Los Angeles couple Curt and Jessica turned an abandoned dresser left in their garage into a succulent garden: Its drawers became planters for a long-term yard feature

When Curt and Jessica moved into their new Los Angeles home, they came across an old wooden dresser sitting forgotten in the garage. While other people might have just thrown it out, this couple decided to make a garden out of it. They drilled drainage holes in all the drawers and planted them with succulents. Apartment Therapy reports that the project began on the couple's own blog, Grizzly Bear Modern. It is a small idea with a larger message. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, in 2018 Americans produced approximately 12.1 million tons of furniture and furnishings waste, the majority of which ended up in landfills rather than being given a second life.

A dresser no one wanted

The dresser was left behind by the previous homeowner and was still intact, just unwanted. Curt and Jessica didn't try to sell it or restore it as furniture again. They saw another opportunity. Each drawer already functioned like a planter box, with wood sturdy enough to hold soil. They pulled the drawers halfway out to create a tiered look, allowing each level of the dresser to have its own mini garden. This kind of project fits the idea of upcycling: reusing existing materials to create something new instead of sending them to waste. This matters even more when you look at the EPA's 2018 figures. According to agency data, out of the 12.1 million tons of furniture made in 2018, only 40,000 tons were recycled, about 0.3 percent, less than half a percent of the total amount.

Why drawers make great planters

Turning a drawer into a planter is not just a clever visual trick. The drawers are boxy, sturdy, and deep enough to hold a couple of inches of soil, which is about all succulents need. The couple put holes in the bottom of each drawer so the water can run out freely. This is a more important step than it looks. Succulent containers need real drainage holes to avoid standing water around the roots, which can cause rot, the University of California Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener program says. A layer of gravel at the bottom of a container without drainage holes isn't a substitute for that; it can actually trap water closer to the roots instead of letting it escape. Succulents store water in their own leaves and stems, so they don't need to be watered often. They do need a place for excess water to go, though. The warm and arid weather of Los Angeles is one reason why these succulents can remain outdoors throughout the year without much of a fuss. That also makes it appealing to tenants and property owners who want a low-maintenance outdoor feature.

A small garden, a greater reward

Another reason why such projects become popular among the younger population is related to their additional benefits. It seems there's more to gardening, even a small one, than just having a nicer-looking yard. In July 2022, PLOS ONE published a pilot study involving 32 healthy women who participated in gardening or art-making sessions twice a week for four weeks. At the end of four weeks, participants from the gardening group had lower levels of mood disturbance, perceived stress and depression, the study found. The researchers emphasize that this study involved only a few people in its early stages, so the results show merely an encouraging trend but not something that is certain to happen with everyone. However, it fits what a lot of first-time plant owners describe: a small hands-on project like a succulent dresser garden can also be a stress reliever, not just a decoration.

Keeping the original character

What makes this particular project special is that Curt and Jessica decided not to cover up the natural wood finish of the dresser by painting or using some other way of disguising it. The wood remains weathered, and the original drawer pulls are still intact. This way, the item retains its character, looking like what it is: a rescued piece of furniture doing a new job in the yard.

A trend with staying power

There's a simple reason why furniture upcycling projects like this one keep popping up across home and garden blogs. They solve two problems at once. They provide a reason for an unwanted piece of furniture to stay out of the landfill and create a garden decoration that hardly costs anything more than the plants themselves. The EPA tracks furniture waste in the millions of tons each year, so ideas like the succulent dresser could be a small but meaningful way to push back against that trend.