Blame it on the Mad Men craze, but a vintage bar cart--tea trolley, whatever you want to call it--is not easy to find. I've been scouring eBay and local vintage stores for months looking for the right one at the right price, and I almost gave up. Almost, except I love a good deal and a challenge. (And for the record, I've only seen one episode of Mad Men ever.)
A couple weeks ago I saw the cart pictured above listed for $149 on eBay. I watched it. I waited until the last 19 minutes to bid on it (I would have waited until the final two minutes, but it was bath time for the kiddos) and I won it for $171 (plus free shipping!). I saw similar ones listed for $599, so I thought it was a pretty good deal.
On Saturday afternoon it arrived.
This is the package as it appeared on my front doorstep. The seller had warned me that the packaging wouldn't be pretty, but all the parts were there.
This is my assistant who helped assemble the cart in just over an hour. The seller had (thank goodness!) carefully labeled what goes where, so all I needed was an allen wrench and a good assistant to hold the screws.
This is my assistant showing off the final product (while taking it for a test spin around the dining room).
This is another look at the cart. I'm fundamentally against displaying empty liquor bottles; however, we had a few sitting on top of the refrigerator and I wanted to put something on it because I thought it would look even weirder sitting there empty. It happens to be a perfect fit for the corner in the dining room where I tucked it away. I can't wait to roll it out for a party, and I'm psyched to finally have a place to put my W cocktail napkins.
