I used my jigsaw to cut along the line.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


Here's what it looked like at that point.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


I cut off the top of the dresser using the same process.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


This dresser had a laminate finish so I just did a light scuff sanding so the paint had something to grab onto.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


Each one of these benches will have a drawer for storage! Here's one with the drawer put back in.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


Now, the top portion of the dresser will be turned upside down so what used to be the top of the dresser, will now be the bottom of the bench. To have the drawer work, I had to turn the drawer runner over too, and reattach it.


We used two pieces of particle board that we found in the water heater closet. They were already the perfect size for the bench tops.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


The back of the dresser was already pretty flimsy and even more so after it was cut so I added additional supports to the back with some scraps of wood.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


And then I screwed the tops down into the supports and the sides and front edges of the benches.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


I filled in those front gaps with more scrap wood gluing them along the bottom edge with wood glue and screwing the seat tops into them. (So far, we've only purchased the screws)!


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


The backs of the benches are going to have a wavy edge like the bench in our inspiration photo. We made a template with a scrap of cardboard from a TV box that blew into the yard during some heavy winds 😁 and two planters (we're all about reducing, reusing, and recycling around here)! 


It's probably hard to see what is happening in this picture but we drew around the curved edges of each planter to make a wave design.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


Once we had a template cut out, I traced that onto the edge of each piece of plywood. I used two 3/8", 2' x 4' pieces of what they call "project panels," from Home Depot. These were $20 each.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


We then took the benches inside to complete them  It does have that ugly stain which I think happened at some point during its life next to the hot water heater before I purchased the house but it'll be covered.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


My daughter did all the painting, we chose the color Outdoor Oasis by Behr.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser

How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


While she painted, I stained the backs with Dark Walnut by Varathane and once that was dry, we put the benches in place. It looks kind of funny in this picture because we didn't want to cover up the window trim or have it stick out beyond the edge of the wall on the other side. In hindsight, I think I should have made it a little shorter and gone the full length of the benches. But, it doesn't seem to bug my daughter and it looks better once it's styled so it'll stay like this.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


I had some 3" foam leftover from another project that we used for one bench. I found some off-white Sherpa marked down to 60% off at JoAnn's. We wanted to use this fabric because this is what my daughter used for her dining chairs and we wanted them to coordinate.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser

How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


I picked up two outdoor chair cushions at Goodwill for $6.99 to use for the other bench since I didn't have enough foam. I must say, this was a great idea, it was cheaper than buying more foam.


That's little Paul the rescue kitty playing with the ties on the cushions. You may remember him from the DIY cat closet project; he's getting so big!


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


We couldn't overlap the benches due to the drawers so we had a hole in the corner where the benches meet and a gap where the backs meet that we needed to fill.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


I built a little box with scrap wood and then we upholstered a little top piece to cover it.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


We added a little ribbon finger pull so she can open this and use it for extra storage if needed. I filled the gap where the backs met with a scrap of trim that was leftover from the DIY kitchen island that we made.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser



We chose not to reuse the original drawer pulls which were just plain wooden knobs. I found these cute pulls on Amazon.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


Here's a closeup.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


We styled it with some cute pillows.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser

How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


We used some leftover contact paper from her pantry to line the drawers.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser

How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


We decided we needed some more pictures for her vintage landscapes gallery wall so we headed to my mom's to go shopping! 😆 My mom has lots of stuff tucked away in the dark recesses of her house and she didn't disappoint, we found a couple of new vintage pictures for the gallery wall.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


It's the two on top here. One is a print and the small one on the left is a painting by a local painter who I'm pretty sure has passed away by now.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


The others in the grouping are yard sale or thrift store finds. I think the large duck picture was a freebie. You might not be able to tall too much here but it's in pretty poor condition.


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


It's definitely not perfect but we are pretty proud of this DIY dining bench 😌 We had Thanksgiving at my daughter's house and my boyfriend and I were quite comfortable sitting on the bench during dinner!


How to Make a Bench from a Dresser


Cost Breakdown:

2 project boards for backs - $40.04
2 boxes of screws - $12.36
Paint $19.78
Stain - $7.18
Goodwill cushions for seat padding - $6.99
1 yard of Sherpa fabric - $6.79
Drawer pulls - $15.30 for four pulls

Total - $108.44. It really didn't even cost that much because we have extra supplies left over, like screws, paint, and stain.


Here are the other projects we've finished at the rental so far:



I hope you enjoyed this post! If you did, please share!


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How to Make a Bench from a Dresser
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