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.