Dresser Upcycled Into Faux Apothecary

I picked up a stacking dresser set off of Facebook Marketplace for $60. It came with three pieces and I am going to transform it. I love the look of apothecaries, but they are so expensive, so I am going to learn how to build an Apothecary from old dressers!

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Table of Contents

• How to Build an Apothecary: Modifying the Dressers
• Facing Some Issues
• Creating an Illusion of Many Drawers
• Removing Paint from the Drawer Boxes
• Finishing Work
• Reassembling and Sealing

How to Build an Apothecary: Modifying The Dressers

I am going to build this apothecary from a dresser that I picked up from the Facebook marketplace for $60. I think this is going to be more functional because the large drawers will store a larger variety of things. The drawers on this dresser set are not in the best of conditions; some of them are missing their center slides and one was even taped together. I am making A LOT of modifications to this dresser set to turn it into an apothecary cabinet. The first thing I am doing is cutting off the bottom of the dressers to make it flush with the drawers. I am also cutting off some of the scroll detailing on the ridges, I want this to have clean lines!

To get rid of the raised panel router detail on the front of these drawers, I am removing the drawer fronts. When I have the drawer fronts off, I shave them down on my table saw. These drawers are maple and I am SO excited! If you remember I have a beautiful maple hutch in my house that I redid, so I think this is going to match perfectly!

Facing Some Issues

A lot of the drawers are double deep; they just have the facade of two thin drawers. For their fronts, I am able to cut through as deep as I can, but it does not go all the way through in the center. I tried using a planar to get the cuts flush, but that did not work. Another issue has also arrived, I had a drawer casualty. It cracked in multiple places! There is no fixing this, so to troubleshoot this, I think I am going to remove one of the drawers. This apothecary is so tall anyway, so cutting off one drawer will be fine! So, I am modifying one of the boxes and completely getting rid of one of the drawers. To solve the problem of the double drawers I can not shave completely, I am cutting them right down the center and treating them just like the shallow drawers.

How to Build an Apothecary: Creating an Illusion

To get the apothecary cabinet look, I need to give the illusion of lots and lots of little drawers. To do this, I am running my drawer fronts through my table saw, where my blade is very shallow. This cut indicates this is another drawer front. Once all of the grooves were cut, I made a mistake. I decided to fill them with black paint. The idea was it would look like a shadow, but in reality, the contrast was too stark…WHAT WILL I DO?? I am also going in with wood filler to fill in the holes where the old hardware was.

Removing the Paint From the Drawer Boxes

For all of the drawer fronts, I was able to get the paint off with my table saw, but this is not possible for the boxes. I am going through with my heavy-duty belt sander to get the paint cleared. I realize that this is going to take too long because these boxes have four layers of paint on them. Because of this, I am going to strip the paint. My best tip for using a stripper is to use the fast-acting kind and help it out by putting plastic wrap over it while it is wet. This stops the oxygen from drying out the stripper and makes it work faster. Regardless of how you do this, it is a messy task! When I am done scraping off the paint, I am using after wash to make sure that there is no residue left. To get these drawers down to the raw wood, I am sanding more.

Finishing Work

I really want this apothecary to match the maple hutch that I have in the entryway of my house. To do this, I am mixing up a custom paint wash. I am making this by mixing paint colors together and then diluting it with water. I am washing the drawer fronts by brushing my custom color over them with a paintbrush. Once my wash is dry, I am going in with clear, paintable caulk where I could not sand the paint away. When this caulk is dry, I am going to paint it, and it will match seamlessly. The color I am mixing up to cover the caulk will also be used to cover the wood filler that I had to put in the holes where the hardware was. I think these drawer fronts look so good…EXCEPT for the black lines. To fix this I am using the same paint I just used and it lightened up the black and made it actually look like a shadow!

Reassembling and Sealing

At this point, the wood is very textured. This is because I used a water-based wash, which raises the grain of the wood. To fix this, I am lightly sanding everything with a high grit sandpaper. Before I can seal this piece, I have to reassemble the drawers. I do this before sealing so I do not get any dents or scratches in my newly finished poly layer. Now that they are reassembled it is time to seal in my work! In between each poly layer, I am doing a light hand sand to improve adhesion between poly layers. It does create a dust layer, so you have to use a tack cloth to remove this. I am using a satin sheen water-based polyurethane. This is not going to yellow over time and it is very durable.

Apothecaries have a lot of hardware and they all have to be spaces evenly. I am going to make a template for this using painter’s tape. I line up my tape so it is completely straight and centered, then I line up my hardware on it and drill the holes. This tape now has holes that I will use for the rest of my hardware. I am also adding slides on the sides of the boxes so my drawers will go in and out easily.

When I stacked these drawers up, I realized I created the apothecary of my dreams! I am so pleased with how it turned out. The drawers provide so much storage and it is such a good addition to my kitchen!