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.