How to create a fluted dresser with ease
I’m bringing fluted back, YEAH. Them other dressers don’t know how to act, YEAH.
(Do me a favor and please sing that to the tune of “I’m bringing sexy back” By Justin Timberlake okay, thanks)
YOU. GUYS. I have been waiting and wanting to do this fluted look for so long, and decided it was time to bite the bullet and make the whole thing happen for my sons room makeover (so lets be honest — shouldn't really be considered a make over when the room wasn't hardly made in the first place, ya know?).
It is much easier than it looks, and truly a doable DIY that I am so excited to be showing you!
Here is What You Need
- Half Round Molding
- Pencil
Let's Get This Bread
I started by measuring my drawer faces to determine how much material I would need. My drawer fronts were all about 10", except for the top 8” drawer. Knowing this, I headed to Lowe’s to get what I needed. I ended up using 20 sticks for the whole thing. You could use less and combine scrap pieces together, but it was easier for me all around to just cut whole pieces. I would recommend this route.
After you have all of your material ready, its time to get out your miter saw.
Pro Tip here: create a saw stop. Super easy. I like to use a scrap piece of wood and clamp it. See link here on how to do that.
Simply measure how long each cut needs to be and set your stop accordingly. For example, if your wood needs to be 8” in length, you’ll set your stop 8 & 1/4” back from the blade — the 1/4 inch is to take into consideration the width of the blade.
I cut about 4 pieces of half round for each drawer. You can measure and divide by how many you will need, or you can cut what feels like a million, and go from there.
After you have cut enough wood for one drawer, its time to attach your wood! I used Krazy Glue wood glue to attach all of my pieces. Originally, I was going to also nail them in using my finish nailer, but once I had them glued I realized that it would not be necessary to nail them. The glue is STRONG, and the half round pieces weren’t going anywhere.
I simply put a line of the glue directly on the drawer face and then stuck the half round to it. Matching each end up level with the drawer. Truly, this is such an easy DIY, its just so. time. consuming.
You’ll do this process of measuring, cutting, and gluing a few times, depending on how many drawer fronts you are covering.
After gluing all of my half round onto the drawer fronts, I let the glue + wood cure over night. Also it took me way longer than I thought and I was ready to be done for the day.
Now for the fun part! I don't know about you, but nothing makes me happier than PAINTING. Especially when its a fun color. I decided to go with Sherwin Williams 2020 color of the year: Urban Bronze. It did NOT disappoint.
If you’ve been here longer than five minutes, you know I wont shut up about my all time favorite paint additive BB Frösch. To learn more about mixing BB Frösch and why it makes any paint project 100x easier. I mixed my BB Frösch into my satin Urban Bronze, and then added it to my paint sprayer. I always thin down my paint with water when I use my sprayer, this helps with flow of the paint and makes for a finer, smoother finish (if your paint comes out in blobs or spurts out chunks… thin it out more!).
I sprayed the dresser first, and did the drawers next. I tried a few different methods of getting the most
coverage with the bumps and angles that the half round makes. The conclusion? straight on, direct flow is best! I thought going at an angle to hit the sides would be more efficient but alas, it wasn’t. Go figure.
After putting on the first coat, I let it dry over night. Truly you only need to let it dry to the touch if you are using BB Frösch, but yet again it was time for me to call it a day. This project, being done continuously without interruption of changing diapers, school drop off, eating, and all of those semi critical things, would take maybe a day + a day for cure time.
The second coat was done as the same, and with the BB Frösch plus the color being so dark, a third coat wasn’t needed (holla!). This ended up taking about half a quart of paint (think like $8 worth. Not bad, eh?).
After my paint was all dry, I sanded things smooth with 220 grit sand paper and then touched up where it needed in a few spots just with my finger (I’m talking like pencil tip spots that needed help. For bigger areas I would recommend your sprayer or brush so that the finish matches).
Once the touch ups were done, I sprayed my first coat of poly. I used a gloss finish, which is actually NOT the norm for me. I generally prefer a satin coat. However, I recently did gloss on a piano and loved the way it looked, not too shiny and definitely not dull, that I gave it a go for the dresser.
After the first coat of Poly I sanded again with 220 grit once the poly had cured - the can calls for an hour cure time in between coats depending on temperature / humidity levels, so be sure to check your can. Curing is CRUCIAL. I ended up doing 3 coats of poly and a final light sanding.
One issue I had was that a few of my half round pieces ended up being slightly long, so when the dresser drawers were put back in, the wood hit the drawer below upon sliding in and scratched the paint (noooooo!). My advice here is to learn from my mistake and be sure to sand the tops/bottoms of the wood half round to make sure they sit flush with the original drawer face to prevent any rubbing/scratching.
I let it cure for a day and then installed my knobs. This is a lot less daunting than it sounds AND actually easier with the half rounds because you don't have to measure as much because you can base your spacing off of the number of wood pieces!
I wanted mine center on the face and 1/4 of the way from each end.
I used my drill to pretrial holes, and then simply screwed the hardware in. My hardware is from hobby lobby. You’ll want to use a smaller drill bit than screw so that it sits snug in the drawer. Nothing is worse than a hole too big for hardware.
And guess what? WE OUT. Mic DROP. All of those things.
What do you think? You’re going to try it out and tag me, right??
xo,
Kenna
Again, for ease, here is all the links to the tools/items I referenced above:
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