That is really fabulous! I love the SA :) That yello looks so good against your wood floor.

yes...what is the paint color name? (assuming it is not something obvious like "yellow")

Not a yellow fan, but great job, the box looks fantastic. I agree; it was too cute (and practical) to leave the shop without. $5 is a steal!

That's Mustard Yellow. Very nice paint job.

Add 4 small legs would make it look more like a billion bucks!

Once again, well done.

I see that some people aren't too crazy about this color, comparable to the wooden floor. For me, for this metal cabinet this size, is fine. It should be fun and be mixed up, just brightening up the room.

This looks great! I'm off to find me my own sad file box to perk up.

Jason, this is your filebox speaking: I am so glad you rescued me from that grubby thrift store and gave me such a lovely new lease on life. I think I am spectacularly lovely in yellow.

I LOVE yellow. However, every makeover lately is the same yellow. Yesterday, there was a post for a yellow side table. I can almost guarantee, that the "after" is a yellow most of the time..must be a popular pop color.

Thumbs up! Great little project.

Looks great. I'd probably put legs on it, or wheels on it. Or put it on a little plywood platform with legs or wheels on it.

But it looks great as is.

love the colour. Also love that it can be doubled as a coffee table!

@Nicholas56
I love the idea of adding 4 little legs (or maybe 3?) but how in the world do you do that? Would you poke holes and screw them in? Superglue? I'm not terribly handy, but I like this idea, and I can see little legs in my head.
And I like it.

There is a powder-coating service near-ish me. I have a tub-file I'm considering having powder-coated, which will probably be about $100-150. Wonder if I should just spray paint instead? Not that I have the setup for it.....

Love it! So glad you showed this because I live in Hawaii and have been considering paying outrageous shipping to get a brightly colored file cabinet from Cb2. Now I'll just keep my eyes out for a thrift store option or even just something on sale from Office Max.

I've just discovered Rustoleum spray paint and have a few other projects to keep my busy until then.

@lepidoptery - anywhere you can get that's well-ventilated should be suitable. Maybe an apartment balcony?

great, now put some big wheels on it.

thank you for the entertaining article. Your writing is as bright as your file cabinet. :)

It might have been nice to preserve the industrial chic of the original metal, but meh, the yellow is nice too.

I agree with the idea of putting feet on it. Screwing some (slightly) oversized trolley castors should be easy, look good, and bring it up to a more usable height.

@asciident
No such thing, unfortunately! I guess... I can probably do it in the courtyard. Maybe early in the morning so ppl won't walk out into it. The ground is mostly uneven brick; perhaps ppl won't mind if some turn chartreuse? >.>

Jason, Lynna Jo, so glad to know I'm not the only one that hears things calling to me from across the thrift store to be rescued! Love the re-do!

Excellent !

Yum!
Thought it was perfect until I read the idea about adding castors, could be an idea there I think? Otherwise, job well done there.

Inspiring! The yellow is happy and lovely.

This post is just one of many which reminds me how glad I am that AT stopped doing the ridiculous "royal we" for everything.

THANK YOU.

Great idea. I love the yellow.

Apparently these little file creatures only know one sentence in English because that's exactlywhat mine said, too!

I'm liking the idea of legs ...

if a person wanted it to have legs it would not be too hard to make a "platform" out of (wood?) with legs on it for it to sit on top of.

so funny, i was @ salvation army a few wks ago, and bought an small, old, metal tool box. I painted it the same color. they would make a beautiful couple. : )

Love this. Trying to come up with funky nighstands+this may be the ticket.

helloo yello... its looks fab!!

Love it!...but then, I'm already hooked on painting old filing cabinets:

http://on.fb.me/gUf82k

So cute! Things call out to me too! I'll keep getting this "go" thought at home, and I'll go to my favorite Goodwill, and it will be sitting there, patiently waiting for me!
So cool. And cool that a guy's not afraid of color.

And I thought things only "spoke" to ME! It's beautiful! Well Done.

You're right, your box does look like a million bucks. Good job. Love it.

Love this! The color is fantastic, but I really love the idea of a file cabinet as nightstand/end table. Right now I have a huge one in my office that would be so much cuter if it were three throughout the room!

Great job! I definitely agree that some legs would make it look more finished. I love it!

Love it!

So cute! I love how small it is and the colour is great. I also agree with the legs idea!

This makes me rethink wanting to sell my pink filing cabinet...maybe if I gave it a new colour it could live somewhere else in my house other than shoved away in my office closet.

I'm ticked, I thought the voices only spoke to me. :(. Great job, the color is great.

I was just at the Salvation Army store this afternoon, and a lot of things spoke to me but alas, there was no dinged up filing box. Maybe next time.
About the legs/feet so many have suggested. I have a trunk which I use as a coffee table and I've wanted legs on it, but have been reluctant to screw something into the bottom of it. The solution I've come up with, but haven't done yet, is to cut a piece of plywood to fit the bottom of the trunk and attach the feet to the plywood. I'll attach some kind of trim to the wood to finish the edges and paint it to match the trunk. It would also work for the file box. Maybe attach the trim a little high so the file box fits into the base and there's no danger of it sliding off. Rolling casters or wooden legs could be used.
Yellow is my favorite color! Love it!
Jan

so cheerful! what a good form of storage..

Box looks fab in yellow.
But have to say it def needs legs or something to make it look for finished. What about some castor wheels or something?
I have something very similar waiting for me in my garage.

lepidoptery, I sprayed rustoleum in bright orange onto a $5 file cabinet. Looks great. Flatten out some large cardboard boxes and place your cabinet on them to paint. Yoy won't have much over spray.

I would just like to add a few suggestions after finishing a similar project.

The filing cabinet I started with had layers of disgusting paint all over it- including all the hardware. I decided to STRIP the paint before priming. I stripped and sanded but I realized to sand it down perfectly would be quite a long process and I was hoping for a quick project! Plus it looked like it was getting ready to rain.

Anyway, mine isn't nearly as nice and smooth- perhaps another few layers of primer would have done it but the bottom line is I shouldn't have stripped it. I should have just primed it. The only good thing that came from the stripping was getting the hardware nice and paint-free but I could have potentially done that ONLY and left the rest alone.

My two-drawer filing cabinet DEF looks a ton better and will look nice where I am going to keep it but I just want to offer a word of warning for anyone who is paint-stripper happy (usually me!) and thinks it would be better to get it down to basics. WAY easier and few chemical burns to just prime and paint and would turn out smoother.

In summary:
primer is enough
take off hardware to strip if necessary

The end result is fabulous! Thanks for the inspiration!