A customer emailed us last month asking why her new dresser “looked full after one week.” Turns out she’d shoved winter jumpers, phone chargers, spare bedsheets and her partner’s socks all into the same three drawers, then wondered why nothing shut properly. It’s a common problem. A 6 drawer chest of drawers gives you plenty of space, but only if you actually use the six compartments as six separate jobs, not one big bin with drawer fronts.
This guide walks through getting a pine chest of drawers set up properly from the day it arrives — assembly, placement, and a drawer-by-drawer system that keeps clothes flat, folded and findable without a Sunday-night repack.
Before You Assemble: Check the Room First
Most 6 drawer chests sit somewhere between 75cm and 90cm wide and around 100cm-plus tall, depending on the model. Before you open the flat-pack box, measure the wall space with a tape measure, not by eye. Leave at least 5cm either side for airflow and so drawers don’t scrape against a wardrobe or door frame when fully open.
Pine is a solid timber, so these units have real weight once built. Decide on the final spot now rather than dragging it across floorboards later — that’s how you end up with a scratched leg or a chipped corner.
Assembly Tips That Save You Swearing at an Allen Key
- Lay the back panel flat on a rug or old blanket before attaching the sides — it protects the pine finish from scuffs.
- Fit the drawer runners to the frame first, loosely, then tighten once all six are lined up evenly. Rushing this step is the number one reason drawers stick later.
- Attach the back anti-tip bracket to a wall stud. This matters even more with a taller unit — kids climbing on open drawers is the main safety risk with any tallboy-style piece.
- Slide drawers in and out a few times before loading anything, to bed the runners in.
Working Out What Goes in Which Drawer
Six drawers is enough to give almost every clothing category its own home, which is the whole point of upgrading from a smaller dresser. Here’s a layout that works for most bedrooms:
- Top drawer: underwear, socks, small accessories — the stuff you grab half-asleep.
- Second drawer: t-shirts and singlets, folded upright in rows rather than stacked flat, so you can see the lot without digging.
- Third drawer: jumpers and long-sleeve tops.
- Fourth drawer: activewear or pyjamas.
- Fifth drawer: jeans and trousers, rolled rather than folded flat — they take less room and don’t crease as badly.
- Bottom drawer: off-season bedding, spare towels, or anything you only touch a few times a year. Bottom drawers are always the hardest to bend down to, so bury the least-used items there.
If you’re sharing the piece with a partner, split it top-to-bottom rather than trying to divide each drawer in half — it’s far easier to remember “my three drawers are the top ones” than to negotiate boundaries inside a single drawer every day.
What If Your Bedroom’s Smaller and Six Drawers Is Overkill?
Not every bedroom needs the full six. If you’re furnishing a share-house room or a kid’s bedroom where floor space is tight, the 4 drawer chest of drawers takes a narrower footprint but keeps the same drawer-by-category logic — just merge a couple of categories, like socks and accessories sharing the top drawer.
If you like the pine look but want something a touch softer in tone for a Scandinavian or coastal bedroom, the grey-brown solid wood Scandinavian storage chest is worth a look — same solid timber build, muted finish instead of raw pine.
Keeping It Tidy Past Week One
The reason drawers get messy fast isn’t usually a lack of space — it’s that everything gets dumped back in loose after washing day. A few habits fix this:
- Fold straight from the drying rack, not from a laundry basket. Clothes that sit crumpled in a basket for two days are harder to fold neatly.
- Stand t-shirts and jumpers on their side (the “file folder” method) instead of stacking flat. You can see every item and pulling one out doesn’t collapse the whole pile.
- Do a five-minute drawer check once a month — pull anything that doesn’t fit the season into the bottom drawer or a separate storage box.
- Don’t overfill. A drawer that’s hard to close is a drawer that gets left open, and open drawers on a pine chest collect dust fast.
Caring for the Pine Finish
Solid pine is a softer timber than oak or blackwood, which is exactly why it takes stain and paint so well and looks warm rather than sharp — but it does mean a few care basics matter:
- Wipe with a dry or barely damp cloth. Standing water marks pine quickly, especially on the top surface.
- Use coasters or a small tray for jewellery boxes, water glasses or diffusers sitting on top.
- Keep it out of direct sun where possible — pine can lighten unevenly over a few years if one side gets constant afternoon light.
- Tighten drawer handles every six months or so. Timber expands and contracts slightly with the seasons, and a loose screw is easier to fix on a Sunday than after a handle falls off mid-week.
Set up properly, a 6 drawer chest of drawers should outlast a couple of house moves without needing a rethink. Give each drawer one job, fold straight from the airer, and check it once a month — that’s really the whole system. It’s a lot less effort than it sounds, and a lot cheaper than buying a bigger dresser because the first one “filled up too fast.”