Learn How to Make a Dresser That Doesn’t Take up Any Square Footage

5 Materials
$500
3 Days
Medium

Do you want to learn how to make a dresser that doesn’t take up any square footage in your room? I have the answers here!


It started with an inspiration picture that I had in my idea binder for years. One cold January morning I pulled it out and had a chat with “Handy“.

My Inspiration picture that I found on Pinterest

As you all know, we live in a very small house. 1,300 square feet to be exact! I am always looking for ways to add storage to our home.


Our home is an A-Frame so there is space between the walls and our roof. Twenty-Two years ago we created a bump out on one side of our house. I discovered, at age 42, that I was pregnant again and “Handy” wouldn’t even consider moving. So we added 300 sq. ft., to the house with the bump out bringing us to that magic 1,300 sq., ft., number. Yes, four of us were living in 1,000 sq., ft., until then. This added much needed space to the tiny room that would soon house two girls and our bedroom gained some space and a walk-in closet.


We have built-ins in every single room and I’ve converted the space under my stairs into a pantry. You can read about that HERE. Now I wanted to use the space in the eaves of our roof to put a dresser into our bedroom. I had kids in both of the other bedrooms and my desk was in our room. I desperately needed space for my work supplies.

Here is my desk with some bookcases behind it.

This was a relatively easy project that was also very easy on the budget. We started with picking out some stock cabinets from Home Depo t. I opted for two 24″ cabinets with three drawers for each side and a 36″ cabinet with a drawer and two bottom doors for the center. Because I was pretty specific in that I wanted white cabinets and drawers we bought new. I see cabinets on FB Marketplace all the time and you can also make them work.


Once we had our sizes down, Handy cut a hole into the wall. Making sure he had enough space for the cabinets, framing and drywall. Once he opened the wall and framed it, he actually reworked some electrical so that I have a plug in the top area and also inside the middle cabinet. This certainly isn’t necessary but it’s a nice perk. Then he insulated, drywalled, taped, sanded and painted the opening. He slid in the cabinets and put baseboard across the bottom. At a local tile store we were able to get a really inexpensive cut-off of manufactured stone for the top. They cut it to size for us and it got caulked to the top of the cabinets. It was basically a weekend project.

My desk is no longer in our room. Now I use some of the space for sweatshirts but it also houses most of our family pictures and my camera equipment. I use two drawers for greeting cards and wrapping supplies. Another drawer has our travel supplies in it and another drawer is where our electronic extras live (extra chargers, headphones, plugs and power strips etc.)

Such a cheerful, useful space that doesn’t take up one inch of my floor space

I hope that this gives you an idea of what you can do with hidden spaces in your home.


We live in every inch of our home. I have a sign in my kitchen that says “Love Grows Best in A Small House”. Most days I completely agree with that and I wouldn’t have it any other way. However, I would be lying if I said there weren’t days when I long for double the space.


If you have more specific questions on how to build this dresser, please put it in comments below. We would be happy to give you more detail.


Happy DIY!

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  • Cathy T Cathy T on Mar 12, 2021

    Why isn’t your desk in your room now? Where did you move it to? Great use of space!

  • Nancy vlcek Nancy vlcek on Mar 13, 2021

    This is fantastic!!! But my fear is doing away with load bearing structures or walls? Have you found this to be a problem?

  • Teresa Teresa on Mar 09, 2023

    Wonderful idea and it looks great, but what makes you think 1300 sq feet is very small?

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  • Whitney Hansel Whitney Hansel on Mar 09, 2023

    Love small home and space saving posts, thanks! P.S. We have 5 people plus a large dog and a cat living in 300 sq. ft.


  • It was only 900 sq., ft., and we added 400 more when our third child was born. Raising three kids was tough. We also don’t have a garage or a basement.


    I’ve become a master at making storage in every room in the house.


    Thanks for following along with me!

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