Transforming an Old Wooden File Cabinet

Twenty years ago my husband came home with this bulky wooden file cabinet. He paid $5 for it at a furniture sale put on by the university where he was working at the time. He's been enamored with it ever since.  I, however, have been looking for an opportunity to get rid of it.

When the file cabinet first graced our abode, it was painted what my husband calls OD (olive drab) green - like old army fatigues. To add to it's charm, it was covered in an assortment of free stickers - the kind that come in promotional mailings for things like the World Wildlife Federation and AAA - most of which had apparently bonded with the wood fibers at a molecular level making them nearly impossible to remove. 

I hated it because it was big and ugly. He loved it because it was sturdy, it held tons of files, and it would cost a small fortune to replace it with something of equal quality and size. I couldn't refute his arguments, but that didn't stop me from plotting it's removal.

Ten years passed and we lugged the unsightly thing all the way to Amman, Jordan.  There we were introduced to a local wood worker who did both custom furniture and furniture refinishing. We hired him to resurrect the file cabinet. I wanted him to strip it down and stain it. Instead, he removed the stickers (no small feat) and painted it dark brown. Fortunately, he did not charge us a lot because to say I 

was disappointed with the results would be a gross understatement. Still, it was an improvement.

Fast forward another ten years to the present. Recently we have turned our basement bedroom into my office. As I considered furniture options for the new space, I felt certain the time had come to bid the file cabinet farewell. Of course, that isn't what happened.

When I showed my husband the furniture I had picked out for the new office he wanted to know why I was spending money on a file cabinet when we already owned one that was bigger and better (he left out ten times uglier). At first I was annoyed, but eventually I had to admit that he had a valid point. While the file cabinet I had picked out was lighter and much less bulky, it was also obviously of lesser quality.

The only thing to be done was the thing I had been avoiding for twenty years. I would have to transform the hated cabinet myself, so that is what I did. ​

What do you think? I painted the top and the trim white (which I already had on hand from another project). Then I painted the drawer fronts and the main body with chalkboard paint. I also replaced the drawer pulls. To be honest, it really wasn't that hard (except for the drawer pulls which didn't quite fit into the old holes...), and I have to confess - I kind of like it. ​