Lessons from a DIY n00b

Before

Home ownership has allowed me to finally begin one of my new year’s resolutions: completing my first DIY project. And believe me, our empty house (and wallets) leave room for a lot more DIY.

It all started when I began to drool over this mint-colored file cabinet sold on CB2.com. Our office is just exploding with papers with nowhere to put them. It was covet at first sight. I. HAD. TO. HAVE. IT. But the price kept making me cringe. I waited patiently for CB2's marketing emails, and each time I got notice of a sale, my heart would flutter in excitement, and then get quickly let down to read the fine print: excludes office furniture. And of course they specified “office.” It was as though they were out to get me.

I went back and forth on a daily basis, adding it to my cart, taking it out of my cart, adding it back, taking it out. Finally, on week three, I couldn’t take it anymore. I was about to pull the trigger on the $153 file cabinet, until I saw that shipping was an additional $30. I would be paying nearly $200 for a cabinet that only held one drawer of files. Oh hell no.

Then, a light bulb went off, “What if I made this?”

So off to craigslist I went. A nearby family sold me a metal file cabinet for $25. It had certainly seen better days; There were scratches and pen marks, and once I got it home, I realized it smelled musty too. But the drawers worked, and the rest could be solved with a little elbow grease.

I went to Lowe’s in search of spray paint in the perfect shade of mint. When I came up empty handed, I settled for Tropical Oasis – a shade of teal bright enough to catch the eye, but earthy enough to pair with other neutral colors. I’ve also been obsessed with the D-shaped drawer pulls (in a way that only my fellow-HGTV addicts will understand) and decided to try my hand bringing them into my design too.

Back home, I sprayed down must central with windex, lightly sanded it so the paint would stick, and spent about half an hour arguing with Husband about the best place to spray paint so that it didn’t look like an amateur graffiti artist lived at our house.

After deciding the garage was the best place to land, I sprayed away. The cabinet should have only taken a few coats, but being a spray-paint n00b means that I used three cans.

But after my (four hundred?) coats were applied, I realized my paint job came out all splotchy (Actually, Husband pointed it out and I got all “I am woman hear me roar – I don’t need a man telling me how to do a construction project because I’m Rosie the Riveter” on him).

After consulting various spray paint and DIY forums from others in my situation, the conclusion was that: a) I failed to sand in between coats, b) high-gloss spray paint likes to get splotchy if you’re not patient with your strokes, and c) I was not patient with my strokes. I employed the “I freaking love teal and I’m covering the entire cabinet and the garage floor RIGHT NOW” method rather than the light, airy, gentle, butterfly-kiss strokes that should have been used (and when the can says “spray 10-12 inches away,” don’t translate that to mean 2 inches). Other tips suggested either: a) to only use brush paint for furniture (note for future projects) or b) use a matte spray paint (still using your newly-acquired butterfly-stroke skill) and seal with shellac or polyurethane to achieve the glossy look.

Sigh.

So I grabbed my sanding sponge and started the process of evening out my paint job, and being (another sigh) patient. Luckily that worked and I didn’t have to start from scratch, although for all the time it took, I may as well have.

Notes from a new pro:

1.     Do not spray paint in flip flops. You will get spray paint all over your feet and ruin your pedicure, even if you aren’t aiming near your little piggies. Make sure there are paper towels near the door so you don’t track spray paint from your bare feet onto the wood floor.

2.     Wearing a mask will eliminate Tropical-Oasis-colored boogers, which might later emerge from your nose.

3.     Spray paint in a well-ventilated area and take breaks if you start hallucinating.

Unfortunately (yes the saga continues), my new drawer pulls didn’t quite fit the pre-drilled holes from the original handles. I thought I had patience to channel my inner Tim the Toolman Taylor. I even borrowed my father-in-law’s drill set to make them fit, but after my realization that I am spray-paint challenged, my patience had worn thin and I was content just using the original hardware.

After!

The result: A $40 total investment that looks even better than the $200 version online and holds twice the files. Eat your heart out, Sabrina Soto. I’m the new host of The High Low Project!

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but one (somewhat successful) DIY project does qualify me to host an entire show on interior design. Stay tuned for future projects. Next up? More spray paint – updating the previous owner’s tacky faux-patina light fixtures (apparently they were big fans of sponge-paint). After that? A nightstand makeover and a rustic headboard from scratch (if I’m not totally sick of DIY by then).