I’d be willing to bet that at one point or another everyone has had or has seen one of these metal carts.
They were huge back in the day and in my opinion they are still huge.
Or at least they can be.
With a little work of course.
So when my mother-in-law gave me this cart, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.
But as you can see it needed work.
A lot of work.
It had years and years and years of dirt, grime, grease and rust all over it.
But did this girl care?
Nope. Not at all.
I just put on my big girl gloves and dealt with it.
I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed some more.
Then I sanded and sanded and sanded some more.
It looked much better already.
Next, I disassembled the cart so it would be easier to paint.
I gave the shelves two coats of my go to white chalk paint.
Primed the “legs”.
Spray painted the “legs” with Rustoleum Metallic Oil Rubbed Bronze.
After I let it completely dry, I decided to put a graphic on the top shelf.
I found one I liked over at The Graphics Fairy.
Printed it out to the size I needed and used the chalk method to transfer the graphic.
You can learn how to do the chalk transfer method here.
Ohhhh it was looking so good.
I love this graphic. I want to put it on everything!
I put my cart back together and only sanded it slightly giving it a rougher look.
You can see where I roughed it up a bit.
I put the graphic down low so when I put “stuff” on the shelf it wouldn’t be covered up.
Here’s a closer look at the graphic after I sanded over it a bit.
You can tell up close that I do NOT have a steady hand.
Whatever though. I think it still looks pretty darn good.
So now I needed to decide where I was putting my vintage beauty.
Oh I know.
Do you see this?
Now?
Do you see it?
It’s a chair.
Beside my fireplace.
No. Just no.
There now.
That’s better.
I just threw some junk on the shelves to take some pictures.
I’ll probably change it at least 4 or 5 times before I’m happy.
But whatever.
I did find this old saw blade that used to be a clock.
I didn’t want to sit it directly on the shelf so I sat it on an old cutting board.
And this thing on the bottom shelf…
well…
I don’t even know what it is.
It’s different, unique and full of rust.
I think it’s some sort of heating lamp or something.
I’m pleased with how my vintage metal cart turned out.
These things are selling for over $150.00 on ebay.
What!
And mine was FREE!
Happy girl right here!
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I love this cart. How come I can’t find treasures like this?! Pinning and sharing! Thanks for linking this up to Totally Terrific Tuesday last week. I can’t wait to see what you have this week! Party goes live tonight at 9pm CST!
Sharon
herorganizedchaos.com
I love this! Now… to get my hands on a cart! Thanks for the inspiration!
Oh, I adore it! It is so adorable, the graphic really makes it! I have one of these I painted a year ago…it goes outside and inside, so it even gets wet…which the chalk paint takes…I was thinking of repainting this year (its duck egg blue right now) so you have given me an idea. How does one do the graphic?? Love this idea!
Nancy
wildoakdesigns.bogspot.com
Thanks so much for such a sweet comment. The chalk method is very easy to transfer graphics. I explain it in detail http://cookiescraftsandchaos.com/2015/01/20/vintage-sewing-box-turned-firewood-crate/
What a difference! You really transformed the cart into such a beautiful piece.
So pretty! Great job<3
Love how it turned out. What an improvement. I have one that needs some attention. You have given me ideas.
Bev