Filing Cabinets

A question we regularly find our members asking, is how to make an office space practical and user friendly, but also attractive and homely. Especially for those creating a home office in the four walls of their house, the design aesthetic and style of the office is important to ensure the space is productive but also looks good.

Most offices have certain elements they cannot do without – with the humble filing cabinet one of those key pieces. Designed to store important files and papers in an often reliable and sturdy meta casing, filing cabinets are not often created with design and aesthetics in mind, but rather practicality and security. So how can we take the filing cabinet and turn it into something we are proud to include in our office?

Finding the right location for your filing cabinet

When dressing any room, where you place your key items of furniture can make or break the entire finish. You filing cabinet needs to be easily accessible and well-placed for everyday use, though most will also want to hide it.

One great way of ensuring that your filing cabinet does not draw the eye is to place it under a larger table or in a corner beside a large bookcase or cabinet, disguising it and helping it blend into the space around it.

Selecting the right size of filing cabinet

The filing cabinet you purchase needs to be big enough for its anticipated workload and storage needs, yet small enough that it doesn’t overpower the whole room. We suggest looking into filing cabinets which work on a single-storey drawer system but perhaps stretch a little further back, making them easier to hide beneath or next to another item of furniture, while still offering plenty of space for your files.

Dressing your filing cabinet for a premium finish

To turn your filing cabinet into something which is aesthetically pleasing rather than an eyesore, decoration and accessorising is your new best friend. From painting the outer walls of the cabinet, to covering it with photos and pick-me-up notes, and simply resting a few personal elements on the top of the cabinet, a few simple home touches will instantly remove the clinical metallic finish and replace it with something a little more welcoming to look at.

If you do choose to paint your filing cabinet, make sure you use a metal paint – or the correct paint to match the material. It is also important that any paint or decoration you add doesn’t block the lock mechanism in any way.

Buying your filing cabinet

Sourcing a reliable filing cabinet will most likely lead you towards office retailers and hardware stores, as these are the retailers who specialise in cabinets with locking mechanisms and the practical workings of the filing cabinet system. You will notice in your search that some homeware retailers have filing cabinets included in their office decoration collections, though do ensure that these are as sturdy as the office-made products before purchase, especially if you need security and a safe place to store confidential work.