DIY Lego drawers for budding brick masters

07 Oct 2021

Lego lovers rejoice! If you or your child are a fan of the ever-popular Lego Masters TV series, then these drawers are for you. Perfect for storing pesky stray bricks, these drawers will bring a pop of colour to your bedroom or hobby space. Made from wooden dowels, an afternoon of crafting will leave you with a unique upcycled set of drawers that is sure to be a show-stopper for kids and adults alike.   

You will need:

• Set of drawers
• Hole filler
• Sandpaper
• Resene Quick Dry
• Small smooth surface microfiber roller
• Paintbrush
• Purple painters tape
• Your choice of Resene paint (we recommend Resene Lustacryl semi-gloss waterborne enamel as it is easy to wipe clean) – Fleur used Resene Spotlight, Resene Flash Point, Resene Wet N Wild, Resene Japanese Laurel and Resene Black
• 8m length of 45mm diameter pine dowel
• Saw
• Electric drill and screws

Step 1: Start by removing the old drawer handles and filling the holes with filler.

Step 2: Sand the filler smooth and sand the front of the drawers and the drawer body.  You don’t need to remove the old varnish/stain/paint, you just need to scuff up the surface so that that primer paint can adhere to it. Measure and drill the holes for the new handles.

Step 3: Use a small smooth surface microfiber roller to paint on one coat of Resene Quick Dry primer. Do the same to the body of the drawers.  Once this is dry, give it a light sand with fine sandpaper.

Step 4: To paint the drawer fronts, use purple painters tape to mask off every second block of colour – Fleur found making a mock-up of her pattern with real Lego was helpful for working out the colour combinations.

Step 5: Apply two coats of Resene paint, allowing the first coat to dry before applying the second coat. Remove the tape while the last coat is still wet.

Step 6: Give the paint a couple of hours to cure and then proceed to tape up the remaining blocks and again paint these with two coats of Resene paint. 

Paint the body of the drawers in Resene Black.

Step 7: Take your 1.8m length of 45mm dowel and cut it into 2cm lengths – these will be the new handles. Fleur needed 70 handles.

Step 8: Prime the handles with Resene Quick Dry primer. Once dry, give them a light sand with fine sandpaper. Paint over the handles with the corresponding colours in Resene paint. Fleur sanded a notch into 8 of the handles to give a better grip (2 handles on each drawer).

Step 9: Use an electric drill and screws to attach the new handles to the drawer fronts.

Project and images Fleur Thorpe

Published: 07 Oct 2021