Fabric Covered Filing Cabinets

Leo and I have been working in our office for the past week or so, trying to organize what had become a huge mess as seen in a previous post here. In that post, we talked complained about putting together a desk that we recently purchased.

And, tada! Here it is!

Rascal uses the desk to check out the outside world.

Part of our office redo involved beautifying the metal file cabinets that are in the office. Yes, I know, they make filing cabinets to match desks, but we didn’t want to spend the money for them. Besides, Leo said, what’s wrong with metal filing cabinets?

On Pinterest, I had seen this fabric covered filing cabinet from the blog Wastenot Workshop. I read her directions on how she did it, and I thought I could do something similar.

I decided to buy 4 fat quarters  for $1.99 each because the quilting fabric is thin. I chose this color and design because I needed to work with the wall color and the window treatments in the room. I  also took in consideration that Leo uses the office, so I didn’t go all floral on him.

Plus, I had already covered this office chair with this fabric years ago, and I didn’t want to change it right now.

Then I needed some Mod Podge.  I used this kind with the orange label.

The next thing that I did was to remove the handles and the label plates from the cabinets.

For one of our cabinets, I had to use a ratchet wrench to remove the screws. The screws were easier to remove from the other cabinet.  I could see no way to remove the button that allows the drawer to open. Caution! Once you remove your hardware from the drawers, don’t close them! It’s really hard to open them without the handle!

Next, I held one piece of fabric up to the drawer and marked where I needed to cut it. I allowed about an inch on each side.

I put some aluminum foil into a jellyroll pan and lay the piece of fabric into it. I then smeared the Mod Podge onto the back of the fabric. Then I immediately put the fabric onto the face of a drawer, using a dinner knife to smooth out any wrinkles. I used a box cutter to very carefully cut around the button that couldn’t be removed.  Then I wrapped the fabric around the edge of the drawer and used scissors to remove the excess fabric. Using my hands again, I smeared more Mod Podge onto the front of the cabinet. (You could use a brush for this step.)

I waited until the next day to reattach the hardware. When the Mod Podge dries, it darkens the fabric slightly, so you might want to consider that if you decide to beautify some old, utilitarian cabinets.

I really like how this project turned out. The fabric gave the room some color.

Way more interesting than plain filing cabinets!

And do you remember that photo that we showed you of the bookcase in the office? Well, this is the same bookcase, all organized now!

We’ve had these baskets for a long time. They used to be in the laundry room of our other house, but their colors work perfectly in the office.

Everything has a place, and the drawers are all labeled. I am going to put red scrapbook paper in the fronts of these drawers in order to hide the contents.

I’m so pleased with the transformation of the filing cabinets. I only spent about $12 on the supplies, but it had such a huge impact. Proving once again, that it doesn’t take a lot of money to put a fresh face on the cottage at the Crossroads.

I’m joining: