The Steen Style

Conner’s grandmother, Memaw as we called her, was a very special lady and after she passed in July, we were fortunate enough to receive several of her very special furniture pieces! This bar cart was one of them and is something I’ve been itching to makeover since August. I got so excited and even blogged about it but then a week passed…months passed…fast-forward six months and I finally got it finished!

This is a very pretty bar cart and fit Memaw’s style but not our own. It was the perfect height for our second living room and was a great spot for a lamp and drink. It just needed a little more pizzazz to really fit our house.

I was waiting for the perfect, warm day to fix her up and last weekend we were blessed with some incredible last weekend in January weather. Max and Carl were having a blast running around while I worked my magic on this cart.

I saw this post on Tip Junkie about how to ‘easily’ strip brass using oven cleaner. Supposedly you spray on the cleaner, scrub on the brass and magically, chrome is exposed! Yeah…not so much. I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed on one spot. What ‘magically’ appeared was green tarnish. Awesome! On to plan B…

I had primer leftover from another project so I decided the whole cart would be nice as a super high-gloss piece of furniture. I recently saw a coral high gloss bar cart in a local boutique and loved it! I didn’t think Conner would go for coral though since it is his ‘man room’ where the bar cart sits so off to Home Depot we went.

We looked through all of the colors they had to offer and Conner settled on navy gloss. Perfect! I already had 1.5 cans at home so we wouldn’t need much more. I put on the first coat and was skeptical about the color but liked the continuity between the wood tops and decorative metal pieces.

It took two coats of primer, three coats of navy and two coats of Polyurethane (the spray version is awesome!) and this is the final product. I love it!! More importantly, Conner really likes it as well. He didn’t want anything too girly and wasn’t sure about the super glossy look at first but thinks it looks great and loves it in his room – all the approval I need.

I used accessories we had around the house as well as things I have been collecting. The orange lamp was the first thing I ever spray painted from Goodwill – it was only $2! The silver tray is from a local restaurant supply store, the decanter on the right is from TJ Maxx and the decanter on the left was a Christmas present from Conner’s parents. The apothecary jar is from Hobby Lobby and is filled with the wine corks we continually collect. I usually empty a jar when it is full and do something fun with them but I like the way this looks so much, I think I’ll start another jar instead!

By using many, light coats of paint instead of just slathering a few coats on there, it built up the paint nicely and I was able to avoid all drips and runs. This was the first time I had ever used the spray polyurethane and I am very happy with the product. It was much easier to use on a piece like this with so many details and crevices – not sure I could have used a brush and coated it as well as the spray did!

I am so happy with the way this turned out! I have become a spray paint junkie but this time was my most favorite and most proud I’ve been on a spray painted object. Finding the perfect bar objects to use on here was a fun little challenge of shopping the house. Right now I’m set on the way it looks but I bet if you stop by in a month or so, this will look totally different!

I’ve collected some fun bartending books as well as party and entertaining books over the years and they work out great in this spot. The OSU silver ice bucket was a housewarming gift from a friend and we use it all of the time. Who knew we would use something like this? Obviously I didn’t or else it would have been on our wedding registry! The monogrammed beer mugs were a Valentine’s Day gift I gave to Conner when we were engaged and he uses them all of the time.

Here is one last look at the before and after of this very special bar cart. I love it! I’m thankful to Memaw for owning this and thankful for Conner’s parents for letting us have it. This was the perfect addition to our living room!

P.S. You can obviously see my photography skills are improving as I get more and more familiar with my new camera – that one of the left is dreadful! Sorry folks, thanks for still reading – hah!

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