It’s fall y’all! I am So excited for this new season and although summer is my FAVORITE, I am looking forward to less humidity and cooler temps! Today I am sharing this industrial cabinet makeover. You can check out my Instagram highlight for all of the videos I took of the progress. Click here for my Instagram page and see the picture below for the highlight to look for!

Here’s a list of all the supplies and tools I used for this project:

I found this industrial metal cabinet for sale on Next Door for CHEAP! I’ve seen similar pieces on Facebook Marketplace for hundreds of dollars, but I snagged this one for less than $50. Can I get a WOOT WOOT!? This cabinet did have 2 minor issues that I didn’t notice until I got it home. Two of the handles were missing. It’s hard to see the individual handles in a sea of 30 of them! I looked for replacement parts, but none were to be found. I solicited my Dad for help with the missing handle situation. He was able to craft me some new handles out of aluminum and they looked awesome! You couldn’t even tell the new handles from the old ones.

After resolving the missing handles, I cleaned it all up with Bar Keeper’s Friend Spray. I like the spray version for this job, it was easier to work with than the powder. I used steel wool to remove stuck on paint and grime.

After painting everything, I enlisted my boyfriend to help me make a base and top for the piece. I wanted to add some wood elements to this makeover. I also wanted a base where I could attach casters to add to the industrial look. Wood working is his thing and he was happy to help! He added some 2X4s inside to help stabilize the bottom and then added some 2x4s on the bottom to give it some height and a place to attach some trim that would go around the bottom of the cabinet.

Once the base was made, I could paint it. I wanted the majority of the wood working done before painting so we could minimize scratches and any extra handling of the piece later on. I used a can of automotive primer on the piece first. The texture was a little rough after the primer dried, so I sanded it lightly with 320 grit sand paper. I wiped away the dust with a tack cloth before applying the first coat of color.

I used the Home Right Super Finish Max sprayer to apply the paint. I mixed Behr’s Latex paint in the color Nature’s Reflection with BBfrosch paint powder. The paint powder gives any latex paint chalk paint properties and ensures the paint will adhere to your surface. This particular paint sprayer does not require you to thin your paint, which is a great feature. I started by spraying all of the angles and surfaces of the handles. My recommendation is to start with spraying any of the details that have multiple sides / angles. As you are spraying all of these angles you will get over spray on all of the other flat surfaces and then you can go fill in any of the holes / unpainted area on the flat surfaces. If you start spraying the flat surfaces and then try to spray all of the angles of the detail, then you could end up with too much paint in some areas that could run / dry funny.

I ended up doing 2 coats of the latex paint. I let it dry 2 hours before the 2nd coat and I sanded in between. After the 2nd coat, I let it dry overnight and sanded it with the 320 grit paper before applying a clear coat.

I used a clear satin spray can clear coat. The normal clear coat I use for furniture is for wood products and not metal. After applying the clear coat, it dried overnight and then we added the wood top and facing for the bottom. We used some screws to go up through the metal top and into the wood along with some liquid nails to hold it in place.

After securing all of the wood pieces it was time to put a poly on the wood. I opted to not stain the wood and went for an unfinished natural look. I used the Varathene Water Based poly and put 4 coats on all of the wood surface.

Once the poly was dried, it was time to stage it and take some pretty pictures to show off the transformation! I hope you enjoyed this project!