When we moved into our condo a few months ago, I came up with several projects I wanted to complete to make our place more personal. The first thing on my list was to make a bar cart to hold all of our liqueur. I instantly started searching "Ikea bar cart hack" and saw some really nice before and afters with the Bygel utility cart.
I assembled the frame of the cart and took it to the park behind our place to spray paint it.
The "before"
I bought Krylon metallic copper spray paint for the frame because I knew it would go really well with the colors currently in our condo.
Most of the bar cart "afters" I saw online only painted the frame- usually gold. I didn't like the way the white trays looked, so I researched spray paint and found the "chalk finish" Krylon cans. In my mind I thought a nice shiny copper frame coupled with matte gray-black trays would look really sharp.
I only bought one can of metallic spray paint because I wouldn't be covering much surface area. BUT, the day I went to paint it, the wind was a lot stronger than I perceived and while this first pass looked good in the bright sun, it looked uneven when I brought it back into our place. Needless to say I had to buy one more can to finish the job.
A few weeks later on a calm warmish day, L and I took the frame and trays to the alley behind our place and finished the frame plus all of the trays.
After letting the cart dry, I had to disassemble it to put the trays on it which scratched the paint a bit. I got really frustrated at this point, but made sure the cart was fully assembled before I took it out on the balcony to touch up the areas on the frame that got scratched. I decided not to use the drawer that came with the cart and I also haven't found a use for the hooks.
Total cost: $56. Bygel Cart $29.99, Metallic Spray Paint x2: $14 total, Chalk Finish Paint: $12
The finished product!
A few nights ago I unwrapped all of our liqueur and arranged it on the cart.
Top shelf of the cart stocked with "Bar do Luiz" napkins (we snagged while in Brasil last time), our cocktail shaker kit, New Holland Beer Barrel Bourbon, Whistle Pig Rye Whiskey, La Colombe Different Drum Rum (with coffee), Jameson Gold, and Baluarte Resposado Tequila.
Second shelf with a random assortment of beer glasses and stemless wine glasses taken from the cabinets I could reach in the kitchen.
Bottom shelf stocked with more and more Mexican spirits- Tres Geraciones Resposado Tequila, Don Julio Tequila Blanco, Alipus Mezcal, El Requerdo Mezcal, Santa Pedrada Mezcal and Brasilian Cachaca from Joao Mendes.
Im really happy with how the cart came out, and also happy that we now have a dedicated place to store our booze (as opposed to random cabinets or on the countertop). I plan to get some bitters and drinking vinegars to add to the cart and will learn how to make some simple mixed drinks.
Last night while snapping photos for this post I drank some of the New Holland Beer Barrel aged bourbon- which was just as delicious as it sounds.
Cheers!
-Xaarlin