7 Ways to Repurpose a Vintage Dresser (And Gain More Storage in Every Room)

Stylish vintage dressers are a dime a dozen at antique stores and flea markets. I just came back from the Brimfield Antique Show, and let me tell you, those fields were positively brimming with awesome dressers. They seemed so much easier to find than other pieces of furniture, that at one point, I started to wonder why we all don’t just turn one of these dressers into the vanity / kitchen island / tv stand we’re searching for? Turns out, we absolutely can. Here are 7 ways to give an old dresser a second life—and add some storage space around the house while we’re at it.

When the Parsons family made over their Cape Cod home, they decided to repurpose a vintage dresser scored on Craigslist for 35 bucks as a bathroom vanity. A can of Waterlox and one sink installation later, the piece is a stand-out in this bathroom featured on Country Living. Not only does the dresser make the room feel cozy and lived-in, but it provides extra storage for toiletries or towels. Want to try this yourself? Check out our complete guide to picking out the right dresser and choosing a complementary sink.

A narrow dresser with multiple drawers, like the one above in a Minneapolis home featured on Design Sponge, helps sort the clutter that tends to build in the entryway. Devote one drawer to umbrellas, another to hats and gloves, so you can quickly grab what you need on the way out.

If you’ve looked for kitchen islands recently, you know how tough it can be to find one that’s affordable (and that fits in your space). One solution: Search the flea market for an inexpensive dresser that’s the right size for the room. The one above from Vanessa’s Modern Vintage Home got a coat of paint, a set of wheeled casters, and a butcher block top to turn it into a multi-functional work surface and breakfast nook. Bonus: The drawers provide extra storage space for kitchen utensils.

The top drawer of a vintage Hoosier cupboard, like the one above from HGTV, looks like it was designed to be a pull-out laptop platform (even if it was built long before the laptop was invented). The top drawer of an ordinary dresser could serve the same purpose; just install a wooden board across the top to rest your laptop on. Use the other drawers for stashing your office supplies.

Rachel of Like a Saturday painted an old dresser with blue chalk paint and added new hardware to transform it into a coffee station. The drawers are perfect for stowing away tea spoons and coffee machine pods.

Give an old dresser a new lease on life by turning it into a drink station. Stock the top with bottles and glasses, and use the drawers for storing cocktail napkins and bottle openers. The dresser-turned-bar above was found at a resale shop, which Kristin of Bliss at Home spruced up with some paint and a brilliant crock-pot method for removing built-up paint on the original hardware.

This midcentury modern dresser acts as a media console, with plenty of built-in space for remotes, wires, and games. Carrie of Dream Green DIY painted only parts of it white, leaving the drawer fronts and brass hardware as-is.