Monday, November 19, 2012

A La Cart

Not sure why but I have been Jones'n (did I just say Jones'n?) for a little metal kitchen cart for a while now. I think they are cute and vintag-y. There's something that gets me all nostalgic over furniture pieces that we in our modern society don't use much anymore. 

I've had my eye out at thrift stores and junk shops for a little cart and my persistence finally paid off a few weeks ago. 

Check out this beauty!






This was yet another instance where the Hubs gave me the - "What piece of trash did you drag home this time?" look. And in his defense this cart should have been in the trash given the condition it was in- but I paid $10 for it at a vintage store. 

The lady should have paid me to take it off her hands!

Never the less I took it home and got to work bringing out the potential I knew it had.

The first task was taking off the century old faux wood contact paper that was covering the metal top. Using my hair dryer on the highest heat setting the paper came off quickly. 


I focused the heat on one small area at a time and the old glue began to loosen and I was able to peel it away. I used a combination of a plastic scraper and my fingers to get it all off.


But my task wasn't done yet. Underneath the lovely contact paper was layers and layers of paint.


For this job I started off with paint stripper and elbow grease to get most of the paint layers off. Then I took out my trusty metal brush drill bit and ground off the rest of the stubborn paint that I wasn't able to chip off.


After all the prep work was done it was painting time! I taped off some stripes in a metallic Latte color and finished off the tops with a crisp white.

And Voila! Good as new!!





I'm thinking for our next football party and definitely for Christmas I will bring it out to serve drinks on!




But in the meantime I'm using it as a makeshift end table in our formal living room.




What trash to treasure makeover's have you done recently? Do you remember having a metal cart used in your home growing up?

13 comments:

the cape on the corner said...

oh em geeeee...i am loving this! i probably would never have seen this from that. blech!

Unknown said...

wooooooooooooooooooooow!!!!

Ashley@AttemptsAtDomestication said...

It looks amazing! I never would have guessed that was even the same cart!

Athena at Minerva's Garden said...

Wow--that is some transformation! I love gold metal carts, and I also love the stripes you added to yours--so stylish. We didn't have a cart growing up, but I really wanted a vintage-looking one too, and finally found and redid it, but mine was just a quick spray paint transformation. It was lovely to hear from you over at my blog today, and I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Amanda said...

WOW! What a transformation! It looks fabulous!

Courtney said...

i so would have walked straight past that!! you worked a miracle on it...looks fab now:)

Feral Turtle said...

Gorgeous! What a wonderful job you have done!

Cassie Bustamante said...

talk about dramatic transformation!!!! WOW!

Brittney said...

Fabulous. The different-width stripes are a perfect, and I mean PERFECT, touch. Love!
-Brittney
http://smartgirlstyle.blogspot.com (come on by if you'd like! sometimes I eat cookies over there, which, come to think of it, doesn't really do you any good. rats. if only I could send them through the Internet, THEN we'd be somewhere...)

Amy of While Wearing Heels said...

NO WAY! That is an amazing and nearly unbelievable transformation. Seriously, if I hadn't seen your steps along the way, I would never have guessed they were the same table. Wow...I am impressed!

Kelly @ A Swell Place to Dwell said...

Holy smokes! That's amazing....talk about turning trash into treasure. I love the stripes....I also love that it looks like you are stripping that contact paper off in fancy shoes....gotta look good, right?

Dio Home Improvements said...

You did a fantastic job on this, it looks amazing! (found your blog via hometalk)

Carey said...

Wow, what an AMAZING transformation! You surely have a great eye for seeing the potential in a piece of "junk" :)

I just bought a cart similar to this and I'm looking for ideas on how to transform it. I would love your input!

careycreates.blogspot.com