Before & After: Rusty Filing Cabinet Makeover

Written by

Dabney Frake
Dabney Frake
Dabney is a Southern-born, New England-raised, current Midwesterner. Her dog Grim is part terrier, part basset hound, part dust mop.
updated May 5, 2019
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Post Image
(Image credit: Cecily Mae)

Have you ever been intimidated by refinishing metal furniture? Joanna shows it’s entirely possible, and gets great results with a little time and elbow grease. She found this little cabinet in a parking lot and instantly saw its potential. Want to see the result of her work? Read on…

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

The cabinet is now totally bright, cheerful and ready for its new life in Joanna’s house. Here’s how she made it happen:

First, I took the whole thing apart — unscrewed all the handles and removed the drawers. Then I scrubbed it with sugar soap and a stiff brush and hosed it down (lots of wet spiders crawled out at this point). Then I used an electric sander on the larger parts of the main body and then hand-sanded the drawers. Next I gave it another wash and a final wipe down with white spirit. The body needed four coats of paint, and I used a multi-surface paint with a soft gloss finish. Putting it back together was by far the hardest part. I have some screws and washers left over — whoops!
Readers, you can see what else Joanna is up to over at her blog,
Cecily Mae. Nice work Joanna!

Re-edited from a post originally published 6.13.13-NT

(Images: Cecily Mae)