How to Install Side Mount Drawer Slides

There are three main types of drawer slides including two different styles of bottom mount slides (one type mounts to each side of a drawer box and the other type mounts directly in the center bottom) and side mount slides.

In addition to the different types of drawer slides, there are also many different styles – ball bearing, soft-close, slides with nylon wheels and the style I will use in this example. 

I have a love/hate relationship with drawer slides. They can be really easy to install or they can be really difficult to install. This particular style, in my opinion, is the easiest to install by far! I came across them by accident and when I opened the box, I immediately expected them to be difficult but they weren’t! In fact, I still had a smile on my face when I finished installing them, ha ha!

One of the things I love about this style is the lever stops at the front of the cabinet-side slide. This keeps the drawer from being pulled out and also makes it easy to remove the drawer.

To install these side mount drawer slides, mount the drawer-side portion of the slides with the wheel at the back end of the drawer. The little framing piece (where the wheel is located) will be flush with the bottom and back end of the side of the drawer. Insert one screw in one of the holes in this area. Measure from the bottom of the slide itself to the bottom of the drawer and make sure the front portion of the slide (without the wheel) measures the same distance. Insert the remaining screws.

Now, align the cabinet-side pieces (the wheel will be at the front of the cabinet and will face up) with the stretcher that corresponds with the drawer. I located mine 3/4" back from the front edge to allow for the inset drawer front. Make sure the side is level and insert the screws.

Slide the drawer in...That is all there is to it!

Here is a secret trick - if an oddball length of drawer slide is needed (my project needed slides that measured 11-1/2”), it is easy to cut the ends (opposite the wheels) off with a hacksaw! Super-easy, right?

Acrylic Knobs as Good as Glass

We have an amazing line of glass knobs, but sometimes you're looking for something that fits the budget. Our line of acrylic knobs can help out in the budgeting department. Durable and aesthetically pleasing, these knobs come in all shapes and sizes. You'll surely find the perfect fit for your home decor.

Embracing Change uses our pumpkin shaped acrylic knob with chrome base on her refinished and freshly painted, in Valspar's Ship Shape, desk.

Anastasia Vintage, in the floating girl inspired chest of drawers, adds the final touch with our diamond cut antique brass base acrylic knobs.  

Vintage Refined makes over a buffet, combining our glass pulls with our acrylic knobs. They fit together effortlessly and provide an elegant look.

Design Asylum makesover a dresser with a new custom made trippy design that includes our acrylic knobs as the final accent.

Number Fifty Three puts a new paint job on this Pennsylvanis House nightstand using a foam roller for a smooth finish. We're glad she chose our acrylic knobs to make this piece picture perfect. 

This black beauty side table makeover from Whats Ur Home Story features snazzy drawer liners and diamond cut brass base acrylic knobs.

We hope these pictures help illustrate that acrylic really can look just as good as glass. Please check out our entire selection at D. Lawless acrylic knobs.

Small Business Partner: Furniture Chic

It's always a delight to meet our customers and see the work they are doing through social media. Internet sales is usually so anonymous and faceless that it's quite refreshing to interact with the person on the other end! Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Kim from Furniture Chic over Facebook and she shared a whole string of beautiful furniture makeovers she's done over the last year and many of them are using our hardware.

Kim does all of the sanding and prep work herself because she refuses to let someone have buyer's remorse over her pieces. Kinda like us! We can't stand it if someone is dissatisfied and it's great to partner with others that feel the same way!

Furniture Chic is out of Lenoir City, TN and really does amazing work. Kim is a true artist having gone to college for Art Education and also taught Art Education for 10 years! Here's a quote from her Facebook page about her work,..

"I have refinished my own furniture and furniture for friends for over 17 years, but wanted to branch out and have more of a creative outlet. I use an old school method of refinishing and painting since I prefer to sand or strip and paint with oil or latex paints. I also seal with a polyurethane or a polycrylic sealer. I thank God every day. He has opened this door. I have met and made so many new fabulous friends!"

She's does beautiful work and it speaks for itself so I'll just post a bunch of it up below. Check out her Facebook page and remember to check with her if you are in the Lenoir City or Knoxville area and have pieces that need refinishing. With further ado...

She does wonderful work with our appliques! The paint job on the scrolls is beautiful!

D. Lawless Local Deal - Bulk Screws

Attention all local builders!

We recently got in a big truck load of bulk #10 polymer plated exterior deck screws. These are star drive and our price totally destroys the normal hardware store price.

