Project File Cabinet

So I got a little fed up this week and decided we needed a file cabinet NOW, pronto, immediately. But file cabinets are ridiculously expensive and I didn't want to spend $70 for something made of chipboard. I checked the Salvation Army closest to our house, but they had none, and I had no patience to wait until the next day and go to other stores, so I went to KMart across the street and found a nice particle board file cabinet for $36.99. Okay, well, not nice and still more than it was worth, even with the solid wood trim, but desperation was taking hold.


So I brought it home, assembled it incorrectly a few times (no, I don't do directions well... I'm a trial and error person, myself) and then finally got it together.

And then, even though it actually looked nicer in reality than on the box, I promptly sanded it down, because I never can leave well enough alone, and started plastering it all over with gold wrapping paper, followed by these Maxfield Parrish calendar pages I've had lying around for five years. Finally, a chance to use them!


But then I realized, uh, uh-oh, didn't check the placement of the handles on the drawings before I so blithely plastered (and varnished) everything down.


So I had to improvise, and used picture hanging wire to make my own handles.


That has its own problems. This drawer (above) is okay, but now on the top drawer (see below), it seems as if the girl on the left is chained by the neck to the lamppost on the right. But, ah, there's not much I can do for her at this point, and at least she still has a head. After all, she could have been decapitated by the stock handle.

I won't post a closeup, because, really, I don't want to traumatize anyone.

But here's the final product:


Overall, I'm pretty pleased. I think it looks darn good in reality, even with the, um, unfortunate fate of the girl on the left. If I didn't need the cabinet to be functional so quickly, I would add more trim and decoration, perhaps a little paint, but I'll take it as it is.