Rustic Rolling Bar Cart

DIY Tutorial- Rescuing and Restoring and Reloving an old cabinet into a Rustic Rolling Bar Cart.

This antique, beat up yellow cupboard has been sitting patiently in the barn since the spring, when I scored it on my way out of Todd Farm on a sunny Sunday.

The vendor let it go for cheap because he didn’t want to load it back into his car. It was next up on my DIM(Do It Myself) list this past weekend, so I finally had to decide out what to do with it. The inside writing indicates that it was removed from an old hardware store in Haverhill,

so my first instinct was to return it to its former nuts and bolts glory. But it really is too awesome to be hidden away in a workshop or storeroom, so now it’s a rolling bar cart! Better to be holding Jack Daniels than jackhammers, am I right?

Here is the How-I-Did-It:
1. Washed the whole thing down-inside and out-with disinfectant cleaner-who knows where this thing was before I acquired it?!

2. It was a bit wobbly and was missing the top, so I cut up some old pieces of scrap and glued and nailed it all back together so it’s nice and solid.

3. No painting necessary, pretty awesome the way it is with all of the old chipped and splattered paint. But I did matte poly the inside to seal up any odors or dust.

This thing is very old and rustic, so I wanted to make sure it stayed clean inside for storage purposes.
4. Added wheels to the bottom, so it can be easily moved-have bar, will party!

5. The new top was salvaged from an aged piece of wood-a yard sale find.

Washed it, sanded it, stained it and then waxed it to keep the old weathered appearance.
6. Attached the top to the base with some “L” brackets.

You simply flip the top over, attach one half of the L to that, then place it onto the cupboard and screw it into place, for a nice secure surface.
7. The hardware we had in some bins in the barn. Who knows where this stuff comes from?! But whenever I seem to be looking for something specific, it magically appears. In this case, a towel hook for one side…

and a bottle opener holder for the other.

8. The front panel needed some sort of embellishment, and I found this old rusted window lock. Perfect!

9. Here is the finished cupboard filled with bar stuff. Pretty cool, huh?

I’m really happy with the final results. Looks great in my country styled kitchen!  Stayed tuned for more exciting junque transformations. In the meantime, its Monday, so make it a marvelous, magnificent, magical one. Susan