How to install feet on a piece of furniture

(FOX 2) – This week, our Jill of All Trades, Jill Washburn, shows us a super simple way to add a little style and a bit of height to a piece of furniture.  

Jill has shown us how to build feet before, but this time she shows us how to add modular pieces that are readily available and super-easy to install.

Jill started with a little chest of drawers that she bought on Facebook Marketplace. It needed some minor repairs but the main issue was that it sat kind of low, which made it tough to work with room design-wise. Jill decided that a fast set of feet would solve the problem.  

Jill chose smaller wooden bun feet that are readily available at the big box DIY stores. The feet come with a lag screw already installed, so that they can be screwed into a bracket. The brackets are also available at the big box stores and are easily installed on a piece of furniture.

Jill started by screwing one of the feet into a bracket and then placing the bracket on one of the bottom corners of her piece to determine just where she wanted it to sit, and to then mark where the screws should go. She marked those points with a pencil. She then removed the foot from the bracket, lined the bracket up with her marks, and screwed the bracket into the bottom of the piece. Jill repeated this process for all four corners, so that all of the brackets were in place.

Once that was done, it was time to stain the feet to match the piece of furniture. That presented some challenges but, of course, Jill had a trick to deal with it.

The wooden feet were raw wood and wanted to soak up the stain like a sponge, which made them too dark. Jill’s answer was to wipe the feet down first with a little denatured alcohol. That moistened up the wood just enough so that it wouldn’t soak in the stain as quickly. That gave Jill a little extra time to move the stain around and get the color just right.

Once the stain was done, Jill just easily screwed the feet into the brackets and, “Voila”, the piece was done. Jill says that she may clear coat the feet or wax them at some point to protect the finish, but that, too, is a quick easy step. There are clear spray finishes and clear waxes that can accomplish that in mere moments.

This little modification only took minutes and made a huge impact on this great little piece of bargain furniture.

PROJECT RATING:  Easy

To watch Jill take you through the process, just click on the video player above.