A couple of weeks ago we were driving home through the streets of North London and I spotted a pile of wooden boxes by the side of a skip. I’m not sure what made us stop but we reversed back down the road and I got out to take a closer look. There was an old wooden tabletop file cabinet and a wooden crate. I’m not sure what the etiquette is regarding taking unwanted items from the roadside but as there was no-one around to ask we put both items in the car boot and went home. The crate didn’t last long as it turned out to be a modern crate made to look old but the vintage filing drawers were a real find.
We washed the unit, stripped off the old layers of varnish, sanded, and then gave the unit a new coat of varnish. We replaced the metal finger drawer pulls as one of them was damaged. Each of the drawers contains some kind of metal runner for information cards and we left these in.
The wood has a lovely mellow colour and the unit looks great and is currently being used to house our DVD collection!
Linking up with Flea Market Finds, Thrifty Treasures, Thriftaholics Weekly, Thrift Share Monday
and Transformation Thursday
12 Comments
Carolin
August 14, 2011 at 9:31 pmI love it. I wonder who owned it before you. Do you think a doctor could have stored his files in it?
jenny
August 14, 2011 at 10:39 pmI hadn’t really thought about who had previously owned it. It’s such a lovely sturdy object, whoever had it kept it in good condition.
Tammy Loves Dishes
August 14, 2011 at 11:44 pmHow cool that your dvds fit into the drawers! Love the piece!
Liz Burton
August 15, 2011 at 8:36 amWhat a great find! It’s beautiful.
Faith Hope and Charity Shopping
August 15, 2011 at 10:08 amGorgeous! I absolutely love it.
BeckyKay
August 15, 2011 at 4:54 pmOh my goodness!! What a fantastic find! I’m always on the lookout for “things with drawers”, and these are just perfect!
Madison
August 15, 2011 at 10:38 pmWow! Great find and great makeover. The wood came up beautifully. Well done, I am most envious.
Madison xxx
Molly
August 15, 2011 at 10:51 pmOh it’s lovely – what a lucky find x
Gina
August 15, 2011 at 11:35 pmWow, what a find! My husband bought one that looks just like that off ebay a few years ago for me. I think he paid around $80. There were some medical papers stuffed back in the drawer from the 1960’s. It was probably froma doctor’s office so, maybe yours was used in a doctor’s office. A fabulous find for sure! 🙂
Kat got the cream
August 16, 2011 at 5:20 pmI’m very jealous, love it!
Angie @ The Country Chic Cottage
August 18, 2011 at 10:24 pmDid you hear me gasp??? That is amazing!! On the side of the road??!?! What a find!!
ChrisTea And Cakes
August 19, 2011 at 12:45 pmWhat an amazing find and for free too, jealous! x