Saturday, November 3, 2012

another bar cart.

After reading this post about my bar cart rast hack, and when you read the post you are about to read on yet another bar cart up-do, you might think that I have a bar cart obsession. You would be right.

During a gals' weekend getaway to a fabuloso antique extravaganza, I stumbled across this little beauty.

Stunning, isn't it?

Oh so much potential! I knew I wanted to spray paint my cart some shade of green, and I went to the store thinking I would get a pistachio color, but then I found this:

Who knew that "Gloss Key Lime" could be so wonderful?! At first, I thought it would be too tweeny, but after a test spray, I knew it would be perfectly chartreuse, just like accent colors in our painting in the living room:

Before we dive in, here let's review what you're going to need if you want to do a similar up-do on a metal cart. You will want a wire brush to smooth out large imperfections in any present rust, steel wool to create a nice, even finish, and then the spray paint of your choice (I always use Rustoleum).

Since the cart was completely covered in rust, I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get all of the rust off, but I did want to get the big, bumpy areas smoothed down. I started by scraping the entire cart with the wire brush, paying close attention to severely rusted areas.

I then used the steel wool to go over the entire cart again, really working to smooth out any imperfections. Once the cart was relatively smoothed down, I wiped down the entire cart with a damp cloth to pick up any "rust dust" (technical term).

Now, it was time to spray! I started off with a very thin, even first coat:

After allowing the paint to dry, I applied three more thin, even coats to create a wonderfully smooth, shiny finish!

After allowing the cart to cure for a good 24 hours, it was time to load that baby up!


I placed it in the corner of our dining room to give that room a little splash of color and I absolutely love the funky chartreuse with the gray-blue chairs and gray curtains!


Lucky for me, obsessions with bar carts aren't a crime.

2 comments:

  1. Eryn, I'm seriously in awe of your incredibly creative ideas in your new home & classroom...speaking of, did you make your dining room curtains? I've been eyeing striped curtains lately & LOVE these. :)

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  2. Hi Bethany! I did make the curtains and it was so easy!! You definitely should try it! I wrote about them here: http://elementaryorganization.blogspot.com/2012/07/making-stripey-striped-curtains.html

    Thank you so much for your note!

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