As featured on Houzz
I love giving old furniture a second life, and this sad, damaged shelving unit was the perfect candidate for a DIY furniture makeover. I found it for free when someone was moving and decided to transform it into a glam bar cart with a little paint, fabric, wood and creativity.
When I first got it, I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with it, so it sat in my garage for a month while I cogitated on it.
And then it came to me. I was so pleased with the BYGEL IKEA bar cart hack that I did for my dad, that I wanted a bar cart of my very own. This ugly shelving unit was going to make the perfect bar cart, I’m just not sure why it took me so long to see it.
What I Used for my Bar Cart
- Old shelving unit
- Solid wood board
- Rose gold spray paint
- Gray wood stain
- Fabric
- Mod Podge
- Caster wheels
- Decorative beads/jewelry
- Basic tools for cutting and attaching the shelves
Let the upcycle begin!
- Paint the frame. I removed all the shelves and spray painted the chrome frame a rose gold using Rustoleum Rose Gold Spray Paint, from Lowes.
- Replace the damaged top shelf. The top shelf of the shelving unit LOOKED like a really elegant routed piece of wood but in actuality was some type of molded foam core with a wood laminate over it. You can’t tell in the photo, but in many places the laminate was either chipped, cracked or peeling. So I decided to replace the top shelf with a shorter solid wood board that I stained grey using Minwax Wood Stain in Classic Grey.
- Cut & decoupage the lower shelves. The 2 lower shelves were some type of particle board covered in laminate. I cut a few inches off the ends mostly because they were damaged and couldn’t be repaired, but also so they matched the length of the new top wood shelf I installed. I purchased 1.3 yards of Keepsake Calico Cotton Fabric in Grey Texture, and decoupaged the fabric onto the bottom two newly cut shelves with mod podge.
4. Add wheels. I added some wheels to the bottom of the frame because well, for one it’s a bar CART and two, it makes it easier to move it into different rooms for wherever you want to entertain guests. I already had some extra wheels lying around, but IKEA carries inexpensive wheels if you need some.
5. Embellish the handles. For the final step, I added some jewels to the handles.
Jeweled Handles – A Happy Accident
If you look at the original shelving unit, you’ll notice the top shelf completely covers the metal framework from end to end. Once I removed the top shelf and replaced it with a shorter wood board, some metal tabs became exposed.
I had 2 choices at that point: grind them off with a disc grinder (which was going to be a lot of work) or dress them up a bit (way easier).
I decided on “way easier”. So I went through all my old jewelry supplies and found some hematite rings and pearled beads which I used to adorn the metal tabs.
What started as a problem ended up being one of my favorite details on the whole bar cart! Sometimes the best DIY ideas are happy accidents.
My Cost to Upcycle an Old Shelving Unit into a Bar Cart
Because I already had some of the supplies leftover from other projects (wood board, wheels, mod podge and jewels) I only needed to purchase two items. I purchased the rose gold spray paint for $5.88 and the fabric for $5.18, for a grand total of $11.06. I don’t know about you, but I’ll drink to that!
This project was a great reminder that you don’t need to spend a lot of money to create something completely unique. With a little creativity, an unwanted piece of furniture can become a statement piece for your home. Cheers!
Author: Nicole Bolin
Love upcycling? Check out some of our other upcycled projects!