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You are here: Home / DIY / DIY File Cabinet Desk

DIY File Cabinet Desk

November 15, 2015 DIY, Guest Rooms, One Room Challenge

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DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com*This post contains affiliate links but I love and use these products!  I would not share something with you that I didn’t honestly love!*

I’m here for another round of The Home Depot Gift Challenge!  I’m really enjoying teaming up with some of these amazing ladies and really getting my creative juices rolling!  In this challenge (if you are new here) we are to take one item from The Home Depot and create something with that item.  We are not sponsored by Home Depot; we just love their products and visit them frequently! 

This month’s challenge item was furniture legs.  I had a whole idea planned out but then I needed to make a desk for my guest room so I changed it all last minute.  I just redid my guest room for the One Room Challenge and I wanted to create an oasis for my guests as long as a work area for myself.  

Guest Room Final Reveal

My first One Room Challenge participation where I made over our guest room. I made it a multi-functional space by adding an office as well.

Not only do we choose an item from The Home Depot but we also do it as a gift for a specific person.  This month’s gift was for your mother in law.  My mother and father in law recently visited and unfortunately I was not finished with the room but I can’t wait for them to visit again to see all of the changes.  I want to be able to sit at my table and maybe do a craft with my mother in law and daughter.  A family that crafts together stays together….that’s a saying, right?! Haha If you want to see the whole room transformation you can see it here.

Onto the tutorial….here are the items that you will need to complete this project:

  1. 2 furniture legs
  2. file cabinet
  3. wrapping paper
  4. mod podge
  5. wood for desktop
  6. spray paint
  7. gorilla glue

DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com

I had an old file cabinet that needed a little TLC and I thought I could create a little crafting desk with it! The first step I did was to mod podge the wrapping decorative paper I had onto the front of the cabinet.  I removed the handles and applied a thin layer of mod podge directly to the file cabinet fronts and smoothly applied the cut to size paper to the front of the cabinets.  I let it dry for about an hour or so and any smaller wrinkles that were showing were gone!  I love mod podge!!

DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com

The next step was to spray paint the file cabinet white.  I had my husband carry it outside to the garage. We have had an unusually warm November here in Minnesota so I’m taking full advantage of spray painting while I can.  You can’t typically spray paint in weather below 50 degrees so I always spray paint when I’m able to!  I go quite a few months of no spray painting during the winter months!  I did not spray paint the top of the cabinet as I wanted to have a clean service to adhere it to the wood.  I also spray painted the original black handles gold.  

DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com

I also spray painted the legs and the piece of wood for the top of the desk white to match.  I really wanted a clean, crisp look for the desk.  The next step was to cut the legs down to size.  They were too tall so my husband stood them next to the file cabinet and drew a line across the edge of the furniture leg from the top of the file cabinet.  This way it measured perfectly with the height of the file cabinet.  DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com

He went outside and cut the legs with our circular saw.  Then we sanded down the edges of the leg and set the table up to how we liked it.  My husband then drilled large wood screws into the top of the table top through the top of the legs to secure them.  I didn’t want the screws to show so I put a layer of wood filler on top of the screws.DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com

After the wood filler was dry I sanded it and painted over it with white paint!  Now you can’t even tell there are screws there!  The final step was to do a thin coat of gorilla glue to the top of the file cabinet.  You may want to sand down the area a little to give it a rough area to adhere to.  Once you have the gorilla glue on the top (don’t make it too thick as gorilla glue can grow) lay the table on the top where you want it to stay exactly.  You can either clamp it down or just put some heavy books on top!  That’s what I did.  Once it’s all dry you can decorate your table and you are ready to go!  

DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com DIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.comDIY File Cabinet Desk - www.refashionablylate.com

How adorable is it?!  I’m super happy with how it turned out and I’m so excited to create my first craft on it!  Now head on over to these talented ladies and see what they created with furniture legs.  Every month I am just amazed by their talent and creativity!  I feel very fortunate to be a member of this group!  Thanks ladies!  Happy Sunday everyone and keep your eyes peeled for two big posts I have this week!  I’m SOOO excited about them and can’t wait to share them you all! 

 

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Guest Room Reveal – One Room Challenge Week 6 ยป
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Comments

  1. Roxanne says

    November 15, 2015 at 8:23 pm

    Beautiful Ruthie, I love it!!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 15, 2015 at 9:17 pm

      Thanks Roxanne! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  2. Karen says

    November 16, 2015 at 8:55 am

    What??? That is crazy smart!
    I never in a million years would have thought up something so cute, functional and easy!
    Great job!
    Pinning!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 16, 2015 at 11:02 am

      Thank you so much Karen!!

      Reply
  3. Tiffany says

    November 16, 2015 at 11:08 am

    Hi, Ruthie ~ This crafting desk is great! I especially like how you redid your file cabinet. That wrapping paper is perfect! Looks like you have a space all your own in which to craft. :0) Great job on this month’s challenge!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 16, 2015 at 11:18 am

      Thanks Tiffany! It does feel good to have my own space and not working on the dining room table! Hopefully I can keep it that way but how can I not when all my materials are in one place! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  4. Rose says

    November 16, 2015 at 1:55 pm

    Oh my gosh is that clever! I love it!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 16, 2015 at 4:22 pm

      Thank you Rose! I love it!

