Updating an Old Kitchen Cart

Jody Harris
by Jody Harris
6 Materials
$15
4 Hours
Medium
My neighbor at the lake bought a new cabin and when I saw this old rusty cart, I held my breath when I asked her if she wanted it!
I was elated when she said, “Oh No!”
Pink and rusty!
I’m thinking this is from the 50’s/60’s with the pink color.
Here is a close up of the top. The bottom 2 shelves were not as rusty as this one.


It had a working plug in! I was so excited when I found this!
I dismantled it so I could sand off the rust. I paid particular attention to how things came apart so t would be easier to put back together.
I sprayed all of the metal shelves 3 times, spraying a light layer each time. I have found that it’s best to wait an hour in between spraying. If you wait longer, the layers can bubble up and your smooth finish is ruined.
To spray the legs I put a wire through the screw hole and hung them up on a dowel. I had some large cardboard pieces that I used as a spray backdrop. This made it really easy to spray the leg all at once. They were silver already so it only took 2 times to get good coverage.
This is the spray I used!
After it was all dry I put it back together, (which was really easy!)
We were using it at a table at the craft shows. We always need a place to hide our purses so I took this Velcro and some matching material and made a skirt for the bottom shelf.
I also made it with slits so we could have easy access to whatever we put in the bottom.
I added a long Ikea cabinet pull to hang Ikea bins from. The bins are on the 2nd shelf. We used this for the first time recently and it worked perfect. (I only hope my friend doesn’t want it back when she sees it!)
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  • Laurie Gregorio Laurie Gregorio on May 22, 2018

    Does anybody ever answer questions on this page?

  • Casey Casey on Sep 19, 2019

    I have this same cart! I am planning on repainting mine as well. When sanding it, did you take any special precautions? I was unsure if the paint was lead-based being that it is a vintage cart.

  • Laura Hairel Laura Hairel on Jun 29, 2021

    I have one of these carts and curious about it value

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  • Mrs. Semicolon Mrs. Semicolon on Mar 21, 2019

    I think you should ditch the curtain and find a nice basket that fits the shelf. The fabric skirt makes it look tacky, a basket will take it to a whole new level.

    • Jody Harris Jody Harris on Mar 21, 2019

      The curtain is their to hide our purses when we go to a show.

  • Susan Langlois Susan Langlois on Apr 05, 2019

    You said that when you took the cart apart you paid special attention to be able to reassemble it more easily...My hubby takes pics with his phone when we do something like this to remind him how things go back together. It can be very helpful on more complicated projects.

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