Industrial Furniture Makeover

Are you into the industrial furniture craze happening now?

I admit…it took some time to grow on me.

Hang onto your hat because we are going to jump together on the industrial furniture craze train today.

Why??

Because today is our monthly themed furniture makeover day.  I have the privilege to join a creative group of ladies each transforming a piece of furniture into the theme of the month.  This month is industrial furniture makeover.

Industrial Furniture Makeover

Make sure to click the pictures at the bottom of the post to visit more industrial styles.

A quick back story.  Next to my repurposed desk is an uninspiring corner with a dusty dog.  Have you heard the saying, “a happy dog has a job?”  Well, this HEAVY concrete dog had the job of collecting dust and spiderwebs.

I painted the plain dog inspired by a mix of our German Shepherds.  Norman was a very dark shepherd.  Homer is a reddish and black shepherd.  His job will still be to collect dust and spiderwebs…but at least he will collect them outside.

Now I’m left with an empty uninspiring corner.

Uninspiring file cabinet makeover

Until now!  I bought this uninspiring file cabinet back in March knowing we would be having an industrial furniture makeover in July.  It’s been in the back of our closet until this weekend.

Check out those gold wheels and locking safe!

Painting

For my dark inspiring corner…what is the first thing I do with the file cabinet…

paint it black!

Chalky type paint in black from Americana.  Wood furniture I would paint with a paintbrush.  For this metal piece I wanted to keep the industrial, so I used one of those small rollers.  This gave it a bumpy texture.

The next coat is a dark gray called elephant from Waverly.   Still wet in this photo.

The final coat is a mix of French white from Heritage and the elephant.  Notice I didn’t tape off the keyhole and just painted messily around it.

Distressing

Now my favorite part…distressing with a wet paper towel to uncover the darker shades underneath.  I liked the bumpy texture that the wet sanding revealed.  I use a small artist brush to add white wax there the metal connects and around the screws.

You can tell I took pictures with different lighting.  I painted on our kitchen island and some lighting was from the kitchen and some from the dining room.  The cabinet in real life is on the lighter white side than the blue. :/

The keys were tied up with twine and a chalkboard tag.  I plan on hiding my fortune from blogging in the little locking area.   Shhhh!  Don’t tell anyone but there’s $3.24 in the safe right now! 🙂

Now to make the industrial furniture makeover…me!  A spindle.  Actually, I used two spindles.

The first spindle replaced the plastic handle.  This is easy to do.  I sanded the spindle to remove some poly, some stain and a lot of dirt.

The look of wood that is sanded and left raw is making my heart pitter pat.  I wish you could touch the spindle through the computer right now.  It feels soft and…old!

I bought spacers at our hardware store.  Spacers can be found in those drawers in the nail and bolt aisle.  Marks were made on the spindle through the holes.  Then I predrilled holes.  Added wood screws through the holes, added spacers over the screws and into the predrilled holes.  A couple of turns with the screwdriver and…

I have a wonderful looking and feeling handle.

The feet

My thrift shop office chair has wheels.  I don’t need a rolling file cabinet.  Too much rolling around and I’m sure I’d get tangled up.  So…

The other spindle was sanded and cut into four pieces for feet!

One end of the spindle had a screw insert nut.  Screw insert nuts hold a screw in wood.  Found in those drawers at the hardware store and I needed 3 more.  Using a vise grip to hold the spindle pieces I drilled a hole to fit the insert nut.  Then used a hammer to pound in the nut.

Next, I used a screw and placed it through the plastic covers {shown in the insert above} of the gold wheels.  Then insert the spindle “feet” just like the wheels.

I like that the feet are different.  I also used spindle feet on a favorite tray you can see here.

Since the file cabinet will be used for work an image transfer with my logo was rubbed on the front.

I have magazines DIY inspiration ideas since the 80’s to fill the cabinet.

Years worth of inspiration, in an industrial furniture makeover file cabinet.

Now for more industrial inspiration click below to visit my blogging friends.

Linking to Friday’s Furniture Fix – Inspiration Monday