Dresser Design

 

Above is the initial stages of designing a dresser to build that I did simply to get the bosses approval before I invest lots more time going down a dead end which is possible in the world of computer aided design (CAD). It is just a few 3D surfaces thrown together to give one a sense of aesthetics. The above was the model approved by the boss.

In reality, we started like perhaps how many do by simply understanding our current dresser and what we like and dislike about it. My wife is the only one to use it as all my clothes fit into my closet. Hers occupy a similar sized closet and a six drawer dresser. Her preferences were to have smaller but more drawers to organize things better. She also wanted it a bit taller which isn't much of an issue. Currently, our dresser hosts the usual collection of framed pictures along with a internet mesh router, a jewelry tree and a box that I made years ago full of small keepsake items. Making it six inches higher to gain another row of drawers is easy enough to do.

The next step was to start googling pictures of dressers to see what features we liked and disliked. My boss finally settled on a clean look that comes with inset drawer fronts though I plan on doing a hybrid of sorts. They will be full overlay, but appear to be inset. This is probably confusing to many but will be clearer later during the actual design process. The boss also wanted to retain the contrasting wood scheme I've been using in my last few builds of walnut and oak. So I colored the model to give that sense and she liked it.

With the above mocked up, my next steps will be to refine things and begin to think about joinery and how it will be built and assembled using the equipment I currently have. Then I will start adding details to the various pieces until I have something that looks like a dresser only in CAD and not in real life. After one more approval from the boss, I will proceed to lay out building plans with dimensions so I can just print them off for reference when I move out to my shop garage in the spring and begin to actually turn big rough pieces of lumber into sawdust and hopefully a piece of finished furniture.