Sewing Machine Cabinet Turned Tea Cart

As luck would have it, I had purchased a sewing machine cabinet at the Salvation Army thrift store a while back. I can’t remember exactly how much they were originally asking for it but it was more than I wanted to pay because I had passed it up for a couple of weeks. Eventually, my frugalness paid off because I was able to snag it for less than $8. (Ikr?) I brought it home and there it sat in my husband’s barn for about 6-8 months, patiently waiting for inspiration to strike me. (In all honesty, it was probably closer to a year, but who’s counting?) I knew that I could have just painted it and turned it into an end table or something boring like that but I knew it had so much more potential. (Like becoming a tea cart!) First thing’s first…I had to clean it. I got out my TSP and gave it a good wipe down. (Of course I had on rubber gloves and safety goggles.)

Then I started dissecting it. Lucky for me, it didn’t come with a sewing machine so all I had to do was take off the faux door/drawer on the front.

Next, I started painting. Of course, I used the poor man’s version of chalk paint (latex paint, plaster of Paris and water). Looking back, it probably would have been in my best interest to paint it in the last step. Not the first. But, hey, you live and you learn. After giving it a few coats of paint, it was time to flip it – literally – so we would have easy access to the legs.

I’m not going to lie, the next step made me a little nervous. After making the necessary measurements, it was time to chop off part of the back legs. So we did. (Not really “we”. It was Jamie. I’m not comfortable with the circular saw yet.)

Now we had to figure out how to attach the wooden wheels to it. First I had to decide if I wanted the wheels to be functional or just for looks. We opted for functional; but, if they didn’t work then they’d just be for looks. We joined the two wheels together by using a dowel rod. Then Jamie built me a contraption (for lack of a better term) to attach the “axle” of the wheels to the cart.

When you unfold the top, the space where the sewing machine was is just an empty hole. I wanted this cart to be useful so I got the dimensions of the “hole” and scoured the internet for baskets that would fit. Finally, I found one at Target. >sigh< Unfortunately, we are one of the only cities in the entire world that doesn’t have a Target. (I might be exaggerating a little.) The closest one is about 45 minutes away. Therefore, I ordered it online and had to wait four long days for it to arrive. (Good news is that it was on sale and it had ‘FREE SHIPPING’…yay!)

Once again, I flipped the cart upside down to attach the basket. First, I took off the copper handles. (I lied. Jamie took them off.) Then grabbed a package of 1/2″ EMT straps and secured it to the cart. Here’s the finished product. Well, not really. I’m still trying to figure out the handle. I’m kind of picky…I don’t want just any handle.

Besides putting a handle on the cart, I've also considered stenciling "Tea for Two" on the top and "Two for Tea" on the bottom shelf. What do you think? I apologize for my "radio silence" for the past few months. You see, I got a job. (I had to somehow fund all of my "projects.") Although it's my dream job (social media manager for a home decor franchise in the Southeast) it's taken away so much of my "recycling" time. Since my hubby's home more in the winter, I'm hoping we'll find time to make lots more.

UPDATE: Never could find a handle I liked so I made one. Finally, my finished tea-coffee-bar cart. What do you think?