Learn How to Transform an Ordinary File Cabinet Into Extraordinary

by Theredpaintedcottage

21 Materials

$85.00

Medium

Detailed tutorial on how to turn a file cabinet into extraordinary using paint, wood and corrugated metal.

learn how to transform an ordinary file cabinet into extraordinary

Start with any metal file cabinet. This is the before photo of our file cabinet. Make sure to clean the cabinet using TSP before painting or gluing.

I painted the drawers and handles with dark brown chalk paint. After it dried, I dry brushed some grey chalk paint lightly over the brown, and then lightly stenciled the numbers.

We bought 1x4 pine boards, cut them to the correct width and length for both sides. I stained all the wood with 2 coats of Minwax Special Walnut. After it was thoroughly dried, I applied one coat of Minwax Classic Grey and then wiped it off, leaving only as much grey as I desired to keep. I finished this off with 2 coats of Minwax Wipe-on Poly. Make sure everything dries between coats. We used heavy duty construction Gorilla Glue on the back of the boards and clamped them until they dried.

Obviously, you need to buy a piece of corrugated metal. There wasn't anything left after we used the above, other than tiny scraps.

There's different ways to cut the corrugated metal. We used a reciprocating saw with blades for cutting metal. Afterwards, I used the tin snip above and leather work gloves to trim the metal to fit in perfectly. Make sure to use leather work gloves and goggles when working with metal.

Three holes were drilled top and bottom on each side and self-tapping screws were used to secure the corrugated metal to the cabinet.

I had a pine board cut to fit the top and after it was securely glued on, we applied the moulding.

Just make sure you use moulding with a flat back to it.

After the moulding was on, I filled any gaps with stainable wood filler and used the same stains as I used on the wood. This is looking down onto the top of the cabinet.

After it was finished!

Here it is in our newly decorated guest bedroom. I have much more detailed information on my blog that you'll want to read, along with ALL the materials and tools that were used, including links to the exact products that were used.

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3 of 37 questions

Most fun on Feb 17, 2020

Looks great! Love this idea!

1
Joanie on May 09, 2020

I'm a lover!! The numbers don't mean a thing to me. TO YOU? I would put a handle of some sort on the metal door.. I love corrugated metal. I like the idea of rolling wheels also. Just what do YOU USE it for? It is beautiful, but what is its PURPOSE???I'm a little lost here.......please clue me in, because I do like the looks.

2
Katen on Dec 22, 2022

So numbers are for sake of numbers? Is that like putting up sign that says kitchen n the kitchen? Dang them farmers weren’t very bright were they? Why not something not so silly. Farmhouse look is ok until you have to tell yourself your in the kitchen, laundry, or outhouse or as cousin Eddy says the @*itter

1

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Avaldez on Dec 22, 2022

I am/was a bit dismayed by all the negative chatter. Is it my style? Not sure. Would I do something different? Maybe. But, most importantly (to me) am I inspired? Absolutely!!

What I gleaned is IF you paint the fronts and front handles all the same, the handles disappear (and I LOVE that and wouldn't have considered it would make such a difference). By covering the top and sides, the 'file-cabinet-ness' also fades (and I absolutely LOVE that; and though cutting metal sort of freaks me out a bit, the thought is it could be anything, even a framed quilt or art-print or something. Not sure why, because I've seen re-done file cabinets before, but the metal inspired me A LOT to think of what I could use that wouldn't slice up my fingers - LOL). So, thank you very much for your share - I really do appreciate you taking the time and heart to do so. I'm filing the idea away for the future :-)

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Theredpaintedcottage on Dec 23, 2022

Thank you for your comment. All I was trying to do was to make the file cabinet look a tad better in our guest room. We live in a condo and literally have no other place to put it. We’re older and we still use our file cabinet to file away information we need to keep.

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