DIY Family-Friendly Bar Cart

I may not be nuts about the game of football, but I can honestly say that I am nuts about entertaining for the games. To me, it is all about friends, family, food, and time together. I love having just the right tools on hand for entertaining and one item that I have been dying to add to my arsenal of entertaining tools is a beverage cart.

Have you ever seen the pricing on beverage carts? It is quite astounding! I love to have a cheap chic home, especially when it comes to entertaining needs, and I just can’t picture spending $500 or more on a cart that houses our drinks. I decided to wow my friends with a budget-friendly and family-friendly drink cart that would sit perfectly in my budget. You know what fits right in my budget? A tool cart.

Today we are making over a Sears Hardware Cart into a beautiful bar cart. Say what? I know! This cart retails for a mere $82.87 and has just the type of clean and modern lines I was looking for in a more expensive cart. The best part is that you can personalize it to your own taste and color scheme.

Supplies Needed:

• Sears Hardware Cart
• 2 cans Krylon Colormaster in Metallic Gold (indoor) Spray Paint
• 1 can Rust-Oleum Hammered Brown Spray Paint
• 1 Spray Paint Trigger (should be in the same aisle as the spray paint)
• Sandpaper
• Painter’s Tape (to tape off your wheels)
• Gloves

Directions:

1. Begin by removing all of the parts and lining them up on cardboard or a drop cloth for painting. You will want the trays on this piece to be upside-down since we are only spray painting the exterior of the tray. This will not only save you time spray painting, but the cart already has a nice finish on it that is easy to wipe and clean.

2. Rough up the exterior with medium-grit sandpaper. This will help our gold paint adhere to this smooth surface better.

3. Apply the trigger handle to your spray paint can. If you haven’t used one of these before it is a life-changing spray painting tool that offers even coverage and saves your poor trigger finger for long projects. Begin by shaking your can for 1-2 minutes and periodically during use. Hold the can 10″-12″ from your surface, and spray in sweeping motions from side to side with a slight overlap. Apply multiple thin coats, wait one minute between each. You can add a top coat, if you like, with a clear topcoat, but it does dull the metallic sheen from this paint. I chose to leave it without the clear coat, because I like the roughness and loveliness of the sheen of this paint. I did find that this does adhere a bit unevenly to the surface, but creates more of the hammered metal look that I was going for.

4. Remove the trigger handle and now place it on your hammered metal spray paint that we are using for the handles and wheels on our bar cart. Using the same technique, hold the can 10″-12″ from your surface, and spray in sweeping motions from side to side with a slight overlap. Allow these to dry fully and then flip to the other side to spray paint the flip-side of these.

5. Tape off your wheels as best as you can and spray paint these with the same spray paint. Allow them to dry and then flip to the other side and spray paint the flip-side. When you remove the tape, if any of the paint has gotten on the wheel, just use your sandpaper to rough up the wheel to remove the paint.

6. Assemble after cart and its parts are fully dry. Keep your spray paint handy for final touch-ups and use a piece of cardboard to block and protect areas around where you need to touch-up. Allow this to fully dry before loading it with your drinks.

Now you can fill and decorate your cart for the football season. We made this a fun family-friendly beverage cart that is filled with drinks for the whole family, straws, snacks, and adorned it with some tissue paper pinwheels.

You can also add special touches to celebrate your favorite team with pennants and game-day accessories from your local party store. We didn’t want to get booed on the Kenmore blog so we are keeping who we are rooting for a secret, but maybe the blue and gold might give you a little hint (wink, wink)!

The best part is that this cart can be used year-round and I can already see how lovely it will be for Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and the 4^th of July with its vibrant red interior. Who would have ever known that this beauty started as a humble tool cart?

We hope you enjoy this game-day idea and can’t wait to hear what you think of this DIY bar cart, perfect for your whole family!