Old Metal File Cabinet Gets a Architectural Style Makeover
by
ScavengerChic
(IC: blogger)
13 Materials
A few months ago I asked my daughter-in-law if there was any furniture they needed for their house. I’m always on the lookout for a project and since her birthday was coming up at the end of April, I thought I would get the gears going.
She mentioned that a file cabinet would be nice. Not too big, because their office was rather small.
She mentioned that a file cabinet would be nice. Not too big, because their office was rather small.
Being a good mom, I asked my son if he also thought they needed a file cabinet. His answer…No.
A few weeks later I spot my victim. This plain old file cabinet waiting for me in a thrift store. Great size, it could easily hold a printer on top and tons of files.
With both my son and his wife being architects, I wanted their file cabinet to be reminiscent of an old architectural flat filing cabinet with the wood slats, small knobs and name plates.
I originally attached the strips to the file cabinet with builders adhesive.
After I got the oak strips unwarped, I didn’t really trust the builders adhesive to hold the oak strips securely for the long haul. I used a metal drill bit to drill all the way through the metal so the knobs are not only decorative but they also help hold the slats in place.
For the top, I used the 4 inch wide oak strips.
A sheet of rusty metal was cut to fit inside the oak strips on the top.
While the rust had a really cool texture, it would be absolutely terrible for dusting.
The metal was showing signs of warping, to make sure that it stayed put, both the metal and the oak strips were screwed into the corners to the top of the file cabinet.
The oak was finished with two coats of varnish.
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Published May 13th, 2016 6:00 AM
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2 of 161 comments
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Michelle McDonald on Sep 19, 2019
Love the look...so smart!
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Skilled Thrifty Creatives on Feb 18, 2020
Amazing, inspiring makeover, your upcycling projects are incredible!
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Not sure uif you answered it or not, but how do you open the cabinets? I do not see how those little name hooks in the middle would suffice. Do they?