Changing table/dresser

My first granddaughter was born on August 31, 2010, so I decided to build her a crib (more on that later), but along the way I found a set of crib plans with a matching changing table/dresser, and decided to build that, too. I asked my daughter which she would prefer to have first, and she decided on the changing table/dresser.

My dad had the crib plans from a back-issue of Wood Magazine, and that article referred to the changing table article that was to appear the following month, so I went to the Wood Magazine web site and purchased the changing table plans. I bought the wood (hard maple and maple plywood) from a nearby supplier (Frieden Hardwoods). The drawer slides came from Lee Valley and the drawer pulls were purchased locally by my daughter.

One of the most complicated parts of the construction process (for me) was the lamination of the curved rail on the top of the back of the cabinet. I re-sawed some maple and planed it to a quarter-inch in thickness, then glued up three of those slats on a curved form that I made from some three-quarter-inch pine. (See photo.)

After installing the drawer slides and drawers, I fit the drawer fronts, which were made from maple plywood, bound in solid maple.

The main carcase is three-quarter-inch maple plywood, and the top is glued-up from three-quarter-inch maple. The shelves on the right side are adjustable and removable. Everything was finished with three coats of satin polyurethane.

-- Doug, Kansas, http://newwoodshop.wordpress.com