Pimp my file cabinet

Inspired by a post I came across on Pinterest on creative ways to use wallpaper in your home. It featured a picture of a file cabinet where they had covered the two drawers with wallpaper. Challenge accepted!

Our file cabinet is old as dirt. It used to by my mother's when she lived in Ottawa in 1979... so you can imagine it's traveled quite a bit and has suffered the consequences. So covering two drawers would not do...

Here's a quick tutorial on how to transform your old file cabinet into something a bit more stylish and modern.

I got some Con-Tact brand sticky paper/plastic covering thing from Wally World for about $7. They did not have a huge variety of patterns or colors. I'm sure if you shopped around you could find something to suit whatever your style needs may be. In my case, I just wanted to get rid of the eyesore at this point. Yes, those are tape marks and a huge lips magnet from the Dollar Store.

You'll need one roll and you'll have plenty to coordinate whatever else you'd like as well. If you have a three drawer file cabinet, you might have just enough or run a bit short.

First, you want to clean all the surfaces, nooks and crannies. Evaluate how/if you're going to remove any hardware and figure out how to remove the drawers in advance if you can. I left the drawers in when I was working on them because it was easiest but removed them when I did the frame. You'll need a good pair of scissors, a box cutter type tool and that's about it.

Start by lining up the contact paper to the front of your first drawer.

It should be wide and long enough to be about 1" to 1 1/2" over the edges.

Use the handy dandy grids on the back to cut a straight line.

Jack says it tastes good too!

 Peal away about 3 inches of the back paper from the top and align to your drawer face.

Tape each corner gently to secure it in place and start from the middle "petting" the con-tact paper on to reduce air bubbles. Don't worry too much about them because you can always fix them later. 

Peel away the back paper slowly and make sure not to cause any creases or folds as they will show even if you pull off the paper and reapply.

Pretty straight forward so far...?!

When it comes to the corners, simply fold them as you would when wrapping a birthday gift.

Fold in every corner and then fold back each side of extra con-tact paper.

Now, if you have the types of pulls you can remove and then reattach on top of the con-tact paper, more power to ya! If you have sucky, inset pulls like my cabinet does, the next few steps are for you.

 

Feel around with your fingers to find the "alcove" and poke and cut a line down the center leaving about one inch on both ends. Then, cut some lines from the ends of your line to the four corners so that when you fold the top and bottom flap, you end up with something looking like this:

Before you fold in the two little triangles, you'll want to snip the end of it before you fold them in because they'll likely be longer than the pull is deep. Easy-peasy...

There ya go! Drawer numero uno is completed! :)

If you're lazy like me, you'll want to use the back paper from the first drawer to measure out the con-tact paper for the second one. :)

 

 

 

High-efficiency Laze.

The only tricky part that came with the drawers was getting around the key lock.

I tried to remove it but it was impossible (read: the tools were in the garage) so I thought I would work around it. Literally. It just so happens that the key lock was exactly the same size as one of the dots on my con-tact paper. Magic? I think so. I placed the paper on the surface and found the little dot landing closest to the key lock. I carefully cut it out using my husband's military issued survival knife - but any old utility knife will do! :) Again, laze wins!

Pull the back paper a little bit passed the key hole and start applying the paper from the key hole out to make sure you're aligned properly and you won't run any creases.

To cover the frame of the cabinet, remove the drawers and start measuring your con-tact paper from the top down. Leave a bit extra length to allow you to fold it back on the bottom to get a nice finish. Press along the frame, top to bottom covering both drawer alcoves. 

Take your time pulling the back paper and wait until you are done the front before folding the sides.

When you get to the bottom, you can carefully cut the back paper leaving you a few inches to work with along the bottom. Then, tip the cabinet onto it's back allowing you to fold in the paper underneath.

Cutting the back paper will allow you more flexibility and freedom of movement when you're tipping the cabinet on it's back. Also, makes it easier to align the bottom and make sure everything is nice and straight.

