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DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover: Banish the Orange Oak!

DIY Home Decor & Crafts

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Hey there!  Hope you all are staying sane and safe during this quarantine.  Hubs and I have been busy working our regular day jobs, although like many of you, from home.  In the evenings and weekends, we have kept ourselves sane and happy by working our way down our never-ending list of home projects.  If you saw my last post, you’ll know we just finished a renovation of our home office.  As part of that renovation,  I wanted to make sure that all the furniture we planned on putting back in the room after the remodel fit the style of the room.  We have an orange-ish oak file cabinet that we purchased about 18 years ago back when orangey-oak was the popular “look”.  Now that we are going for a more farmhouse/rustic look, I decided to complete a DIY oak file cabinet makeover to ensure the file cabinet matched the new style of the room.

Please note:  this post contains affiliate links.  I will receive a small commission from purchased made through these links which helps to cover the costs of maintaining this site.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover
DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

 

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover Tools & Supplies:

  • 1 – 2×4 board @ 6′
  • Black Spray paint – satin finish
  • Heirloom Traditions paint – Cashmere
  • Heirloom Traditions Antiquing Gel – Weathered Wood
  • 4″ paint roller
  • 4″ foam paint rollers
  • Sponge applicator
  • Chalk paint brush
  • 2″ Casters (4)  

 

Instructions:

To begin the DIY oak file cabinet makeover, I first lightly sanded the sides, top, front and back of the file cabinet just to remove any oils or dirt on the surface (since this thing is like 18 years old!).  

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

 

I then removed all the drawers from the cabinet and wiped it down with a damp rag to remove any dust from sanding.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

 

I removed all the gold hardware from the front of the drawers and set it aside for now.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

I then put the first coat of the Heirloom Traditions paint in Cashmere color (white) onto the file cabinet base using a 4″ foam roller.  My daughter wanted to help out with this step!

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

Once all sides of the file cabinet base were coated with the first layer of paint.  I let it sit for about half an hour to dry before applying the next coat.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

 

After about 30 minutes,  the first coat was pretty dry.  I then used the foam roller to apply a second coat of paint.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

While the second coat of paint was drying,  I used the Rustoleum Black spray paint in satin finish to paint the drawer hardware.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

Next, after the second coat of paint was dry to the touch,  I applied the third coat of paint.  This time, instead of using the roller, I used the chalk paint brush, which is a thick, round brush.  To apply the paint with the chalk paint brush, you don’t paint in strokes like with a standard paint brush.  Instead,  you use a technique called “stippling”, where you dip the ends of the brush in paint, and blot it onto the surface in quick motions.  The Heirloom Traditions paint is self-leveling,  so the stippling technique leaves the surface looking like the paint had been sprayed on with a spray gun, but at it dries, it levels out and creates a smooth, brush stroke free surface.  Here is a pic of the stippling technique as I was applying it to the drawer fronts on their third coat of paint:

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

Once the file cabinet base and the drawer fronts had the third coat of paint applied and had completely dried, I added the Heirloom Traditions Antiquing Gel in Weathered Wood finish.  To apply the gel,  I used my smaller chalk paint brush and applied the gel in several sections on each side of the cabinet (although work on completing one side as a time, as the gel dries it becomes more difficult to even and thin out, as I found out the hard way…).  Once I had applied the gel in several locations,  I put a small amount of water on the applicator sponge (so it is lightly damp) and began rubbing in the antiquing gel into the paint, wiping up and down in the direction of the wood grain.  I kept wiping the gel into the paint, rinsing out the applicator sponge if it got to dry, and then wiping in the gel some more until I got the color and pattern that I wanted.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

I repeated this process on all sides of the cabinet base and on all drawer fronts until I got the weathered look just how I wanted it (I like the greyish weathered wood look to be fairly light, so I continued wiping in the gel until I achieved very light grey streaks in the white paint).  Here’s a picture of one of the drawer fronts after I had finished applying the antiquing gel and wiping it down until I had just a very light grey weathered affect and attached the newly painted black hardware to the front.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

 

Because this file cabinet will be in our office on our new Pergo flooring, I wanted to add casters to the bottom to make it easy to move if needed.  To do this, I had to add some support boards to the bottom of the file cabinet to create a space to attach the casters to.

First,  I placed the file cabinet base on its back. I then measured the internal distance of the file cabinet from side to side at the front and the back. I cut two 2×4 boards to the length of the internal side-to-side distance of the bottom of the file cabinet.  I then drilled two 3/4″ pocket holes into each end of one side of each of the two boards.  I then used 1 1/4″ pocket hole screws to attach one board from side-to-side under the front of the file cabinet base, and the other board across the back.  I then added 2″ locking casters to each end of the 2×4 board.

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

 

Once all four casters were installed, I stood the file cabinet up, inserted the four drawers back onto the drawer rails, and rolled the cabinet into place in our newly remodeled office!

