Restoring Grandma's Cart
2 Materials
$30
1 Week
Easy
This cart belonged to my grandma. It's been inside, outside, rained on, snowed on, and thanks to the dogs, has been pottied on. I've been hauling it around for fifteen years with the goal of restoring it. I ignored (several times) being told to trash it. Here goes.
Looks pretty rough here. I sprayed it generously with industrial cleaner and let it sit a spell.
The 70+ years of use was no match for the cleaner. The underside was pretty rusty too.
I didn't have anything to soak these in, so I used the bathtub. In went the pieces with six gallons of vinegar, topped of with very hot water to cover. After sitting three hours I took my roll of aluminum foil to the tub, wadded up a piece and wiped. (Wiped, not scrubbed). It cleaned it down to bare metal! Some spots needed a bit of a scrub, but 97% of this wiped right off. Now this DID stain my tub. I cleaned it up with a magic eraser and a bit of Dawn.
I used mini bungee cords to hang the pieces to paint. This is the primer.
Then four coats of paint and three coats of sealant. I use dish gloves when I spray paint. Keeps the mess off me! I thought of doing a different color, but no. This pays homage to grandma, so I used original colors.
The finished product! I believe grandma would be pleased. I took my time with this, making sure each coat was dry before proceeding. It took a week, between work and home. I think it was time well spent.
Comments
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2 of 77 comments
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I have this very same cart! Thank you for this, this gives me a bit of confidence to do mine without damaging it. I rescued it from a house that was about to be demolished. I want to fix it up and use it for my crafting cart.
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My Mom kept her mixer on hers. It had an electrical outlet on it. it was also red....brings back pleasant memories.
Frequently asked questions
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I'm having a doozy of a time trying to find replacement wheels. The ones on mine are plastic and pretty chipped up.
How did you get your legs off? At the top of the legs there is not a screw, there is only something going through the bottom side. Please tell me how you got yours off.
I have a cart with the electric outlet, but it is wobbly. How do I fix that?