Bar Cart!

A few weeks ago, I was leaving Lewisburg & passed a roadside flea market.  Having such good luck the last time I was thrifting in Lewisburg (Vivienne Westwood shirt, woot woot!), I decided to pull over & see what this place had to offer.  I immediately spotted a brass bar cart buried alive under ceramic chotzskies.  Everyone that worked there was 300 years old.  I finally found someone who confirmed that the bar cart was for sale, then helped me clear it off.  It was "Randy's" & "Randy" was out running errands, so she had no idea how much it cost.  She asked, "Fifteen dollars?"  And I said, "Yeah, I can do that."  In my mind, I thought, 'sold!  suckers!'.  

I had no cash with which to purchase Randy's $15 bar cart & it's not like Lewisburg is a bustling metropolis, so they directed me to a far-off gas station that they were "pretty sure" had an ATM.  I was so worried that someone would come in & steal it out from under me, I asked them to put a "sold" tag on it.  They had no such tag.  Also, they thought I was insane.  So I booked it down to the gas station & back like there was going to be a sudden rush for bar carts at the flea market where clearly no one else has been for years, as denoted by the 2-inch layer of dust on everything in there.  

Long story longer, while I was at the ATM, they hauled the bar cart outside for me.  I had no idea how to get it into my car, or if it would even fit.  Also, I wasn't exactly dressed for manual labor.  I had on a tight pencil skirt & big 'ole city heels.  I rolled it down to my car & stood there staring at it.  Luckily, one of the 300 year old men who worked there came over, disassembled it & stuffed it into my car.  I handed him a five spot & went on my merry way, laughing at my good fortune all the way back to Nashville.

Bar cart, disassembled & stuffed into the back seat of my two-door Toyota.

I also bought this, obvi.  When in Rome...

Out of my car & put back together.  See all that dust!  It even had cobwebs in the corners.

My first attempt at "styling" it.  Fail.

My second attempt.  Success!

I had a West Elm gift card (thanks, Mom!), so I went to West Elm to shop for better accessories.  The Nashville West Elm has such great customer service.  Jen, who has helped me before, had me show her a picture of the bar cart, then she set up a 'stage' in the store so we could style it.  I already had all this stuff pulled, but she immediately vetoed all of it & went & pulled more stuff.  I had all this white, shiny, lacquered stuff & she said it was too much white & that I needed to add a "natural" element.  She was totes right.  Of course she was.  I put all of my stuff back & bought everything she showed me.  Well, done Jen!

Here's a close-up.  The books & the bell jar are mine, everything else came from West Elm (from smallest to largest):

Porcelain Candleholder
Shane Powers Ceramic Bud Vase
*I can't find the wooden ball/sphere online, but it was in the store, $20-ish
Textured Pure Jug Vase

Full bar cart photostream on Flickr.