Scrapwood drawer organizer

Have you seen the gorgeous desk organizer that Jen Woodhouse made?

Absolute perfection – the bar for the greatest drawer organizer has been set, and set HIGH.

I looked into purchasing the plastic divider strips that she recommended but they were too tall to fit my shallow desk drawer.

If I wanted my desk to be this gorgeous (and organized) I would have to improvise…

I measured the depth of my drawer and cut down some scrap plywood to that size – in my case 2 ½” – when standing on its side, this should be the same depth as your drawer.

Next I measured the inside width (left to right) of my drawers and cut the plywood strips to that length.  Repeat this for the length (top to bottom) of your drawers.

The next part is a little tricky, so please wear safety gear and BE CAREFUL!

Take the strips of wood and measure the centre point;  in my case, the dividers were 2 ½” tall when in place, so halfway was 1 ¼”.

Eyeballing as best you can, set your table saw blade to that height.  The goal is to cut into your plywood strips just deep enough so that they can be inserted into one another and lay flush (or almost flush).

I used two long drawer dividers to split my drawer up top to bottom, and then I determined that I’d want another 4 dividers to divvy it up left to right.

I marked where I wanted the cross sections to go, clamped my long pieces together and then ran them through the table saw, standing on their (narrow) sides, to create the notches.  Depending on the thickness of your wood, you’ll probably have to run it through a few times to create enough space for the cross pieces to tuck into.

I repeated this 4 times on the long boards, and then did the same thing on the shorter ones.

The notches in the shorter boards should nestle into the notches on the longer boards easily, but snugly, and ideally you want your drawer organizer to be as close to flush as possible (mine are a bit off).

That’s it!

Glue if you wish, but this drawer organizer won’t tip or fall because the cross sections are holding each other up.

Difficult to explain, but pretty simple to do.

I sanded my drawer organizer down for a nice, smooth finish and to keep from getting slivers and then stocked it up with my gear.

This is more than was previously kept in my desk; with my home office/craft room makeover I needed to create more storage in fewer pieces of furniture.

I can’t believe how many things I can fit now that I have dividers to keep it all organized and in plain sight.

No glue, no nails, no screws – just a few swipes on the table saw and a nice sanding and voilà!

Did I mention my drawer organizer was made entirely with scrapwood?  Total cost = $0

This was my desk before my new drawer dividers – a cornucopia of different containers and dishes to try to keep things from sliding around;

 

The after is so much nicer!

Have a great one!

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