Factory Cart Coffee Table
1 Material
If you've been following me since the very beginning, like waaay back, these factory carts may sound vaguely familiar to you. Over the past two years, my collection of factory carts has slowly been dwindling down. The biggest challenge with refinishing these carts is the mess they make, requiring me to work outdoors, weather permitting. Actually, that's probably the second biggest challenge. Getting motivated to refinish these carts is definitely more of a battle. It requires a good week of giving myself a pep talk, telling myself I can be rewarded with a massage and wine afterwards, and maybe (just maybe) we'll have our garage back at the end of this so we can quit parking our car in the driveway.
This past weekend I made one more baby step towards reaching that goal of feeling like an adult who has an organized and functional garage. It was 90 and sunny - ideal conditions to sweat out some stress using power tools.
This past weekend I made one more baby step towards reaching that goal of feeling like an adult who has an organized and functional garage. It was 90 and sunny - ideal conditions to sweat out some stress using power tools.
When I first started refinishing these carts, they would literally take me days to complete. Since then, I have found some tricks and tips to help reduce the work time down to several hours. What remains the same: My trusty belt sander is a life saver and does the bulk of the work. I still inhale about a pound of dust with every cart I finish. What has changed: I have switched from the paint to the spray version of the Rustoleum finish for the hardware, cutting down a ton of time. That mop on my head has grown significantly larger since the pictures from the original post. (Note to self - buy a face mask and schedule a hair appointment ASAP.)
However, apart from all of that, the one constant that holds true is no two carts are alike. I have refinished carts where I keep the sides painted and the top natural. I have also refinished carts where the sides stay natural and I paint the top. In addition to the refinishing approach, each cart has its own quirks and character traits. This time around, I decided to try something a bit different and refinish a cart in all natural wood. The results...warm, clean, fresh and of course natural!
This particular cart started out with paint on both the sides and the top, so it required a good deal of sanding in order to let the natural wood show through.
But once I got there, you could see the pretty grain of the Oak wood underneath.
I protected the wood with several coats of satin finish polyurethane. This keeps the wood looking natural, but a bit more finished.
The natural wood really creates a versatile backdrop, allowing you to style the coffee table however you want.
At first I was a bit skeptical that there wouldn't be enough contrast, but once it was all sanded down, I loved the warm feel of the natural wood.
For more details and pictures visit http://www.vintagerefined.com/blog/2016/6/10/factory-cart-coffee-tables
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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2 of 44 comments
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Don't want to be like like an old school teacher type, but once lead gets into the body there is no way to ever get it out, so do be careful...... love what you are doing well done!
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Another safety tip for you is make sure you wear heavy duty rubber gloves when using any solvents, one of my ex staff members has become quite ill from the absorption of chemicals through his skin, he refused to wear them as supplied and now he is not too bright, the specialists are hopeful for him so just be warned, on a percentage basis it will always effect some worse than others....keep up your good work but do be careful......cheers.
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