      Reply
  5. Amanda says

    November 16, 2015 at 5:48 pm

    It is seriously adorable!! I love the gold touches. Your entire room just looks fantastic, you should be so proud of it!!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 16, 2015 at 5:52 pm

      Thank you so much Amanda! I love how it turned out!

      Reply
  6. Heather @ The Deans List Blog says

    November 16, 2015 at 6:59 pm

    It looks great, Ruthie! I love how you put all of this together.

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 16, 2015 at 11:12 pm

      Thanks Heather! I love how it turned out!

      Reply
  7. Rachel says

    November 16, 2015 at 9:52 pm

    This is goregous and amazing upgrade! Love that decorative paper. Pinned!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 16, 2015 at 11:12 pm

      Thanks so much Rachel! I love how the decorative paper really added to the file cabinet!

      Reply
  8. April R @Uncookie Cutter says

    November 16, 2015 at 9:57 pm

    This is amazing Ruthie! I love the way it turned out and I need to update my husbands file cabinet. You’ve given me ideas!!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 16, 2015 at 10:57 pm

      That’s awesome!! I’d love to see what you do with it! Please make sure to share!

      Reply
  9. Erin @ The Organized Life says

    November 17, 2015 at 7:32 am

    This is SO cute! I love the wrapping paper front on the file cabinet. Pinning!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 17, 2015 at 12:25 pm

      Thanks Erin! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  10. Lindi says

    November 21, 2015 at 10:41 am

    These legs made a great addition to your desk Ruthie! The desk turned out beautifully! So sad I’m missing out on these HD Gift Challenges right now!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      November 23, 2015 at 6:47 pm

      Thanks Lindi! I love how it turned out!

      Reply
  11. Pat says

    December 17, 2015 at 1:33 pm

    Love the desk out of file cabinet how did you do the curtain glad I discovered your site a few months ago

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      December 17, 2015 at 11:45 pm

      Thank you so much Pat! What curtain are you referring to? The ones in place of closet doors?

      Reply
  12. Lori says

    March 5, 2016 at 10:05 am

    Did you mod podge the paper on top,and if so how many coats? I love the idea!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      March 6, 2016 at 10:15 pm

      Yes I did! I just did a layer of mod podge directly to the front of the drawers and then put the decorative paper on top, smoothed out the bubbles and let it dry! That was it! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  13. Capri Kalke says

    July 17, 2016 at 9:40 pm

    This is super cute! I’m thinking about building a new desk for myself because mine is breaking! I just might have to snag your idea! Thanks for sharing

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      July 17, 2016 at 10:13 pm

      That’s great!! I hope it works out for you! ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  14. Julie says

    July 26, 2016 at 5:24 am

    Was the filing cabinet the metal kind, or was it a wooden one?

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      July 27, 2016 at 11:46 am

      It was a metal filing cabinet! ๐Ÿ™‚ The paint is holding up great!

      Reply
  15. Hollimannix says

    July 29, 2016 at 8:08 am

    It looks great. What is the official name of the wrapping paper or where did u get it? I want to do something like this to my kitchen cabinet doors. I can’t seem to look the material I’ve seen used before. Any suggestions?

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      July 29, 2016 at 10:56 am

      Thank you so much! I don’t have the official name of the paper but I bought it at JoAnn Fabrics. It was called something like designer paper. Are you going to put this on with modge podge? Otherwise look into some contact paper for you cabinet doors.

      Reply
  16. Ruthie says

    February 19, 2017 at 2:47 pm

    Awe this is darling! I love the desk and Audrey โค๏ธ! I love your name that’s my name too! It’s not very often you see “Ruthie”!!! Especially with the “I.E.”

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      February 22, 2017 at 10:13 pm

      Thank you so much!! I love your name too!

      Reply
  17. Kamea says

    August 9, 2017 at 1:16 pm

    What were the measurements for the table top?

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      August 29, 2017 at 7:36 pm

      Sorry for the delayed response but the top is 36inches by 20inches ๐Ÿ™‚

      Reply
  18. Diana says

    August 31, 2017 at 6:11 pm

    What is mod podge?

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      August 31, 2017 at 6:40 pm

      Diana, it’s a decoupage medium โ€” an all-in-one glue, sealer and finish used to attach paper and fabric to various surfaces ๐Ÿ™‚ You can buy it at any craft store!

      Reply
  19. Jaclyn says

    September 23, 2017 at 11:15 am

    Love this and plan on doing it myself!! Thanks so much for the idea! What were the dimension on the wood and what type of wood did you use for the top? Thanks!!

    Reply
    • Ruthie says

      September 25, 2017 at 10:56 pm

      The top is 36 inches by 20 inches. I purchased a pre cut wood top at Lowes. It is pine wood I believe.

      Reply

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mother holding baby in the air and going for a kiss

My name is Ruthie, I was born and raised in the Midwest. ย I met the man of my dreams in Nashville, TN and decided to follow him back home to California. ย First came love, then came marriage, then came the baby in the baby carriage.ย  My husband got a new job when my daughter was 2 months old and we packed up and moved halfway across the country to Minnesota, back to my homeland.ย We now have two beautiful little girls.

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