Design and Construction of Dressers

Cozy Sensations
Bedrooms are for more than sleeping. They are hideaways from everyday stress. These private quarters are a place of retreat, to read, to listen to music, to work or play on computers, or to take a snooze. Furnishings should reflect your personality.

Bedroom dressers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Typical styles can be shoulder-high four-and five-drawer dressers or waist-high designs like the three-drawer dresser or double and triple dressers with six to nine drawers, ready to hold anything from socks and underwear to accessories, jewelry, and those delicate shirts and sweaters that do best off the hanger.

Materially Speaking
Many dressers are plain and understated, some are part of a suite of matching pieces. Their beauty radiates from the wood selection, grain, and finish. Dressers are flat-backed to fit flush to walls, or diagonally in corners.

Dressers date back centuries, to a time when they were owned by kings and nobility and used in dining halls to store items for the king's feast. Their long history offers an endless selection. Styles include various woods and stains, wicker, wood and wicker combinations, and painted woods. Many unique pieces are excellent for accenting existing furnishings.

Dressing the Dresser
Leg styles on furniture often identify the time and location of the design. Some dressers have four short legs; others are set on decorative wood bases. An important thing to check when purchasing a dresser is the ease with which drawers move in and out on drawer glides.

Handles and knobs of dressers can be round or geometric, understated to blend with the dresser design, or bold and magnificent. Dresser mirrors are an important and functional addition to any dresser. A sizable mirror can add mass to an already stately dresser so that it incorporates well into a large bedroom. Mirrors with fancy scrolled and beaded moldings set a more formal climate to dress up a furniture grouping.