Hey guys!  I promised I would be back with a drawer slide tutorial and here it is!

DIY-Storage-BedI shared my daughters new storage bed last week and the drawer slides seemed to be a tutorial in themselves.  When I first started building, drawers were my worst nightmare.  No matter how hard I tried to make them perfect, they would always have some wonk to them.  After a few years of trial and error, I’ve found my groove and it’s a surefire fit for me every time!

mark-drawer-face-widthThe drawer faces for this bed are flush with the frame so I set a scrap piece of 3/4 plywood (what the drawer face is made of) and marked where it will sit inside the frame.

where-to-place-drawer-slidesMy drawer slide will sit against this line.

attach-slideI used my Ryobi Tek4 right angle drill to install the screws.  This isn’t a must, any drill will do but this is my favorite tool to use for drawer slides!

install-screwsI install a screw at the beginning, middle and end of the drawer slide.  I did this on the other side of the frame too.

dry-fit-drawer-slidesNext, I slid on the slides that attach to the drawer

measure-slide-to-slideand with all of the slides in, I measured from slide to slide.  The length of these drawers are about 23″ but you need to measure and cut as you go!

cut-drawer-bottomI cut the drawer bottom to fit the measurement and slid it in to make sure it fit!

attach-face-from-behindI then built the drawer accordingly and attached the slides onto the drawer box.  I finished it off by nailing the face frame on from the inside of the drawer

attach-drawer-faceand added a few nails on the front. (the casing covered these up so no filler!)

Storage-Bed-DIYThat was it!!! If you have been intimidated by drawers or you have a love/hate relationship with them, I hope this tutorial helps!!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

~Ashley

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9 Comments

  1. HI ladies!
    for the drawer bottom, what size material are you using? Also, is the drawer bottom spanning the entire bottom of the drawer or is it inset between your box rails?

    1. Hey lovely job . Just to add to your tutorial biggest factor for me when making drawers isn’t always the drawers it’s making sure the carcass is 100% square . This is a must and something I worked hard on as a apprentice many years ago . Keep up the good work .

  2. THANK YOU!!! I am building Ana’s plan for the reclaimed wood nightstands right now. Both frames are built and waiting for drawers, they have been for a few days now. I’m stalling because drawers scare me! Your tutorial is great and the pictures explain a lot. I love that you have a way to “test fit” the drawer BEFORE you build it. Brilliant! I may actually get the drawers finished now. This tutorial should be linked to all her plans with drawers. Love it!

  3. I’m sure you have posted it somewhere before, but what material do you use for the bottom of the drawers? I have an old accent chest I’m redoing but the drawer bottoms are busted. Spring has me itching to get busy on it!

  4. Your blog us becoming a daily must read for me! Thanks for the tips. We were trying to decide on doors or drawers for an upcoming g project. This makes drawers seem much more diy-able. Thanks!

  5. Great tips, Ashley! Building drawers is the bane of my existence. This looks like it’ll make it so much easier! Thanks for sharing!

  6. You are a genius. Last time, I built the drawers based on my drawings and I was 1/8 inch short in width so I had to shim up the slides. UGH!!! Thanks for sharing this. Your timing couldn’t be any better.

  7. Thanks so much for posting this Ashley! It’s so nice to have the steps written down in an easy to follow format 🙂 Cause every time I go to install a drawer I inevitably forget some step and they end up wonky! I will definitely be pinning this so I don’t lose it!