Amazing Metal Cabinet!

If you ever come across a metal cabinet don't turn your nose up thinking it's hideous. A little (okay, maybe more than just a little) hard work and you can turn a plain office cabinet into something amazing! You can find them in yard-sales, flea markets, thrift stores, donation centers, used office supply, etc...

Here is what I used to give this new life. 

• A foam sanding block, 
• Car wax (this is a secret weapon when you don't want something spray-painted)
• Q-Tips
• Dremel, with polishing tips (not necessary if you don't have one) 
• A green scouring pad (yes, the one for kitchen scrubbing),
• Spray Paint of your choice. I used 2 cans of Tropical Oasis 

This piece sits about 3 feet high x 2.5' wide and 12" deep and has 18 drawers that hold 8.5x11 sheets of paper. I have lots of plans for this to hold all kinds of household goodies. My Junk-Drawer has just received it's eviction notice with the arrival of this bad boy. Can you image filling it up and knowing exactly where to find batteries, scissors, ribbons, candles, etc...

 

First I removed all the drawers. I started to use painters tape to tape off the silver/metal bookplates. This was tedious and I envisioned myself still working on this well into Spring of 2013. I sadly looked at my beautiful spray paint longing to just start spraying...but alas I couldn't. I wanted the silver to stay.



 I went to the local hardware store to look for something. I was thinking Vaseline might do the trick but decided to ask the worker in the paint department for help (here is where I truly appreciate the workers at True-Value where they really take their time helping you accomplish the job you're working on). He told me I should use car wax. He said that he covers his truck in it, paints it in camaflauge for hunting season then it wipes off easily and viola his red-truck is back to being a city-boy truck! :) LOL He warned not to get it anywhere I wanted the paint to stay because it wouldn't adhere to anything that was waxed.

Using the turtle wax as a 'relief' just think of the possibilities  If you have a standard filing cabinet you could freehand designs. Spray paint, wipe off and wow!

I came home and used a Q-tip and very carefully applied wax to the little silver metal bookplates. I spray-painted the sides of the drawers so that if the drawer wasn't pushed in completely you wouldn't see the "putty" sides.  If I had purchased 3 cans I would have sprayed the entire side - but I'm hoping this won't bother me. If it does, it's easy enough to remove the drawers and spray paint them again. 

 I lightly sanded the sides and top ensuring that I removed any rust that was on the piece. Then I sprayed the unit - empty of it's drawers. Once the paint was dry, I loaded it back up with all the drawers and used the little green scouring  pad and literally just wiped away the paint! It was easy - yes time consuming but easy! My 10 year daughter even helped me!

 

I used the Dremel with the polishing wheel on the larger areas just for the speed factor. But I had to be careful, because it slipped off and would hit the drawer.

I don't have the finished piece sitting in it's final spot because we're redoing the room that this is going in. It's sitting in the garage right now where I let it set for several days to let it off-gas from the spray-paint.

Color Me Mine Update & Local Treasurers

Well we finally got our pieces back that we painted last Saturday. It was an expensive day out last week, but it was fun to do with the family....next time hopefully I'll have my coupon with me. They were ready on Wednesday, but it was a super busy week, so it wasn't until Saturday that we picked them up.

Here they are in all their glory!

Catherine's Flying Pig Bank

Abby's Heart Shaped box

Bobby's two-toned mug Grey inside and Cobalt blue...it's darker blue in real life.

My Grey Bubble Mug. The inside is grey, then the outside was painted white, then using a bubble technique with black paint created the bubbles. I painted the handle and my heart "logo" with the grey but several coats for a darker image. 

After we picked up the ceramic pieces Bobby and I went to the Antique Marketplace that we love. I came home with a few goodies.

I love the old enamel refrigerator boxes. This was the first time I saw them this small. I have a large on on the back of the toilet upstairs in our bathroom that is perfect storage. These will hold Cotton Balls and Cotton Swabs perfectly!

I love the old yard sticks, and this one is pink & black...and it even mentions a passion of mine - Purses! I want to pick up a black & white one next time I find one, these will look cute whenever I start to work on changing the family room (aka home of mis-matched furniture) into an office/craft room.

As for the billiard balls they are for my apothecary jar...It was time to take the Christmas ornaments out and insert something else....I'm a gamer so these are perfectly fitting. Next would be old dominoes or dice ;)

But here were some other lovelies that we spotted at the Antique Marketplace that I just love.

Here is a croquet set, like I've never seen before. Look at those trendy colors! The mallets were larger than the ones they make now. I really wanted this.  

Then of course the Coco-Cola cooler.....I'm seriously drooling over this one. I want it!

