Mirrored Chest of Drawers

Make a mirrored chest of drawers using an old drab chest, a distressed paint technique and some mirrors.

From Drab to Fab

This chest of drawers was left behind in our garage by the previous owners of our property. As the flea market junkie in me cannot throw anything out, I decided to give it a furniture makeover with a French touch and bring it into my guest bedroom.

Make Your Own A fairly easy project but you will need to get your local glassworks to drill holes in the mirror pieces for the drawers. You will need an old chest of drawers (if it has shapely legs, even better) coarse sandpaper paintbrush candle white emulsion paint small blade measuring tape 3mm pieces of mirror, cut according to your measurements. mirror glue glass knobs masking tape

To Make:

Rub a candle (press quite hard) on all the corners and edges and, every now and then, on the chest itself.

Paint the whole chest and the drawers with two to three coats of white paint. Leave each coat to dry completely before applying the next coat.

Once the last coat is completely dry, you can start removing the paint that was applied over the candle wax using a small blade or sandpaper, or a combination of the two.

TIP: For a softer look, start scraping the paint off while it is still slightly damp. If necessary use sandpaper to soften the edges where the paint has been scraped off.

Measure the front section of the drawers, as well as the top and sides of the chest and get pieces of 3mm mirror cut to fit exactly. Get holes drilled into the mirror pieces for the drawer knobs and don't forget to have the edges smoothed.

Squeeze glue in a zigzag pattern on the back of all the mirror pieces and paste them in place. Work with one mirror piece at a time and turn the chest and its drawers on its side each time so that the mirror can lie on top while the glue dries.

Screw in the glass knobs once all the mirror pieces are pasted in place and the glue is dry.