The Art Of Improvisation: A Kitchen Cart Makeover

Back a few months ago, I started seeing a new trend on Pinterest....refurbished Cosco kitchen carts from the 1950s. I actually remember my Grandma having one of these in her basement.

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I started to think that having a cart in the kitchen might help with a little storage problem I have.....besides looking cute.

So I was keeping my eyes open for one, checking Craig's List and eBay occasionally. Then last Sunday on the way home from church, we passed by my favorite used furniture store. You know, the one where I found my coffee table. And there, out in front of the store it was....a kitchen cart. I didn't have time to go look at it that day and since the store is closed on Mondays, I had to wait until Tuesday to go back.

So I brought it home on Tuesday. Interestingly, I looked at an original Cosco advertisement online and the carts originally sold for $12.95 to $14.95. I paid a bit more than that, but much less than some of the carts I've seen on eBay.

Structurally, the cart is in good condition, however it did have some rust, especially on the top shelf. I bought it knowing that I would have to do some work on it and I would probably pain it. 

I spent some time the next day cleaning all the grime off of it and working at the rust with some steel wool. The legs actually cleaned up pretty well. While cleaning it up though I came to the realization that I wasn't going to be able to paint it until the weather warms up a bit.

So I decided to improvise. I'm very good at improvisation. No, you won't find me in a comedy club or on Whose Line Is It Anyway? But when it comes to things around the house, I'm good at making things work in spite of....whatever.

I had some parchment paper and I cut a piece to fit the top shelf, covering up the rusty parts. And I brought out the cute Vera Bradley placemats that I received for Christmas for the lower two shelves. It's looking pretty good, I think!

I would've loved to use the cart as a hot beverage station. But I really only had one place to put it in the kitchen and there was no outlet for my Kuerig machine. So I opted to make it a little breakfast center. On top I put large jars of our favorite cereals, plus a cannister of raisins. (I LOVE raisins on my cereal!)

The second shelf has a wire basket for keeping packets of oatmeal and some of my extra white dishes. And the bottom shelf took care of my storage issue....my crockpot. I use it a lot and I have been keeping it in the back of one of my lower cabinets. It really was a pain to get it out. Now I have much easier access to it.

And here's what the cart looks like in front of our chalkboard wall. I'm really happy with the way it has turned out (who knows if I will ever paint it) and I think it's a fun addition to our kitchen.

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