I love these pieces, they were really calling my name. They touch my French and my Irish roots! I love the Fleur-de-lis and the Trefoil...oh how beautiful they'd look with my collection.

I picked up the billiard balls from one of my favorite Shabby Chic corner...but I didn't take any pictures...I guess because I was giddy with finding them for only $8!!! It wasn't a complete set, but when they're stored in the apothecary jar, I knew it wouldn't matter.

So on to my other favorite dealer (which gave me a mild panic attack when his corner was empty - but he moved his spot to one large corner of the store)....Get ready to do some drooling if you love, love, love old finials, windows, gates, grates and the like!

I finally met him and got his card. He has an entire warehouse that can be viewed by appointment.

Talent Show 2012

Abby participated in the talent show again this year. This year she danced to a song with a friend to Aqua's I'm a Barbie Girl. I created Barbie Boxes from a shipment of bar stools that arrived in January for our Basement make over.

1st Grade: Roller Skated to Fergie's song Clumsy
2nd Grade: Roller Skated to Taylor Swift's song Love Story
3rd Grade: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs (from the Wolf's Point of View) skit
4th Grade: Dance Routine to Aqua's song I'm a Barbie Girl.

If you're a friend of mine on Facebook - you can see past Talent Show performances here (it will open in a new window) Be sure to click the 2nd page for even more videos.

 

At first I thought that the stage crew (a few middle school volunteers that did a great job) that brought out their props didn't align Abby's box up right, but it's only the view from the angle that I was sitting at. Abby's box really isn't set extremely far to the right - as you'll see if you watch the video.  

The girls did a great job and they had so much fun doing it. I was really proud of them. Abby's friend was a bit nervous, this was her first time up on stage but she did great!

Catherine sat in the middle & video taped the performance for me. - thank you Catherine!

Abby my awesome 4th grader!

Tuesday Morning

I found another location for Tuesday Morning. I love the finds you can find here!

Here are a few of my favorite finds from today's visit.

This lamp is only $40 and with a fresh coat of white paint then some shabby help to rough it back up...this would a classic lamp to have...much better than Pottery Barn's price tag!

Sisal rug love happening...they had the classic color and this warmer color. Can you imagine taking a stencil and white paint or even a minwax stain to it with a big bold graphic pattern?! They didn't have a price tag on this one..so I'm not sure how much this big bad boy was.

Mirror behind the shutter - awesome paint job to. Shabby love!

I like this bold mirror.

I like the iron faux gate on the faux vintage pieces of weathered wood....but for this I would want to find the real deal instead of a replica. I did love the big bold mirrors stacked behind them. Not to bad for $60 either.

Okay, you know my love for all things Paris...and this one is no different. but at $100....yeah, I could make my own door wall art by visiting the Habitat for Humanity ReStore and sticking on rusty iron fleur-de-lis pieces myself for much less....In fact we bought small doors to partition off our family room with slender doors - perhaps they'll get some kind of treatment on them.

Okay, I love this garden stake. If we do a few pieces of fruits or veggies mixed into our flower bed (the front yard is the only sunny spot we have) this may make me give hubby the green light...as it would be prettier than having a wooden stake in them middle of my flower bed.

Huge candlesticks....but you know I'd want to paint them up a bit....how about attaching a bottom plate and a cloche lid.

These huge lanterns were cool. I would like these outside in the back yard, or on the front porch for some charming light.

The bottles in the back with the basket/cage was extremely cute. I also like the chicken wire baskets. They could look really chic. I just don't have space for these babies.

I loved the over sized jacks. the bunny & frog was cute...I have an over sized skeleton key like this one..however I plan on painting it white, sanding it down a bit and hanging it up as a piece of art.

Okay, these letters were all mixed up, and sold individually but I could see the words HOPE and LOVE, so yes, I stood there, and rearranged them. The H would look cute on my desk though.

I also picked up a crown candlestick holder, that I placed on my floating shelves....here.

Color Me Mine

We each selected a piece of pottery to paint. Catherine chose a flying pig bank. Abby chose a heart shaped box with lid. Bobby chose a huge mug, I chose the flared mug.

I painted the inside Battleship grey, the outside Snowflake White, 3 coats each. I didn't plan on putting that little hear on the mug but then I had the thought "You know, all designer pieces has their logo on it....so this clearly needs my logo on it. I sign my artwork with a heart, (which I had already painted on the bottom of the piece with my initials) so I placed my logo on my mug. Then I was able to do a really cool treatment.

 

The glazing is completed.....and now we wait for 4 days for our pottery to be ready.

UPDATE: See end results here.