A Vintage Metal Cart Makeover

When I last visited Mustard Seed Studio, I made a stop to Black Rose Antiques in Hanover. I always enjoy visiting and usually find a few treasures to add to my space at Morgantown Market. I picked up this vintage metal cart on my last trip and let it sit for a bit until inspiration hit me.

I wasn't sure what color I wanted to paint it, so I took a stroll through Pinterest. These were the pictures that inspired me.

Cute, aren't they?

The last photo was the color inspiration I needed as I settled on using Eulalie's Sky from the Miss Mustard Seed's Milk Paint line.

This aqua shade is perfect for the summer and it would brighten up my rusty and rather sad looking cart. I made a video detailing the makeover process, including tips and tricks for using Tough Coat as a finish.

After the cart was painted and sealed, I took a trip to my local Habitat for Humanity store and found the most adorable china set.

What cracked me up was that I didn't go there looking for a tea set. I went with the intention to score a dresser, but it turned out to be a rather unexpected shopping trip!

The tea set matched the color of my cart perfectly! I did some research on the hallmark on the back.

I found an interesting tidbit of information on this website.

"In the late 1950s, many American potteries were creating translucent dinnerware to compete with the ever growing imports of 'fine China'. [Taylor, Smith & Taylor Company's] response was Taylorton -- another streamline coupe shape designed by Gilkes. Many pieces such as the insides of bowls and pitchers were glazed a contrasting color to go with the decals. Some of the more popular patterns on the Taylorton shape include Autumn Splendor, Rose Sachet, Happy Talk, Echo Dell, and Dianthus."

Fun reading material, right?

Staging the cart was a lot of fun. I took this shot so you could see what was happening behind the scenes.

I took the cart out onto my balcony and put a piece of leftover beadboard paneling behind it to hide the door to our utility closet. Using some double-sided tape, I adhered my linen bunting to the top so the panels wouldn't flap in the wind. I shot all of my pictures this way and cropped them during the editing process.