Upcycling An Industrial Look: The Making Of Metropolis

Sometimes inspiration strikes as soon as you set eyes on a piece, at other times you flail around hoping that an idea will form as you begin the upcycling process.  In the case of this sweet French 19th century cabinet with lockable drawers, I formed a plan almost instantly; to upcycle this piece by reinventing it completely with a new vintage style midcentury modern industrial and slightly ‘shabbychic’ look.

Metropolis pre-loved Napoleonrockefeller.com

First task, filling holes with wood filler. Prepped and sanded, the cabinet was ready for the first coat of paint.

Metropolis first brushstrokes Napoleonrockefeller

Slowly but surely I carefully layered on the grey chalk paint.

Metropolis painting drawers Napoleonrockefeller.com

I wanted a relatively smooth distressed ‘shabbychic’ finish, so between each coat I sanded off any unwanted bumps and also knocked back the edges.

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Grey chalk paint layered on, next step of upcycling; painting on numbers. To contrast with the grey I chose a sexy graphite coloured chalk paint (which I’d been dying to test out for ages!).

Metropolis graphite paint Napoleonrockefeller.com

My inspiration here was a fashionably distressed vintage mid-century filing cabinet with utilitarian numbering system.

Metropolis numbers painted Napoleonrockefeller.com

So far so good…now for the piece de resistance in the upcycling process – adding aged antique style brass drawer pull handles.

 

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With a little help from my youngest, Master Rockefeller, I positioned the industrial style handles. My decision to keep the option of locking each drawer meant that I had to place the drawer pulls on either side of the numbering.

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Metropolis-detail-handles-Napoleonrockefeller

Job done, another unique hand painted vintage piece joins the Napoleon Rockefeller collection. Meet the upcycled shabby chic industrial style set of drawers that is Metropolis.

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