Bar Cart-Part 5: Done!

 

Well, I'm sort of back from my blog hiatus. Life has been complicated lately. Thanks for hanging with me!

Today I want to share the results of our recent bar cart project. Notice I wrote "our" and not "my"? As I started lining the shelves, Spouse dove in and decided to assist. He has a knack for wallpapering and felt right at home with the shelf liner!

So here is the BEFORE and the AFTER. Definitely a big improvement!

The bar cart turned out very nicely, but I'm not thrilled with the end result because the pattern is far more white than I'd envisioned. Options for retro-looking shelf liner are terribly limited. I'll live with it for awhile but may change it if I can find a pattern I like better.

Even though I don't completely love the new look, I do love the fact that this cart has history. It first belonged to my grandma (Mom's mom) who used it as a serving cart for our Sunday lunches. When she passed away, my dad somehow commandeered it for his garage, and that is where I found it last summer. I love that the cart has a connection to both of my parents, and now it has a completely new life.

Okay, back to the process we used:

Applying the paper was easier than I anticipated, perhaps because Spouse and I worked together on the project. (And yes, we are still speaking!) First we traced around the shelf on the back side of the shelf liner.

Next I cut on the lines.

To apply the paper, we peeled back half of the paper liner and cut it off. That way we weren't working with a large sheet of sticky-backed paper at once. We began at one end of the tray and applied the paper carefully, using my brayer to roll out any air bubbles. Finally, we trimmed up the edges with an X-Acto blade.

Lily supervised us closely.

Here it is set up as more of a breakfast/coffee cart with dishes that belonged to my mom. I can see using it for lots of different occasions. The great thing is that it rolls around easily so it could move to different rooms depending on how it is being used.

Meanwhile we've been collecting some vintage barware pieces so that it can be set up as a Mad Men era bar cart, too. When I have everything assembled, I'll share a picture.

Now on to the second 3-shelf cart I salvaged out of my dad's shop, which is destined for my craft room!

jp