Tuesday, November 24, 2009

i'll file away...

I am an unabashed saver - I live with the motto: "maybe i'll need this later" This carries through to bills, receipts, documents, and papers of all types. Behold, the perfect Hawaiian themed file cabinet!

I am really horrible with remembering to take 'before' photos (I am usually SO excited just to get the project underway) so this is as close as it gets. I bought this 2-drawer file cabinet at Goodwill for $5 - it was beige with marble-look drawer fronts - at first glance I thought they were covered with some horrible contact paper. So step one was to spray paint it black.

Then I searched the web for some vintage beachy postcards - and found the motherload! Arkiva Tropika is packed with great tropical ephemera - old menus, postcards, brochures, and the like. I printed those out on some medium weight paper and cut them out.

I laid out all of the images so that they fit on the top and two sides. Then came the modge podge! I painted the mp on the back of the image and on the file cabinet and smoothed them down with my fingers and the occasional aid of a popsicle stick. Then I plastered the top of the image with a nice even layer of mp. Once an entire side was complete, I would paint mp all over it again - after some drying time, this step was repeated five times for each side.

I think it turned out pretty fun and unique - much nicer than a boring old file cabinet :)

7 comments:

  1. Very cool! My filing cabinet was inherited from my parents when they upgraded to a fancy pants oak one with 4 drawers. It has two Cleveland Indians bumpers stickers from the 80s on the drawer fronts. Part of my wants to take the off and paint the thing, and the other part wants to leave them on forever. I love my daddy. :)

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  2. Absolutely gorgeous. Great job... I love the mosaiced, patchwork look it has.

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  3. Very nice! It must've been hard cutting all of your prints straight, then lining them up straight on the cabinet.

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  4. Super idea--now following you due to finding your link on Mod Podge rocks! ;)

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  5. This is a very sweet cabinet! Nicely done!

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  6. It's so pretty!!! I have to try this!!

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