Now, poke the drawer alcoves with scissors or a knife in the shape of an X going right up to the edges.

Cut the excess off the triangle leaving about 3 inches to fold in. Be careful of the inner hardware workings when you fold the con-tact paper in. I had to cut around a bit to make sure the rails would still work properly for the drawers.

And voila! You're done! :)

Here's my file cabinet back in it's natural habitat with his besties Wedding Gown Bag and Winter Jackets. :)

Wash ALL the dishes!

I hate doing the dishes. Hate it. Somehow I always end up with dirty dish water on my boob, the mushy shit at the bottom of the sink makes me gag and I just generally do not like it. I don't like the smell of dish soap. I don't like the noise of a knife scraping the bottom of the sink. I don't like the smell of the dish rag or sponges. I hate drying the pasta strainer.

Solution?

Meet Bertha!

My friend bought a house and it comes with appliances so I bought her dish washer for 75$. Ours is it's third home on the Base as it's been passed around from PMQ to PMQ but it's in top shape! Comes with extra counter space. It's kind of bulky where we have it now but I'm more than willing to put up with a bit of bulk if it means I don't have to do the dishes.

Like right now... I could be washing dishes. But I'm not. Thanks Bertha!

Lonely Baloney

Js is gone. :( The day went surprisingly well though. We got ready to head to Regina and packed a couple last minute things like toothbrush and jammies then we were on our way. We beat the rush at breakfast but it started snowing so we headed to the airport early so I could drive back to MJ before it got really bad. I was good and didn't make a scene at the airport and didn't explode when I got home either. Might be due to my delicious dinner of chips and ice cream. :)

You know the Elvis song that goes "Only the lonely..." Well, when I was little, I thought it said "Lonely Baloney" and always felt bad for it and didn't get why Baloney was so lonely when the deli counter at the store was so full.

It's ruined the song for me forever. And by "ruined" I mean "awesomeized".

Back in the land of canola and kitty cuddles!

The title pretty much resumes our first day back in the prairies after our e.p.i.c. trip to Ontario to get wedding.

I slept pretty much the whole flight here. Note : Buy neck cushion for traveling. We got home, unpacked one of the suitcases as soon as Jack would allow it. We expected him to be in a pissy mood but he's been all purrs and cuddles like it's going out of style. Poor thing had never been left on his own this long before. We're picking up Nova from the kennel tomorrow morning.

After making the most delicious club sandwiches ever, I passed out drooling on the couch and slept until 8pm. I'm still kinda fuzzy on what time it is, what I should be doing and whether I should snooze on the couch or just go straight to bed. As much as we tried to rest and relax during our last couple days back home, we didn't. It's like all the stress accumulated over the last two weeks is finally catching up with us.

I promise to post more details of the wedding, photos and everything else that's going on right now soon enough.

It's so good to be home.

Good times grooOOoow in Ontario!

Yes, we're in Ontario now. It makes the wedding seem oh-so-friggen close and then we realize that it actually is oh-so-friggen close and the panic sets in.

We both had an AMAZING day yesterday. Our fabulous friends planned our Bachelor and Bachelorette parties perfectly. Everything was epic and turned out great. I will post more pictures as more make their way to Facebook. I was pretty much kidnapped so I didn't have my camera on me. I was able to take a couple with my camera phone but there are bad, bad, fuzzy pictures I drunkenly took of random things. Right on!

I sustained only one minor injury as we stumbled through downtown Ottawa in search of every bar who'd have us. I only noticed this morning when I took a loofa to my elbow that it was scrapped and it stung like the devil's pee.

Js has been sleeping since 4:30pm, it's 6pm now. It's given me the opportunity to show my step-mother-in-law (SMIL) my gown and such and catch up on some blogging/reading. The flight over here was okay a bit long but overall good. I'm still trying to get used to the time change - that should settle over the next day.

I should probably get some rest too... this week is going to be astronomically stressfull. Ugh.

