How to Make a Dresser From a Built-in Desk

Clean out the drawers. Ensure there are no leaky pens or old pushpins stuck in the farthest corners. To be safe, wear thick work gloves when doing this and go slowly. Look in dark areas with a flashlight.

Line the insides of the drawers with shelf or contact paper to keep splinters away from your clothes. If the wood is in really bad shape, sand it down and keep your clothes in plastic storage bags inside the drawer.

Place smaller items like socks in the smaller drawers only. If you place them in the larger, deeper drawers, you can end up with a pile of clothes that is difficult to sort through.

Roll shirts and pants when folding. Fold them as you normally would, then roll or fold them into an approximate cylindrical shape and store them on their ends. This gives you a better view of what you have in larger drawers while making the clothing bundles as small as possible.

Place larger items you can’t roll on shelves inside cabinets, if the desk has those features.

Put a shoebox or rack in the “leg” portion of the desk, where you would normally sit. Another option is to use that area as a dressing table/preparation area; place a mirror along the wall above the center of the desk, or if there is a built-in hutch, add a stand-alone mirror to the accessories on top of the desk. If you use the seating area as a dressing table and can fit large items of clothing into the drawers, place shoes on the shelves in the cabinets.