寶貝熊與貓先生的生活大小事

BEFORE

My dear sister found an abandoned file cabinet on the side of the road while doing daily jogging exercise in our neighborhood with my mom, feeling determined that I can definitely do something to save it and she also thought it would be a cute project to refinish, she pushed and dragged this ugly guy all the way home to proof her point. 

The file cabinet had a roller shutter made of cardboard on the bottom shelf, but I ripped it out due to the condition and also because I would prefer to make this open shelf storage a dual purpose one when I finished. 

It originally came with 4 casters on the bottom which were not shown in the BEFORE photos because I already took them out for a deep wipe cleaning and spray painting to change their color as well. 

I wasn't sure where this guy had been and what it had gone through, so instead of sanding manually with just sanding sponges, I took out my powerful electrical orbit sander that my boyfriend got me couple years ago as a gift, to give it a through strip, especially the top surface. 

This file cabinet, with its straight-forward structure, tended to look quite boring and bland with just one base color finish, so I figured that maybe big and bold simple triangle patterns can add some fun personalities to a boxy piece like this one. 

It was completed covered inside and out, top to bottom with Van Gogh Fossil Paint Patina (greenish blue) color as the foundation, and then 2 triangle patterns on the top and 1 triangle pattern on each side were created with Van Gogh Fossil Paint Starry Night (royal blue) color for a contrast between 2 tones of blues.  

A thin layer of clear natural beeswax also from Van Gogh Fossil Paint was applied to protect the furniture. 

When creating patterns using paint tape, one quick trick to make sure the final results on the lines will be straight and no extra paint will seep through from underneath the tape, make sure to seal the tape first using the same paint color as your base color and paint in a perpendicular position along the tape with small brush before filling in the pattern with your desired color. 

I personally have tried this method I learned from Pinterest; however, can't guarantee 100% for a perfectly straight line always, but this tip does help me improving a lot.  

Since I was already on the creative side, why not be more imaginary. 

So 4 casters were spray painted with, the best gold color out there, Rust-Oleum Specialty Metallic Gold Spray Paint to brighten the whole piece and also to give it an unique look. 

AFTER

This open shelf storage with casters unit is now versatile in functionality. 

It can be used as a kitchen cart in kitchen or dining room area or can be put into a den or home office to work as a bookshelf or file cabinet with casters.

Both are illustrated in photos, one is shown with fruits, coffee beans, tea bags, mugs and recipe books, and one is demonstrated with laptop, headphones, books, and collections on display.