Scavenger Chic

Desk made from old Metal File Cabinets

• By Joan
• January 21, 2016
• 4 Comments

Welcome back. If you live in the northeast, I hope you’re prepared.  Yup, we’re expecting a blizzard. We have actually had an extremely warm winter so far, so I guess we’re due. The stores were filled today with people buying the necessities… toilet paper, bread and milk. I bought marshmallows for the hot cocoa. I also stopped by the hardware store to get a fresh supply of 2×4’s.  See?  I am prepared…if I’m going to be stuck inside for a couple of days I’m going to organize my storage room.

I’m so excited to share with you the desk I made from two mismatched metal file cabinets.  If you missed the metal file cabinet transformation, it’s the post I shared with you earlier in the week and you can check that out here.

Before I get into making the desk top, I have to update you on the headboard made from old shutters.

Just a reminder, the headboard was a Christmas gift for my oldest son and his wife. Even though I had chopped the legs off for easy transporting in their SUV, it still wouldn’t fit.  They chose to take their oversized, Bernese Mountain dog home instead of the headboard.  So there it sat in my living room for a couple of weeks until we had a chance to drive down to their house for a delivery.

So, I can finally get my after pictures. It looks so much better than just sitting against the wall in my living room.

Back to the desk. On Monday, I mentioned that the 2 transformed, mismatched file cabinets were going to be used for a desk for my son’s room.

For the desktop, you’ll probably need a trip to the lumberyard to buy, one 6ft, 1×4 for the back of the desk to keep anything from falling off, one 6ft 1×24 for the desktop, one 6ft 1×2 and one 8ft 1×2 for the desk edging.

With glue and finishing nails attach the 6ft, 1×4 to the back edge of the desk (you can see how it’s attached in the photo below).

Take the longer 1×2 and miter the corners to fit around the edge of the desktop. Glue and nail into place.

The shorter 1×2 will be used for the ends.  Once again, miter the corners use glue and finishing nails to attach.

Before staining, you’ll need to sand your desk  with fine sand paper.  Make sure you get the corners and any other rough spots.  Wipe down with a lint free cloth.

Stain, the color of your choice.  This stain, a dark walnut, was painted on and rubbed off.  Just one coat gave a rich deep color.

The last step, is a varnish of your choice.  I used tung oil for a couple of coats, but the wood was so dry that it just sucked it up so I switched to a paint-on polyurethane. If you notice any bumps after you poly, take the time to buff the finish with fine steel wool followed by your lint free cloth.  It really makes a difference in the final finish.

This is what my sons entire computer area looked like before the new desk. At 17, he had long outgrown his old desk. Can you tell, I didn’t straighten up for the photo? That is years and years of miscellaneous stuff.

And this is the after.  A fresh coat of paint on the walls and a new desk, you wouldn’t know it was the same room.

I did take down the old IKEA, Billy book case, but returned a bit of shelving. You’ll have to wait until Monday for that reveal. The Billy bookcase made it’s way into the storage room where it’s helping me to begin my snowstorm organizing.

Update…Finally finished the shelves above the desk.  Check out the complete transformation here.

Shared at : The DIY Collective, Handmade Hangout Party,

Friday Furniture Fix, Funky Junk Party Junk, Silver Pennies Sundays,

Amaze me Monday, Metamorphosis Monday, Inspire me Tuesday,

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Related posts:

Pallet Wood Sawhorse Desk Salvaged from a dump! IKEA Bookshelves go Horizontal Why I Destroyed My Dump Desk