Rusty Serving Cart Redo
8 Materials
$4
2 Days
Easy
I purchased this cart at a garage sale years ago for $5. After I got it home I realized why it was so inexpensive - one wheel was broken. But since I wanted to use it as a plant stand and it wouldn't be mobile, it ended up being a good buy anyway.
I gave it a big scrub a couple years ago to get rid of the rust that built up in this humid weather. As you can see below, it happened again. It needed more than a scrub with a SOS pad this time and I debated about trashing it. Nope, I love a challenge.
Since I had all the materials on hand to bring it back to life I went for the end zone (go Pack!) to get this cart back in high style.
I had purchased a Dremel and had used it only a little bit. Time to break it in. I had the sanding discs and grinder accessories so we went to town. It went faster to use my palm sander on the straight longer sections. There was a lot of rust, even on the wheels, as you can see below.
The rear wheel spokes were of a different material. They were discolored, not rusty. I think it is a patina on the spokes and sanding didn't affect them. I was afraid to take the cart apart, fearing broken or stuck screws, so I left the rear wheels as is.
The rest of the cart took some elbow grease, but that's free.
Of coarse after the sanding came the cleaning. A damp cloth was used for the first pass, then tack cloth. I also used alcohol on a clean rag to wipe any prints that may have still been on the metal. Above is a shot before priming and below is after. I thought I had everything needed to do this project but I did need to buy an additional can of spray primer.
After giving it two coats of clean metal primer spray it was time to return it to its original gold color with Rust-Oleum's Brilliant Gold spray paint.
It got breezy outside so I set up inside the garage. I spray painted the front wheels with the primer and then Rust-Oleum's Metallic Silver.
I used a permanent magic marker to color the rubber black.
The last step was to seal the whole cart with Rust-Oleum's Gloss Clear spray.
This rusty old cart is now looking so grand! I brought it and the plants indoors just in time as it got cold this week. And it'll be staying indoors this winter. After putting all this work into it, it will be utilized as a plant stand year round. I don't want to waste all that elbow grease!
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4 comments
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Wowee it looks brand new!
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wow how clever,it is a super idea,
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Thank you, Barbara!
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