I was leery of all the buzz surrounding making over file cabinets on Pinterest. Some look a little too amazing (seriously, you turned a file cabinet into a flower box?), and had me thinking that the file cabinets were in pretty great shape prior to someone fancying them up. However, when I came across this specimen at Thrift Town for $4.99 I grabbed it and put myself to the test. Check it out.

Supplies needed:

The first thing I did was fix the dings. This was accomplished by a few nice hammer blows in the right spots. Honestly, that’s all I did and it straightened right out. The next task was to remove the lock so I could start the modge podge process (which appeared to be the easiest DIY listed in Pinterest). I used a pair of pliers and was able to successfully remove the hardware.

Next task was to spray paint the outer casing of the file cabinet minus the drawers. This is my favorite type of paint because it’s a primer and paint in one. It also adheres to metal nicely. Side note, don’t attempt to do this in a wind and rain storm like I did (I was under a deadline to debut this on Good Day Sacramento’s Thrifty Thursday the following morning!).

While the paint was drying I got started on the modge podge. I grabbed a few decorative scrapbook papers from my stash in the garage, put a layer of modge podge down directly onto the cabinet drawer, then layered the paper on top. I cut another piece in order to fit the entire cabinet, put a layer of modge podge on top and waited for it to dry. Side note, do not put modge podge over the handle areas if you have handles that do not come off like my cabinet did. If they are removable, remove them at the begging of the project when you remove the lock, etc.

Once the modge podge is fairly dry, take a razor or a swiss army knife and cut out the handles using the razor to make precise cuts along the handle lines. You can also use the razor to ensure the paper fit exactly onto the cabinet drawer, eliminating any waste.

Once the modge podge and paint are completely dry, apply any embellishments (I used scrapbook stickers to notate A-N and O-Z mimicking a filing system on the cabinet drawers), and insert the drawers back into the cabinet base.

Here’s the finished product.

For the show I decorated the top with thrifted items I also found at Thrift Town.

Here’s the Good Day Sacramento Thrifty Thursday link:
Part 1: http://gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com/video/9891177-thrifty-thursday-file-cabinet-makeover-part-1/#.UxC_X4tgZ4w.facebook

Final Reveal: http://gooddaysacramento.cbslocal.com/video/9891303-thrifty-thursday-file-cabinet-makeover-part-2/#.UxDAlcGc_6A.facebook

Happy thrifting!

Gina Doglione-Nielsen is featured every week on Good Day Sacramento’s Thrifty Thursdays, and owns GNJ Consulting which handles Public, Social, and Media Relations for Thrift Town Stores. Gina lives in Northern California with her amazing husband Josh, and is constantly on the go with three “very active” and “strong personality” bambinos; aka Team Nielsen, and loves every minute of it.