The Palette Muse: Party Cart...y

When I found this cart for sale on Craigslist, it was quite sad looking. Hospital cream color, rust peeking through, neglected, unappreciated. But not for long!

It was begging for a makeover, and I was looking for a project. With a couple coats of spray paint, some cork and jute, and a lot of TLC, it was ready for its night on the town. Here's how I did it.

1. Every makeover starts with a good wash-up.

First I scraped off the parts where paint was flaking, then scrubbed everything with steel wool, then a scrubby sponge, a sander, then good old fashioned soap and water.

This was physically the hardest part of the project. (Think Karate Kid and "wax on, wax off.") But hey, at least it got me out of going to the gym that day.

Also, you CANNOT skip this part. If you don't prepare your surface well, the paint won't stick and you'll have to start all over, and then some.

2. Then the foundation.

The whole piece got three light coats of glossy black spray paint. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I like Rustoleum. When you're using gloss spray paint, keep layering on light coats until it looks uniformly glossy after it dries. This can take a while, but is worth the effort.

3. And now for a few highlights here and there.

I found cork board contact paper at Lowe's and thought that would soften the black metal nicely, but when I cut it out and looked at it on the cart, it didn't quite pop like I wanted. So I found a stencil pattern I liked, drew it on with ballpoint, then went over it with a wide tip marks-a-lot. Voila! Pattern was just what it needed.

4. And some accessorizing.

I was afraid the paint would scuff easily on the handles, so I decided that wrapping them in jute string would not only be functional, but right on trend as well.