DIY: Up-cycled Filing Cabinet

I found this busted up beauty last weekend at a yard sale,

and I knew she was going to be the perfect addition to my new office.

All she needed was a fork lift to get her home, 

because she ways a metric shit ton,

some TLC and elbow grease.

See that $10 price tag?

I talked them down to $5 and convinced them to load it into 

my car for me.

The frist step to bringing this cabinet back to life was to remove all of the hardware.

I knew that it was missing pieces and that I was going to have to 

replace all of the handles.

Once every thing was taken apart,

I got super sweaty and dirty giving this giant hunk of 

metal a really good sanding.

Using a medium to coarse grit paper. 

I used circular motions

(think Karate Kid)

and really concentrated my attention

to the areas that were rusty.

After sanding, I used a wet rag to remove all of the dust.

It took a few good wipe downs to really make sure that I got it all,

and the last cleaning I used mineral spirits and a dry rag.

Once all the surfaces were thuroughly cleaned,

I used a spray paint primer to cover the entire cabinet.

I also salvaged the label holders off the front of the drawers and sprayed them flat black.

The original cabinet had spindles that ran inside each drawer, but one was missing.

I opted to just fill the hole with a screw, hex nut, and acorn nut for decorative purposes. 

Lastly I sprayed the cabinet this beautiful and cheery

Marigold color and started calling it my happy cabinet.

After the paint had a full 24 hours to dry,

I put on all the hardware and labels.

This was such an easy project that really brought a dead piece of furniture 

right back to life, and provided so much storage and sunshine in my office.

Random Acts of Gratitude

I have been talking about this project for some time now.  Trying to get feed back from those near and dear to me.  Sometimes I think that there is a fine line between creativity and insanity.  So I must pause to thanks those that talk me off the crazy person ledge sometimes and give me the feed back I need to be creative and inspirational.

Over the past few months I have come to notice just how inconsiderate people can be sometimes.  I gets my blood boiling thinking about how little regard people really have for one and other these days.  I think about my great grandmother who would talk to anyone.  In line and the store she would strike up conversations, she made friends with waitresses at restaurants, and she would often remind passers by to smile.  These days I am seeing the beauty of interaction with strangers in a whole new light.  Through my child, the chatter box.  This kid.  My boy says "Hello!" to everyone he passes.  Almost completely without exception.  He's a good kid.  A kind hearted boy.  He's silly too.  

All of these things combined with his love of putting stickers in creative places made me think of an idea.  He and I would create little "Acts of Gratitude".  Notes, do dads, found objects with a message, simple notes.  Then like ninja's we would randomly place them where every we went.

Today we launched our first two.  

The first one we left tucked on a shelf at Wal-Mart.

The epicenter of where people need to be reminded of how to treat each other.

This little wedge of rubber lemon reads:

"Hey You! Pick Me!

Put a Smile on your face, and pass it on!"

The second one we left on the window sill at Howley's.

It seemed like the perfect little spot, 

camouflaged among all the magazines and fliers.

It reads:

"A gift for you! yes...you!

Life is too sweet to let the sour stuff get in the way."

I have left the Turquoise Violets 

web address on the back to see if anyone responds.

I really think that it would amazing 

(and restore a little of my hope for humanity)

if someone contacted the blog saying that they found one of these

Random Acts of Gratitude.

Be on the look out!

Be Grateful

& 

Inspire