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Retro Cart Re-Do

 

 

HometoCottage.com Before and After Retro Cart Re-DoThis retro cart re-do was a fun easy project, and I’m super happy with the results. I do have a couple little tricks to show you that help make this project a success. Wait til you see how different the ‘after’ looks… it really is a fun retro new life… and the perfect thing for our attic family room space loaded with interesting character and new, retro and vintage model cars.

I found this vintage metal cart on an online local garage sale site. It was $15, and the paint cost about that much too, so all in, I have around $30 for this project.

The metal woodgrain trays were in pretty rough shape… and even the chrome handles/legs were getting rusty tarnish spots on them, so I needed to prime and paint everything.

HometoCottage.com tarnished chrome

First, I grabbed a piece of steel wool,

HometoCottage.com steel wool sanding

and rubbed away the rough spots where the old paint was flaking, then lightly sanded the whole piece.

Next, I spray primed the whole piece…

Once the primer was dry, which was super quick, I unscrewed the whole cart, which was simple. It just took a pliers inside the shelf holding the little nut with one hand, and unscrewing the bolt on the outside with the other hand.

HometoCottage.com legs primed with screws in them

I then screwed all the bolts and nuts loosely back onto the frame. That way I would paint them to match the same as the legs.

HometoCottage.com primer with spray tool

Here’s the primer I used… It was a little more expensive than some choices, but since there was currently rust on the piece, I figured it’d be worth the extra couple bucks to seal that up really well.

Oh and see that dandy black handle attached to the spray can?

HometoCottage.com spray nozzle tool

That’s my #1 tip for spray painting! If you’re using a standard style spray can, (you’ll see later in this post one that isn’t standard) this little spray nozzle tool is wonderful! It works great and saves sore fingertips from holding down the spray nozzle on the spray can. I highly recommend investing in one… not much of an investment, I think they are less then $5.

Oh, and before I started spraying I first removed the caster wheels off the bottom of the cart. They just pulled out of the hollow chrome legs.

HometoCottage.com casters popped out

I set those aside for a little different painting later…

Now back to the chrome legs…

They do have shiny chrome spray paint in the store. I wasn’t sure how that would actually turn out, would it look like a cheap spray-painted chrome finish? So, instead, I opted for this hammered silver finish for the chrome legs of the retro cart re-do.

HometoCottage.com hammered silver paint

I’ve used this style of hammered paint on a couple of different projects, either this silver color or a dark bronze color. It comes out of the can in an almost spitting action and does plug up really easy. My experience is to spray everything right away, wipe the nozzle and hope that if you have to do a 2nd coat it didn’t plug up… I’ve even had it plug up as soon as I started spraying it. But, if it works right, it really does do a cool hammered paint treatment, so I guess it’s worth the risk.

Oh and as you can see, it’s not a standard spray can, so the spray paint nozzle tool wouldn’t work on this type of can.

After the legs were painted, I painted the trays for the retro cart re-do…

HometoCottage.com cart drying lawn art

bright red!

My plan for this cart was to use it in the attic for the microwave and popcorn bowls etc. to sit on. I had momentarily thought about doing a striped popcorn bag style design on the trays, but decided against that.

While the legs and trays were drying out in the grass, (I wonder what the neighbors think about me always splaying my work out in the lawn?!)

I took the caster wheels inside to do a little hand painting…

HometoCottage.com painting the wheels

(after I scrubbed and dried them thoroughly of course)

The plastic wheels on the casters are riveted together, so there was no removing them. Instead, I just carefully painted the outside of the tarnished metal parts.

After all the parts were dry, (drying took a full day) it was time to reassemble the cart.

HometoCottage.com reassemblying the cart

Here’s tip #2… When reassembling, do not tighten the bolts and nuts all the way until the very end of the assembling process. You can see in this picture how much movement is necessary to line up the holes… if the trays were super tight on the other side, it would make the lining up process very difficult. So just do a couple turns with the nuts inside with each bolt as you go, and then once all the bolts are in place, go back around and tighten up all the nuts.

HometoCottage.com retro cart and wheel after 1

In this close up, you can really see the hammered finish on the chrome legs and the flat black finish on the metal outsides of the wheels.

HometoCottage.com retro cart re-do after

The microwave fits perfectly on the top tray. Now I just need to do some fun containers for the popcorn and bowls on the other two trays.

(that is the same microwave we had in our former house in the lower level… if you missed that, or would like to revisit that renovation, click here to see former house the family room wet bar project in our former house)

 

HometoCottage.com retro cart re-do in attic

But in our house now, the family room is in the attic and this retro cart re-do really worked out great to be a very simple area to make popcorn for a quick snack while playing games or watching a movie. (but really, wouldn’t just about anything look kinda cute up against that old brick chimney?!)

I’ll share more of this fun attic space with you in future posts coming up, so stay tuned! In the mean time, if you’d like to see an amazing renovation of my son’s attic space, check this out!

 

Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by.

 

BlueHost for my self-hosted blog, their customer service is awesome!

 

This post will be linked up at the following other sites:

The Charm of Home

French Country Cottage

Too Much Time on my Hands

Design, Dining and Diapers

Must Love Home

Thrifty Chic Decor

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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I’m Liz, the author, and I’m so glad you’re here!

My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!
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Welcome to Simple Decorating Tips! I'm Liz, the author, and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to encourage you with DIY tips, techniques and tutorials so you feel empowered to join in the fun! Along with this DIY blog, I have a DIY shop, Frame and Frills!
Frame and Frills is in Wisconsin. I stock amazing DIY products! Fusion Mineral Paints, ReDesign Transfers, Decoupage, Waxes, loads of DIY Goodies, re-done Furniture and more! Even if you're not close to where the shop is in Wisconsin, good news... I ship nationwide, (USA) daily! Check out the link here and let's get your DIY on!


Disclosure Policy: According to FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that some of the content of this blog may be a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

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Sharing is great! Please feel free to share this blog with your friends, as well as on Facebook and Pinterest and Flipboard and Houzz and YouTube the more the merrier! I appreciate you stopping by. But please remember that all photos, images, text and content are owned by SimpleDecoratingTips.com. So anything you share, please be sure it always links back to my original post it came from. Please do not remove watermarks, crop or edit anything without written permission from me first.

Disclosure Policy: According to the FTC guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials and shopping links. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post. Thanks for reading along, Liz

Disclosure Policy According to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, I want you to be aware that this blog is a source of income and may occasionally incorporate endorsements or testimonials. It is important to me to disclose this to you. The content of this blog is a source of income and therefore may be used to promote products, services, or other businesses. I will only choose to promote products/services/businesses that I feel will be beneficial to my readers. Products provided to me by my advertising partners for my review are given to me free of charge with no cost to myself. This does not ensure a positive review of the product in any way. My truthful opinion will be what I state, no matter if I'm getting paid or not. Accuracy and truth are the priority for me on this blog's information, no matter if it's about a product or anything else. Not every product or service or store etc. may be mentioned in each and every post as an affiliate. While I hope to generate a small profit for my time and effort to create this blog, I hold myself to the highest standard of integrity. I appreciate my readers, and always make it my goal to deliver quality, honest material on this blog through each post.

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