File Cabinet Makeover- how to make functional items fun!

I received product/compensation for this post. All opinions are 100% mine.

When I inherited my classroom from the previous teacher I also inherited 3 filing cabinets full of old copies of worksheets, lessons and miscellaneous documents. Two of these were massive four drawer cabinets taller than I am, but there was one little guy with two drawers. My desk isn’t the largest model with lots of built-in storage so I knew that I was going to need to use that smaller filing cabinet as additional storage for my lesson plans and teaching materials.  The only problem was that it was pretty old, ugly and totally beat up.  I let it sit that way in my classroom for the first couple of weeks of school and finally last week I had enough and decided it was time to fun it up.  It was perfect timing because I just received  some of the new FolkArt Stencils & Paints to get this project going.

I started off by giving the whole thing a quick coat of chalkboard spray paint one day after school.  Once that was completely dry I came back to it with my stencil supplies. This awesome sparrow stencil with intricate swirls would have been a nightmare to try to do, but luckily I had some special stencil adhesive and stencil creme paints.  I applied the adhesive to the back of my stencil and stuck it in place. This helped to make sure that as I painted over each of those delicate swirls my stencil would stay in place. The creme paints are thicker than normal paints and offer a no run formula that keeps them from seeping under the edges. I applied them using a regular paint brush and held my breath to see if the paint would stay put and not leak under the edges.

I peeled the stencil off and was SO happy to see that the paint didn’t leak at all!  I was so happy with how the top turned out that I went ahead and stenciled a couple of birds onto the front of the drawers as well. Again, NO leaking or dripping.  The only downside to this magic no mess paint was that it took a couple of days to fully dry.  So, if you are planning on using it make sure you keep your project out of harms way until the paint is fully cured.

If you like this project you might want to check out The Plaid Palette blog, sign up for their  newsletter, follow on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ or check them out on YouTube.  You may also be interest in following Stencil1 on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.