Upgraded Utility Cart

My husband and I lived in a tiny house when we first got married – it was really cozy, but lacked for storage. We were on a budget so we picked up a pressed board laminate microwave cart. I can’t find any pictures of it in it’s original state. It was an American Oak color I think. When we moved, our new house had room for the microwave above the stove. I’ll have to show you sometime how we managed to use our regular microwave as an above stove mount. Anyway, I decided to repurpose the old microwave cart.

I first removed the top portion that surrounded the microwave and went above it.

I took a picture of it, though it is buried in my basement – sorry for the terrible picture! This gives you an idea of what color it was also.

I wish I could’ve found a picture, but apparently it is so old that there isn’t any existing pictures of it online!!!

I first painted the cart an off-white. It’s the same color as the hallway (the paint in the background) in my house. Recently, I added a glaze, concentrating on the edges of the doors, and added some stenciled fleur de lis with burnt umber acrylic paint. I sanded the paint after it dried to give it a slightly worn appearance.  I also found some old file folder boxes and covered them with burlap, added handles and chalkboard labels. They fit perfectly in the open shelf. Underneath I store my cake decorating magazine and books, stencils, etc. It has been really handy and it looks better after I “upgraded” it! Worth the $30 or so dollar we spent years ago!

The burlap is hot glued on the boxes, with hole poked and handles threaded through. The chalkboard labels are cut lathes with holds drilled for the knots to hold it to the box. I want to spray paint the handles black, but I’m waiting for summer to do that! Maybe an off what would be better and not detract as much from the stencil?

I had fun messing with a few vignettes.

I’m linking to the following…