Small chest/dressers in dining and living rooms

12 years ago

I have two small dressers I got at antique stores. One is about 3' wider, cherry finish, from the 1930's with 4 drawers. I have it in the living room beside the front door. The top drawer is where I store extension cords and candles. The other 3 drawers have board games. The top is the "drop it here" space everyone needs by a door! Wallets, keys, etc get stored there.

In my dining room I have a very small dresser that's only about 18 inches wide. It fits perfectly in a little "nook" between the doorway from the kitchen & the doorway into the living room. It has 5 drawers. The bottom drawer has the phone book. The other 4 drawers have school supplies (paper, notebooks, pens, calculator, stapler, etc).

I find these pieces of bedroom furniture fit exactly what I need in these two rooms. They even look really cute and "unexpected" in these rooms.

I will try to get pictures and upload them tomorrow. My camera's flash isn't great, so pictures come out better during the day.

I just wanted to share this tip - try putting furniture in non-traditional places.

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Comments (8)

mommabird
Original Author
12 years ago
Little chest beside the front door
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mommabird
Original Author
12 years ago
Here's the one in the dining room. I think it's from the 60's. I'd like to get new drawer pulls but don't really know what type would look good. Does anyone have suggestions?

Ignore the floor. I have it torn up. I'm laying new flooring in the whole first floor. The dining room and kitchen are stripped down to the plywood underlayment. I'm starting on them tonight. The same Pergo will run seamlessly into both rooms.
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I think it's a bit tough to give you advice because how you arrange your home depends so much on the lifestyle you lead. That said, I've offered some broad tips to aid in your redesign. Use light furniture with pads, then it can be moved around to make space. You can push the table against the wall and then pull it back when you're entertaining people. This provides some versatility to your space and lets you change your arrangement quickly to suit your needs. Try to find storage solutions that are suspended above the ground. Having a cabinet around the television can provide with a nice dark contrast and additional storage space. Anything high up can be long term storage; all the air space above 7 ft is mostly wasted (Unless you're legendary basketball player Shaq). Experiment! Spend an evening moving furniture around and see how you feel about it! There are many factors about your situation that are hard to consider. Do you watch TV during the day? (if so, moving it across from the window will give you glare!) Is eating together a large part of your family life? What do you see outside of your window? How late do you stay up? etc. Finally, do some critical analysis! What parts of the living room do you spend the most time in? why? Is that chair in the back used often or does it just take up room? Do you spend a lot of time playing with your child and their toys in the little play area against the north(assuming north is up) wall? You can setup a phone to take a timelapse over the course of a day and see exactly what you use your room for and how you enjoy spending your time. I hope this helps and feel free to ask me any more questions! P.S. It seems like your family likes the colour green; I would definitely recommend committing to it and adding some colour to your space! It can be as extreme as painting an entire wall or just getting a new cover for your futon!
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What you show in the drawing works why not just do that . The only thing IMO is to consider where the kitchen is and BTW cable can be moved no problem . I think posting pics of the space and showing where all the doors lead is away to get more help.
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jannie
12 years ago
Yes, those handles on the second pic look dated from the "Early American" furniture era of the 1960's. Can you possibly find brushed nickel handles? There was a catalog I used to get, "Restoration Hardware" which may have some examples of attractive drawer pulls. The top pic looks terrific, tucked next to the door.
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LuAnn_in_PA
12 years ago
We have a three drawer nightstand between the Morris chairs in our living room... perfect size and function!
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talley_sue_nyc
12 years ago
I love having dressers in unusual places.

The molding at top and bottom of your little chest looks almost mid-century modern.
What's the distance between the holes?

These might look nice--the lines on them might mimic the lines in that molding

http://www.coolknobsandpulls.com/moreinfo.cfm/product/3090/53042-amerock-galleria-pull-antique-nickel

Here is a link that might be useful: midcentury modern brass curved drawer pulls
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mommabird
Original Author
12 years ago
Talley Sue - those brass ones you linked are PERFECT. I love them! I will have to order 2 sets. They come in sets of 4, and my little chest has 5 drawers.

I originally bought the chest intending to paint it. That was 2 years ago and the finish has grown on me. I think with those cool brass pulls, it wouldn't even need painted.
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mommabird
Original Author
12 years ago
I finally ordered the brass drawer pulls this evening! I had to order 2 sets since there are 5 drawers in my little dresser. I have a built in in my hall with 3 drawers. I can use the other 3 drawer pulls there! Once I figured that out, I decided go go ahead and order them, even though they are expensive!

Once I get them, and the floor & trim done, I'll post an updated picture.
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bspofford
12 years ago
The chest and dresser look great! DH and I have what we call FSS, flat surface syndrome. If there is a flat surface, we tend to pile stuff on it.

I put a chest by the front door also for the same reasons, keys, wallet, cell phone, etc. All kinds of other junk got piled there too and it was always a mess. So I 'scaped' it. I cleared out the top drawer for the keys, wallet, etc. I put a nice mirror over the chest, a small lamp on top, and some other decorative items. It looked so good we didn't want to mess it up with 'junk', so it still functioned but looked good all the time.

Mommabird, I'm so glad you are now enjoying your environment and putting your mark on it. You have done a lot of very hard work and are an inspiration.

Barbara
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Small chest/dressers in dining and living rooms

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Small chest/dressers in dining and living rooms

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