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

DIY Oak File Cabinet Makeover

This is a simple and quick weekend project that can change the whole look of your orange oak furniture!  If you have some of those orangey-oak pieces around your house, whether its a file cabinet, a TV stand, bookshelf, or your kitchen cabinets.  Don’t be afraid to update the look with a little paint and time!  And it is MUCH cheaper than having to go out and buy new furniture to get an updated or more modern look, just DIY it instead!

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May 18, 2020 · Leave a Comment

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About Christine

Christine

Christine

Pinspired to DIY
Hi! I'm Christine, a full-time working wife and mom who loves to create, craft, and build! I love woodworking, DIY home improvement and DIY home decor and sharing all my projects here on my blog! Make sure to sign up for the newsletter to be notified of new projects posted on the blog!

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Front porch renovation in progress!  New door - check! New windows- check!  Now need to add trim and siding... need more days in each weekend!  More to come... #homeremodeling #frontporch #diyprojects #diyrenovation #diyremodel #renovationproject #moretocome #pinspiredtodiy #entryway #entrywayrenovation

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Dec 26

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Merry Christmas!

pinspiredtodiy

View

Aug 16

Open
Another quarantine home project complete!  Since we had to cancel our planned trip to celebrate my daughter’s birthday and Spring Break,  we did a complete makeover of her bedroom instead.  See the before and after! #diyhomeimprovement #oneroomchallenge #tweengirlsroom #diyremodel #roommakeover #girlsroomdecor #tealroom #pinspiredtodiy

pinspiredtodiy

View

Jun 2

Open
Have a standing desk with no drawers?  Use an old executive desk to create rolling drawer units that fit underneath your drawer-less standing desk!  #standingdesk #diyoffice #upcycledfurniture #furnituremakeover #deskmakeover #diyfurnituremakeover  #pinspiredtodiy

pinspiredtodiy

View

May 5

Open
Working at home due to Covid-19? Might as well make your workspace as enjoyable as possible!  Our home office was quite drab so we decided to renovate it into a beautiful place to work!  Check it out! #remodel #remodeling #homeoffice #homeofficedesign #officeupdate #homeimprovement #homeimprovements #beforeandafterhomeedition

pinspiredtodiy

View

Jan 4

Open
Took a break from blogging for a short while, but I’m back up and running!  Soon to be posted on the blog: I purchased this computer armoire on Craigslist for $60 and transformed it into the perfect craft cabinet for my Cricut!  Love that I have my own little space to work that I can then hide away when not in use!  Blends in perfectly with my other furniture!  #cricutstorage #craftcabinet #upcycledfurniture #heirloomtraditionspaint #nocraftroom #craftorganization #craftdesk #furnituremakeover #furnitureflip #pinspiredtodiy

pinspiredtodiy

View

Sep 7

Open
Finally got my August #athomediychallenges project posted on the blog! This challenge was to build something using mostly 2x4s and challenge accomplished.  I built a DIY Planter Box Bench Seat for the backyard.  You can download the free plans over on the blog now!  #woodworking #diyfurniture #outdoorbench #outdoorplanter #girlbuilt #outdoorfurniture #pinspiredtodiy

pinspiredtodiy

View

Aug 31

Open
Built these Pottery Barn inspired end tables last month for the July #athomediychallenge The goal was to build something cheaper than you can buy it. Challenge accomplished!  You can find the free plans for these over on the website now.  #woodworking #wood #build #girlbuilt #diy #diyfurniture #freewoodworkingplans #pinspiredtodiy #potterybarninspired

pinspiredtodiy

View

Jul 25

Open
My latest project posted on the blog.  I used a mix of my two favorite hobbies to create these personalized large wall signs for my entryway: woodworking and Cricut-ing (ok, I know Cricut-ing isn’t a real word but hey, it works! 😂) Made these for the July At Home DIY challenge.  Check out this tutorial and all the other great projects created by the challenge participants over on the blog!  #athomediychallenges #woodworking #cricutcraft #cricutproject #diywalldecor #diywallart #cricutvinylprojects

pinspiredtodiy

View

May 16

Open
The #athomediychallenges post for May is live on the blog!  This month we had to tackle an eyesore in our yard and make it beautiful.  I chose to tackle one of the area around my pool, pulling a LOT of weeds and adding brick garden borders/planter boxes. Still not completely done, but still a huge improvement! #diyhomeprojects #diyhomeimprovement #diylandscaping #planterbox #gardenborder

pinspiredtodiy

View

May 11

Open
On a Cricut roll!  Several flowers complete, several more to go! #cricut #cricutflowers #mothersdaygifts #craftingideas #springcolors

pinspiredtodiy

View

Apr 25

Open
@abba_patio provided me with this awesome 10x13 fully enclosed gazebo in exchange for my honest review.  Check out my review of this shade canopy, including pros and cons of this gazebo, over on my website now! #abbapatio #abbapatiocanopy #productreviewer #gazebo #shadestructure
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