How to build a faux apothecary cabinet

I have a thing for drawers. Apothecary cabinets, library catalogs, map drawers. But mostly it’s a style thing, because practically speaking they are not very, well, practical.

Seriously, it’s an addiction, as in our dining sideboard…

…and this map cabinet in my office….

…and these coffee tables that I made after a friend stopped by to see if I wanted the metal cabinets.

But the piece that started it all was this one.

If you follow Sawdust 2 Stitches – and you totally should because it is awesome, you will probably be familiar with Corey’s awesome rustic apothecary, which she upcycled from an Ikea piece. Like so many others, I fell in love and wanted to build my own. After watching Craigslist for a bit I found a bookshelf in the basic dimensions I wanted, then went to work removing parts and transforming it into a faux antique apothecary cabinet. I don’t have a tutorial because I did this long before I started blogging, and Corey gives the basic tools to do this yourself in her tutorial. That said, I did make one major revision that I am quite fond of.

The door on my piece – and it is one big door – is inset so it is flush with the frame of the cabinet. It is built out of a single piece of plywood. I then ran wood strips and pieces (the “drawer” squares) on top of the plywood, gluing and nailing them in place. This method looks like an authentic inset drawer, and while I would change many things about how I constructed this in retrospect, that method for creating faux drawers was so simple and convincing that I duplicated it on the sideboard as well.

Totally fake.

See?

So what does the apothecary look like open?

There you have it. I’m not going to lie, it makes me quite happy that this thing continues to fool visitors to our home. We use this to store memory items – photo books, baby books, keepsake items, and the like. My husband knows that if our home were to catch fire he should get the kids out first, then push this thing to the door and shove it out. Haha! No, but really…

Another look at those apothecary “drawers.”

Postmortem

I created this project over a year ago. I would like to think/hope that my skills have improved a great deal since then. With the vantage point of hindsight I would say there are a few things I would do differently if I build this again. The biggest thing is that I would build it from scratch rather than around an existing form, which will afford more freedom in building. However, even with the things I would do differently this remains a favorite piece in our living room.

If you have made it this far I’ll let you in on a little secret. If you have a bit of a thing for drawers as well I have another project in the works that I will be wrapping up this week. I am over the moon excited to share that with you and offer up as a hint the letters RH. In the meantime, if you like the idea of making your own apothecary click on over to www.sawdust2stitches.com and check out the tutorial. And, as always, if you have any questions please feel free to ask!

Happy building!

*UPDATE*

For even more drawer fun check out my Restoration Hardware inspired coffee table and sliding barn door hutch and buffet!