We've got 20 pound boxes of 2", 2 1/2", & 3" screws for $50. These same screws run $24 for 5 pounds at Home Depot. Get em while they last local dealers!

Too heavy to ship, it ruins the great deal, so you must pick up in store.

How to Install and Use Inside Corner Braces

There are several different types of corner braces such as inside corner braces, flat corner braces and “L” braces. All of these types of braces serve the same purpose – to keep boards secured in a square or rectangle keeping them even or “square”.

I had the opportunity to use a set of inside corner braces when building a stool. There are screw holes in the two sides (which will allow the user to secure the braces to framing) as well as in the flat, triangular top (to secure a top or seat). The inside corner braces are really, really easy to install. For this demonstration, I am showing how I installed the inside corner braces on the stool frame then attached the top.

So, I have the stool frame assembled which includes legs and aprons. In order to use the inside corner braces, the aprons have to be directly perpendicular to each other on the inside of the legs.  I used #6 x 3/4” wood screws and secured the inside corner braces in each corner where the aprons are joined to the legs.

Then, I positioned the frame on the underside of the seat and secured the seat to the frame with the #6 x 3/4" screws through the flat, triangular top portion of the brace into the seat. Super easy!

The inside corner braces would be used on the framing and top of a table in the same manner. They could also be used on the top portion of a box or trunk (without securing them to the top or lid) which would help support the corners if the top or lid is heavy.

Uses for other braces such as flat corner braces and “L” braces can also be decorative. They can be spray painted and used on photo or mirror frames, or as a decorative element on chair or table legs. They can also give an “industrial” look to furniture projects!

Free Hardware Friday #26

THE PROMOTION HAS ENDED. PLEASE CHECK BACK NEXT WEEK.

Forgot it was Friday! Pleasant surprise when I realized, haha! Here's the knob for this week. The picture isn't the best and we need  yours! It is a nice little knob though and has a nice Venetian bronze finish.

Open to all comers, no catches! I'm trading knobs for pictures of your projects.

The rules are the same as every week....

1. E-mail me at the address on the bottom of the post with your name, address, the product number, and how many you need.

2. Please put in writing what you plan to use the knobs for and also give me permission to use your photos to market the knobs. I might put your pictures up on our HomeTalk account, Facebook, or website. If you click our HomeTalk link above you can see a lot of the projects completed by Free Hardware Friday participants since we started back in November.

I'm looking forward to lots of participants heading into our hiatus! Please contact me at lawlesshardware (at) gmail (dot) com to participate!

Moss Avenue Antiques & Collectibles Festival

I had the pleasure of visiting the Moss Avenue Antique Sale & Festival in Peoria, IL this past weekend as it was just a few blocks from my house and it had all sorts of awesome "junk' and antique for sale. I always need something to write about and this seems right down our customer's alley so I figured I'd just post up all the photos I got from the event.

Moss Avenue is a beautiful historic street up on the first Peoria bluff. The houses are true old style beauties and all their enormous front yards were filled with booths from local antiquers and furniture dealers. Quite the event and definitely worth the trip again next summer! I'll give a brief explanation of some of the pictures, but most are self explanatory. I'm sorry to the businesses I don't mention but I was having a good time and didn't get a chance to match up the names with the booths...next year I'll be prepared!

Beautiful historic houses up and down the street!

And now back to the antiques and collectibles! Again, I wish I could tag all these wonderful local businesses but I was derelict in my duty...







You gotta dig for the good stuff!





All sorts of American brand memorabilia from way back! I love these to rivaling benches made from old Chevy and Ford truck parts!





There were lots of handmade jewelry vendors and people doing beautiful furniture makeovers. Lots of the business were even taking custom orders from customers throughout the day so it's a great event for finding local talent to redo your piece for you.



Right in the middle there is this beautiful Frank Lloyd Wright house! You can really tell it's his architecture and I'm told there are actually three Wright house in Peoria.







Trinkets, jewelry, and "junk!"









The whole street is absolutely beautiful on both sides as you can from the next few shots. They even had live music on a couple of the porches up and down the block.





Overall it was a great time and I'm looking forward to attending next year and documenting the small businesses better. I did have the opportunity to meet several which I hope to be working with in the near future. See you there next year if you are in the area, it's worth the drive and remember that the early bird gets the worm! We got a couple nice pieces, one from Modern Mutations, but a lot of dealers were closing up as we didn't get there til too late!