By Pamela Cole Harris
Budget Decorating Expert
Items that seem to always show up in garage sales are old, distressed
gray or beige file cabinets. My suggestion is to pick up a few, should
you find them. You can turn them into great storage spaces with a little
ingenuity (and a can of paint). Here some ideas to get you started:
1. For sewing room storage:
paint the cabinet a neutral color (besides gray or beige). Cover the
drawer front with fabric by cutting fabric to fit and spraying the
drawer and fabric back with spray adhesive before applying the fabric to
the drawer. Glue a few big buttons and some rickrack to the front for
extra accents. Put baskets inside the drawers and use as storage for
patterns, fabric, or notions.
2. For storage in a kitchen or storage room:
paint the cabinet with blackboard paint. Add s bright paint to the
drawer fronts and add magnetic alphabet letters. Designate one drawer
for each child for homework supplies. Younger children should get the
lower drawers (properly padded for little fingers) and older children
should have the upper ones.
This is a great way to keep homework organized, plus reminders can be written on the blackboard sides.
3. For mudroom storage:
paint the cabinet a color of your choice. Add cork to the drawer fronts
with spray adhesive. You can use the cork for reminder notes. In the
other drawers, put muddy shoes (bottom), hats and scarves, and purses or
backpacks. With this organization, everything is accessible on the way
out the door.
4. And if you absolutely must use the cabinet in an office: decoupage the cabinet with torn pieces of newspaper and use as magazine storage.
Using
your imagination and a few supplies, you can turn that ugly file
cabinet into a useful and stylish storage piece. Or, of course, you can
always use it to store files!
source: about.com
