Vintage Kitchen Cart Roundup

I own one of these funny little shoe repair carts and I  have used it for storage in the kitchen for the most part.   It then, made its way out to the deck, during the summer for serving dinner and finally it was banished to the garage where it has stayed for the last few months,
waiting for me to let it back in the house!
Please let me come back in...I'll be a good cart...I promise

 You can still find these little carts
at antique shows...
they are easy to clean up, easy move around and have a million uses...

because they are so simple

 These happen to be from the White Flower Farm House shop

where the incredibly talented owner Lori, had a few for sale

 This one is in Lori's kitchen and

I think she bleached this rack to brighten the wood...I love it!
But I love everything she does!

 This is an old cupboard made from recycled wood and old doors
that I used in another kitchen

 It is similar to the  look of the carts, with the bleached paneled back and the rustic shelving.

Collected white china looks great in these!
The only thing it is missing are some wheels

Heres a cool looking green one...
you can buy it here

This would be fun to use to dry flowers or herbs
in the garden shed
I saw a similar cart on eBay for $150 dollars...pick up only.... somewhere very far away
very very far...bummer

A really nice big one for sale on 1st dibs

and it seemed reasonably priced too...

what a great item for wine storage 

This is a great looking metal cart from one of my favorite stores:

Juxtaposition Home

A pair of French industrial rolling carts...these are really chunky and I love how the top flips up 

this is an old Apothecary cart...with really cute wheels!

Can't you see white china on this one...or big white towels?!

A wood and metal bindery cart....so great, but a bit pricey...found all of these all on 1st Dibs 

look at this beautiful cart filled with old vintage ironstone, 

from a great blog called Rusty Hinge

Her collected dinnerware is wonderful!

This makes me want to collect transferware...so pretty

 The photo above is from Pinterest and I could not track down where it came from...I know you're out there, talented blogger...and I love your cart!

How about the stack of old books in the wire basket!!!!
Wonderful styling going on here!!!!

 Above stylist Kelly McGuill....find her blog here.

She used this in her bathroom

 Restoration Hardware does a few too

 Ya know...as much as I think they do a good job with designing furniture, my heart always sinks a little, when they knock off something vintage,
which originally cost about $200 dollars
and then they attempt to sell their version
for $2000 dollars

but it's big and it does look nice with this table
but sometimes...

I look at the styling in their catalogs and wonder if anything
is actually NOT a knock off

is anything real and original?

do you ever think that?

Halo Styles has a few nice choices

I like the ladder shelf below and this would fit 

in a smaller area like a bathroom

but how great in the kitchen too!

the two below are from Go Home ltd...the metal one has a great top

no wheels but a really unique shape

and this green guy looks kind of interesting  

here is my little cart...

it holds quite a bit of dish ware 

I added a decorative swag this weekend...a few left over clippings and some fruit from the tangerine trees 

 are these the best little carts?

 a  little item to look for next year maybe?

sending out
 good  and happy
thoughts to all...


Kelley

Movable Kitchen Islands

Martha's kitchens are usually pretty darn amazing

So I loosely and I mean really loosely tried a few things "Martha" 

in my new kitchen

One must have item for me, was/is a movable kitchen island

I love how these work as both a gathering place, a spot to work on your laptop or an extra area for food prep

Having this island on wheels was a big factor for me because my kitchen is pretty small and I need to be able to push it out of the way when not in use or when I need extra space for more cooks in the kitchen

I looked at a bunch of premade kitchen carts and islands 

but kept coming back to the islands by the John Boos Company

John Boos is a company that specializes superior quality butcher block and hard rock maple products

Most of the islands retail for around $1000 to $1500 depending on size and options....and almost all include the option for casters or wheels

I just kept going back to Martha's grey kitchen and looking at all of the details she Incorporated and figured I might be better off having my cabinet maker make it for me to my specifications....and I wanted it to be grey

the big island to the left in the photo above 

is the movable island she calls her servery

She used lots of drawers in hers and I was able to get 4 in mine

I wanted one for knives

one for spices

one for parchment paper 

and 

one for pot holders and towels

This is another cart in Martha's kitchen which is really great...a big metal utility cart for her cooking utensils 

that she can roll around the room to her various cooking stations  

and of course a few nice

shelves

I love how she painted the wood storage trays 

the same color as the servery

She has some really nice vintage items as well...including this tea station

a vintage porcelain scrubby holder....gotta look for one of those!

and a big huge stash of bar mops...love those too!

So here is my version...quite a bit smaller but I got most of what I wanted 

out of a cart that measures 30 by 60 inches

knife storage

spice storage

pot holders

and parchment paper

we put the island on nice grey rubber wheels

I topped it with Carrera marble

and added a slatted shelf on the bottom

I think I may add another shelf because I can use the extra storage...but I wanted to keep it really simple to begin with and it's much easier to add to a item 

than to start dismantling 

These are some fun vintage silverware drawer pulls I found on Etsy...and some fork hooks for towels

so there you have it...my Martha knock off

do you think she will mind?

; 0 )