“Today your Charlotte fortune cookie is: “Trust your gut,” and this ombré file cabinet is my proof. This started as a standard beige metal blech. Do I like purple? Not much. Do I have a need for 30 little drawers? Not particularly. But I had this little glimmer of an idea and… I tried it. Five years later it’s still a favorite and I’m so glad I just went for it. It’s easy to let our logical brain rule the roost but lots of times our instincts for things like design, kids and self- care are spot on! Trust yourself folks.”

This weeks feature is from Charlotte, who is a designer and blogger, check out her blog here. Charlotte loves coming up with simple ideas and techniques to create spaces that fool you into thinking they’re more complicated and complex. She believes that design and DIY don’t need to be complicated to be effective.

One day she took a leap and decided she wanted to transform a craigslist METAL file cabinet into something cool and interesting.  The cabinet was ordered from craigslist and when she received the cabinet it was a solid grey color. She considered painting this cabinet in many different ways ut decided Chalk Paint by Annie Sloan was the way to go!  We agree!

She chose Annie Sloan’s Emile, Henrietta, and Old White Chalk Paint to create the ombre look she was going for. The file cabinet had 10 rows so she figured that there would be two rows of each color. She used straight Emile and the straight Henrietta for 2 colors in the gradient.  Next,  mixed them equal parts for another shade.  And lastly played around with the Old White to get two more tones that fit the ombre.  She built a cool wood base and then wa…la… a super cool vintage filing cabinet!

Before Photos:

After Photos:

What DIY projects have you been working on lately? We are dying to see what you have come up with! Don’t forget to tag us in your designs on Instagram using #SPPaintPro for a chance to win new DIY products each month and be featured on our social media + blog.

Send us your Before + After DIY projects at stylishpatinashop.com

And in the meantime, head over to our blog page and check out some of our transformations! Then grab your supplies in-store or on stylishpatinashop.com

Keep watch on our blog to stay updated with our featured paint lines and which paint products are perfect for you!

Come see us at the shop in Falls Church!!

410 S Maple Ave #114

Falls Church, VA, 22046

703.663.8428