The Kitchen Cart

One of the things I discovered during my sabbatical way back in 2009 is that there is a certain peacefulness and healing that takes place in my soul when I work with my hands. And a certain chaos in me when I don't feel like somethings looks or feels the best way that it could.

Let me introduce you to the kitchen cart.

Original Cart

Tons of dings and scratches

Towel rod and grate

When we bid on the house, we asked that we be able to keep it. At the time, I didn't look too closely at it nor really mind it's appearance. It fit with the decor of the house and was sturdy and practical. I love sturdy and practical.

But as I've slowly repainted the interior of the main floor of our home, it has increasingly felt out of place. The sliding bins stopped working well and it became a dumping ground for all the papers and "stuff" that really belonged elsewhere. It's also looking decidedly banged up. I hit the point recently where any time I came near it, I cringed. It just wasn't working anymore.

As many of my projects do come at me out of the blue, one day I realized this would be an incredibly easy fix. A little paint, maybe some creative touches and rather than spending hundreds of dollars on something that might match, I could have something cute AND the distinct pleasure of having used my nail gun. That is always a win.

So, I began to take it apart. Pulled out the rickety old towels holders. Punched out the wicker side grates.

I filled in the holes left from the rods and sanded the whole thing down

Holes filled in

Whole cart sanded and ready for magic

Of course, gave it a fresh coat of paint on the bottom.

I decided that for the top, I would go for a hazy, distressed type of look. I sanded off all the old stain which left me with a soft, yellowish pine. I treated it with some wood conditioner and then put two light coats of dark grey stain on top. Then I used some gray paint and a rag and just lightly covered all that followed by two coats of poly. I LOVE the finished product. (You can see it at the end!)

Once all the paint was done, I had to fill in the missing side grates. I had a picture in my mind but wasn't actually sure what I was looking for until I ran into it in Home Depot. Aluminum sheeting. Yes. Looked around a little more until I found just the right design and with some careful measuring and cutting with Tin Snips and then some tricky arm acrobatics to get in there with the staple gun, I had new grates!

Aluminum Sheeting

Measured piece of cardboard

Tin Snips

Staple Gun

Cut and ready for the cart

Installed

I pulled out some candles I have and an old vase I had painted a few years ago, filled up one of the slots with cookbooks that have been hiding (unused) in the back of the cabinet, repurposed a basket to hold diapers and found a cute little pop of color at Target to hold my kitchen towels.

I am thrilled with the results! What used to feel like an out-of-place, somewhat functional cart now feels bright, cheerful and useful.

LOVE the top now!