Home Stuff - Another challenge!

I like challenges (because being a military spouse isn't enough!) and I'm always trying to find ways to grow, learn and discover new things. I don't like to stand still.

I thought I would share my efforts, problems, solutions and adventures as I try to convert this house into our home.

Truth is, we currently live in Military Housing and it's the first place that we have that's "ours" as opposed to "mine and then he moved in". We've been here for a bit over a year and we haven't done much to the place to be quite honest. We were lucky to be assigned to a recently renovated MQ (Married Quarters - though they are called Housing Units now, they are still referred to as MQs or Qs) and we kinda got lazy because everything was good and functional and looked okay.

We both lived in rental apartments for quite some time before we moved in together. When you live in an apartment by yourself or with roommates, simply painting the walls is a huge task. Because you don't know how long you'll be living there for and because you have to paint everything back to the standard white or eggshell paint before you vacate, you tend to just leave it be.

That's what we've been telling ourselves over the last year and I'm sick and tired of looking at beige walls, box upon box of unpacked clutter due to lack of organizational space. Ugh.

My challenge will be to make this place a little bite more ours and to convince Js to let me. He doesn't see how it affects me that the downstairs bathroom is a total disaster and all those white walls blind me. There's also the challenge of saving a buck or two - because we don't own the place, we can't tear down a wall or anything so I have to find creative ways for people to look away from the ugly carpet. I also don't want to pay someone else to do the work and I don't want it to cost us our first born. It's just not worth spending too much money when we have so many other priorities and we'll get nothing in return.

I have a certificate in Interior Decorating that I've never used for anything else but plant my butt firmly in front of TV shows like 'Take this house and sell it' or 'Color Confidential'. I figure it's time to put it to a bit more productive use.

I'll post some "Home Stuff" updates, tips, progress reports as I face my challenge head on... Stay tuned...

Short Interruption

So Nick complained that I didn't blog enough and then when I did blog, it wasn't the right *kind* of post... so here's another (probably boring) update on how things are going on here in Casa Del My Brain.

Due to a bunch of old reasons I'm not entirely ready to discuss on here just yet, I'm off work for a short bit. Doctor's orders. Enough time for me to focus on what matters right now and to get out of this rut. I think it'll do me good.

I have never in my life been off work for so long. I've only ever had a Doctor's note for my ear infection from this winter. This will either be very interesting... or very boring.

This also means that I'll have more time to blog, think about random things and document my life away on cyberspace. Hurray! Right... right!?

Saturday Night Musings

I'm watching last year's chick flicks on W, vaccumming and doing the dishes.
I've also considered reorganizing the entrance closet but I'll save that for later I think.

Yep, I'm lame.

Js is coming back from Montreal tomorrow and it's not one moment too soon! I enjoyed my time alone and I'm sure he had a great time visiting family and friends but one week is well enough, I think. Especially with my ear infection and sporadic spinning fits, it hasn't been easy taking care of the dog and doing everything I planned to. I've been off work since Tuesday, Dr's orders, so it's been a long week of napping, spinning, olympic-watching and online-procrastinating. Pure bliss? Strangely so.

It's been a while since I've spent this much time at home. I haven't taken any vacation time for myself or been off work for health reasons for this long before. Right now I'm well enough that I can function at home but not quite sure how I'll be able to funtion at work on Monday. I sort of felt like I did before I started working ; I felt more motivated to do the things I like and I had more energy to do them that normal even though I was groggy from the medication and most times couldn't even stand straight.

I think that says a lot about how I feel towards my job right now. Drained. Every other aspect of my life that's been sucky lately has been wonderfull over the last 2 weeks. Coincidence, I think not!

What am I going to do about it?! Not much I can do right now. I need a plan.

Back on track

I'm all caught up with the world now. Well... my world at least! I was able to post some photos of my new home and our adventures on the way and connect with friends I missed. It feels strange to be able to talk to my mom in the same way I was talking to her when I was back in Ottawa, on MSN or by email but there is so much more distance between us now. It's strange but great.

