Dresser to Entertainment Stand Conversion

College kids will toss anything out! Found this guy upside down one day while helping a friend fix his bike. Dresser with no draws (not even in sight). Looks perfect for a TV stand. Got the empty liquor bottles and leaves out and loaded into my truck.

Step 1: Staples. Lots of Staples.

Remove all the staples holding the backing on. A needle nose pliers works well.

Step 2: Drawer Slides

Slides were held in with screws and glue. Phillips and a pry bar, done.

Yes that's cardboard under the slides, and.... more staples.
Also found out while taking the cardboard out that the front cross members had a nice 1/4" groove in them for me to work with.

Step 3: Adding Shelves

Went and found some pre-sanded plywood at Home Depot. Got it cut (roughly) to size so that I wouldn't have to manipulate a 4' x 8' on the table saw by myself. Free and friendly service, can't beat that.

Got it home and learned quickly why everyone in the lumber dept wears gloves!! Mine were busy hanging on the wall. After I dug out what felt like a sapling from my hand, it was over to the table saw to get a nice tongue on all my shelves. Set the blade height and fence and ripped a test board vertically to get started, then horizontally with a shim on the fence to get the tongue I wanted. Ripped all the boards like that and then trimmed the back edge so that they would fit.

Step 4: Sanding....

Possibly the worst part of this project, hence no photos because I just wanted to finish it.

Lots of sand paper, that's about all there is to it.

Got all the dust blown off and went over it with a wet rag to get what was left.

Step 5: Paint!

Decided to do the majority of the dresser in a creme, with black hardware and black shelves.

Definitely easiest to paint the dresser with the shelves out, lots of flat areas to hit with the roller. Shelves got painted while outside, both sides to keep it looking as neat as possible.