Five things you can do with a discarded dresser

Do not throw away that old dresser! Recycle it instead. Here are five simple ideas you can use:

1. Turn it into a sink vanity. Remove the front from the top two other drawers and secure the front panel back in place without the rest of the drawer. The purpose of this is to make room for the pipes under the sink. Also, cut a section out of the back to make room for the pipes. Using a template made from the sink bowl cut a hole into the top of the dresser. Before installing the sink top, seal the top of your dresser vanity to protect it from water. Then caulk around the sink once you set it in place. You may also choose to paint the top in a faux marble design. Use the remaining drawers to store your bathroom essentials.

2. Use it to organize your closet. Slide the dresser into your closet below shorter clothes like shirts or skirts. Since it is hidden behind closet doors, you can choose to paint it or not. You can use this dresser to store things like shoes, belts, scarves, ties, or sweaters.

3. Use the dresser as a television cabinet. Remove the top drawers to make a place for the VCR, DVD player, and cable or satellite receiver. Install plywood where the drawers previously sat to hold the items. Place a large lazy-Suzan on top of the dresser on which you should set the television. This will allow you to rotate it for viewing anywhere in the room. Store your movie library in the drawers.

4. Turn the television into a storage cabinet. For a discarded cabinet with missing or broken drawers, remove what is left of the drawers, and install doors in their place. You can add shelves where the drawers used to be or remove all the drawer slats and add one shelf in the center. Once you paint your new storage cabinet, you can use it in the kitchen as a microwave stand, in the bathroom as a linen closet, or as a place to hide your children's toys.

5. Transform the dresser into a headboard. If your dresser is the right height and width, you can use it as the headboard for a bed. Remove the pulls from the drawers that the bed will hide to allow the bed to be pushed flush against it. By keeping the drawers in place, they can serve as a place to store your off-season clothing. For the drawers that are exposed, you will want to use as simple a drawer pull as possible so that you won't feel it against your back when you are sitting up in bed. After placing the head of your bed flush against a dresser of the same width, you can dress the bed with pillows, covering all but the top of the dresser/headboard. You can use exposed drawers to hide excess bedside items and place other bedside items like your clock radio and lamps on top.

If you look at an old dresser with a little imagination, you will certainly find a creative use for it. You can put it in the garage and use to store tools, it can hold excess shoes and blankets in the basement or garage or a multitude of other things as well.