I'm settling into my own little routine out here and I'm liking it. I love our new home and love spending time here, making it our own and somewhere we can both enjoy. I never thought I would feel this strongly about vacuuming.

We are almost all set up. We are getting our washer and dryer on the 28th so get ready for some epic washing action. So many things need to me washed... our slip cover for the two living room couches need a spin or two... and the curtains and that kind of thing!

I posted a ton of photos of house pre-decorations on my Flikr account... and I will post some post-decorating soon!

I think my move out of my old apartment was way over due. I think I've grown so much and changed so much over the two years that I lived there, I never really noticed until now.

I like living on the base. It has a nice, safe, community feel to it. The base reminds me of Ottawa but I'm not sure if it's because it's the only other base I know or if really, they are alike.

So this is all I've got so far, it's hard for me to get back into the writing swing of things, but I'm working on it. I have to find ways to keep occupied and I think I'm being successful at it so far!

Breathe.

Right now, I'm taking a breather from cleaning this apartment for the last time. I've got the movers coming in for an appraisal tomorrow and then there's a showing at 3pm, hopefully, I'll be bringing back my empties at that time because : A) The quantity shameful. B) I really really don't want to be here. I don't want to meet the strangers who are considering living in this place.

This place went from "my place" to "Vero's and my place" to "Js' and my place"... it's a good thing these walls only have ears... cause they'd have way too much to say. Sure, the place is kinda crummy, the plumbing sucks, it's either too hot or too cold at all times, the kitchen floor hates me and the utilities are ancient, but it's MY place. Sure, Js lives here too but it's mine in the sense that I picked it, it's mostly furnished with my stuff the way that I want it and I've been here for 2 years and some... All my memories for the last 2 years brings me back here.

I got this apartment, my very first apartment all to myself, on my birthday. It was awesome! I had cake with my parents standing in an empty kitchen with plastic cutlery. I also, a couple of days later, ate some St-Hubert take-out on the living room floor with very little lighting coming fom the closet bulb with Vero. I was so happy about my new place and now I'm sad to leave it.

When I rented this place, I sure as hell did not think I would be leaving it for a duplex in Bushell Park, Saskatchewan. I would probably leave it for a larger apartment a bit more towards the west end of the city or maybe even a small condo. I planned on living her for a couple of years and then getting something bigger, settling down and doing the normal thing. Things have changed and my plans kinda did a 180 on me... and that's perfectly fine. I wouldn't have it any other way. It just makes me realize how much life has changed over the past 2 years. How much I have changed.

Now, I know what I want from this life. I don't know where I'm going but I know I want to be there. I don't know who else will be there with me but I know Js will be.

I'd told myself that I would paint if I stayed here more than a year. That didn't happen. One year into living here, I couldn't even commit to a pair of pants in the morning. (Oh! Anna Nalick! You always play on the radio at the perfect time! I swear I named this post way before!) I never set up any curtains other than the bathroom and the kitchen. I didn't want to punch holes in the ancient plaster walls and I didn't really care. I loved my floors but I never washed them. I thought this place was quite big for the price and the layout was perfect but I complained all the time about lack of storage and space.

This was Jack's first official house with me. Sure, he lived at Marianne's for a little bit, but I only accepted to keep him because I knew I was moving out... so the adventure of Jack and me started here. I've associated my cat with "home" as much as these walls. He'll miss the wide windows and lack of closet door resistance.

This teeny little space represented my ability to provide for myself, to be independent ; it gave me a sense of freedom. I've established that and I proved to myself that I could do this. I have the confidence of being able to do anything I set my mind to. Now it's time to prove myself something else... and with the challenge that awaits, I'm sure I'll be given plenty of opportunity to do so.

G'bye little apartment! As of tomorrow, you're as much mine as the people who are coming to contemplate living here. I hope the walls keep their mouths shut.