This was one of these epic jobs I wish never to have started. Probably one of the largest. And, I can’t even really remember how, or why, I thought I would try and make this parquet dresser.
It began with some reclaimed parquet floor, I had already used some for a small pipe table. There were many more blocks, and I would lie them out in different patterns. One day I plucked up the courage to glue them together in one big herringbone pattern.
Next to be purchased, were reclaimed solid wood drawers, strong chance they came from a museum. After popping out the bottom two drawers, they were stuck together to make the shell of the dresser. Scaffolding planks made a solid foundation for these chunky drawers. The bottom half would be a large drawer for ring binders and hanging files.
With the structure in place, using a circular saw, I cut the parquet floor into two doors and a drawer front. The drawer front I split, to follow the same pattern as the cupboards.
When making the parquet surface, there is horrible tar on the back, rather than sand off, I covered in a ply board. The edge for the cupboards and drawer were oak. While brass catches were used to latch the door. The bottom drawer was a similar structure to the top.
The thing weighed a tonne. I had to take apart to lift- even then it was hard. It was littered with mistakes, I followed the wrong pencil lines with the circular saw. Note to self, buy a rubber! I also, later learnt, through many projects, that scaffolding board changes size, and it was a wee bit warped.
If I started from scratch I could improve massively, but I still quite like it.
Cool Upcycled 