A few months ago I discovered a giant file cabinet at a thrift store. I had been wanting a file cabinet for a while now and saw a lot of potential in this huge (and heavy!) one. I decided to dress it up with a can of paint and a few whimsical labels.
Here is the 'before' cabinet. It was dirty and had sticker residue on a few of the drawers. I removed the sticker residue and scrubbed down all the drawers with paper towels and water.You'll need: File cabinet (duh!), painter's tape, 2-inch paint brush, small paintbrush, black acrylic paint (I used a small tube of acrylic black paint made by Golden), and an All Surface Enamel Acrylic paint (mine is from Sherwin Williams. Ask an associate for a paint recommendation to use on a metal file cabinet if you're unsure).
First, you will need to cover all the hardware with painter's tape. Try to be as accurate as possible, but remember that you can touch up with a small paintbrush later! Then paint 3-5 coats of paint until the color looks perfect to you! Once the drawers are painted, keep the tape over the hardware and paint the rest of the cabinet. Remove the painter's tape and paint inside the labels.
Next, sketch out the words on a piece of tracing paper so you can better estimate how to draw the words. Lightly sketch out the words you are labeling your drawers with. I chose Listen (for my roommates sheet music), Create (for cookbooks and other DIY books), Remember (for paperwork), and Share (for odds and ends).With a small paintbrush, slowly go over the lines until they are perfect.
And here is the cabinet all together!
xoxo. Kara
I love this! Very beautiful and creative.
cute idea!
Sarah=)
www.etsy.com/shop/owleyevintage
This is great. I’m looking for a file cabinet right now and this gave me a great idea!!!
Fantastic idea – now to persuade my husband that our filing cabinet needs a makeover!
This is such a great idea! Now I really want a filing cabinet in my dorm room. It might be a pain to drag up 3 flights of stairs, but completely worth it!
xoxo,
Laura
http://lauraisthriftingthroughlife.blogspot.com/
This is fabulous! I definitely want to do this to my 2 drawer filing cabinet!
So pretty. Really simple and great.
Kate
This is a great DIY! Especially if you can find an old file cabinet at a thrift store! very cheap and easy to do!
LOVE IT!! Thinking about doing something similar for my room <3 You always have great ideas! Amazing blog!
I love this! Such a good idea, never would have thought of it!
X
http://kendra-genevieve-rose.blogspot.com
Love this idea!! Your handwriting is SOO much better than mine would be!!!
Love what you did with it, and I like how you painted on the label for each drawer!
Wow, I love this idea. This is exactly the way that I organize my life! It is a very intuitive way of working. I want to do this project!
Awesome! 🙂
http://reindeertrails.blogspot.com.es
Im a sucker for metal items. I love spray painting things.
Vintagehoneybee.blogspot.com
This is so cute! I want to go find a file cabinet now. xo
I did this last year with aqua spray paint and I LOVE it!
I love it, if only i had the space for for something like that. I could certainly do with one to be more organised.
http://sutleress.blogspot.co.uk
so sweet!!!!!
Give me a file cabinet NOW!!!
🙂
If you don’t have the time to find and repaint a file cabinet you can always buy this newly produced cabinet from IKEA http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90116176/
I really like how it still has an old feel to it.