Remove drawers & handles. Give the entire filing cabinet a quick, even sanding with fine sandpaper. Start applying your contact paper (or paint). Take your time and be sure to smooth out the air bubbles as you go.
Take intermittent breaks as the seams of the contact paper enrage and annoy you.
Dig through your stash to see if you have some knobs you can repurpose on this piece. Touch up paint where necessary.
Randomly decide you dislike the old locking mechanism and rip it off the drawer. Cover the now-ridiculous-looking hole with a random pendant from your stash.
Wow! Beautiful transformation!! Do you buy your contact paper from somewhere specific? I know I’ve never seen anything that pretty at the local stores.
That floral on the mustard just makes it so amazing! I can’t believe how patient you were with the contact paper. I’ve had so many issues in the past with bubbles that just seeing this makes me have hives.
Great job! Brilliant execution!
I’ve gotten some from thrift stores, but both of these were from Amazon.
The white one I use often for adding a little something to the back of cubbies or Ikea shelves. It has a little shimmer to it and the wood grain pattern is textured.
Here’s the yellow one:
And this is probably my all-time favorite pattern. I looooove it inside drawers. It’s such a surprising pop of color and now that the drawers are so pretty, we don’t clutter or junk them any longer (over a year strong now!).
Cover the now-ridiculous-looking hole with a random pendant from your stash. 
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Best description of contact papering ever.