A renovated tea trolley

It's been a while since my last contribution here in the community, but I finally have a new design project to share with you. It's been a while since I got this wooden trolley from a friend and, ever since, it's been sitting here at home waiting for the day when it would receive some kind of makeover.

Despite being rustic, the trolley was in reasonably good condition, just needing some repairs with wood putty on a part of the top that was chipped. So, after doing that and waiting for it to dry, I started the paint job.

Although I always use enamel paint for wood in my projects, this time I didn't have any paint of this type at home and I had several cans of latex (wall) paint lying around that needed to be used.

I always like to use the right paint for each purpose, but as the trolley already had a very rustic look, I thought using wall paint wouldn't be a problem. And I could still do the renovation without spending anything because, at the moment, buying new paint with materials being wasted at home wasn't an option!

The main reason for painting the trolley was that I didn't like its original colors and didn't think they matched my decor. For some reason I can't use black in my decorative objects.

The painting process was as laborious as I imagined it would be and there was also a succession of mistakes and, of course, lessons learned.

As well as not using the right paint for wood - which ensures that paint applications are much easier and the finish more uniform - I also didn't sand the piece because I was too lazy.

In the end, it was very difficult to cover the blue of the trolley and even more difficult to cover the black. Another alternative would have been to cover the entire trolley in white before painting it with the final colors I chose: pink and red.

Wanting to save time cost me even more time, because after covering the black paint with red and getting it completely stained, I decided to start painting from scratch. I painted the top of the trolley white and then covered it all in red. Then the tone became much more uniform and to improve the appearance of the paint I also gave up using a brush and opted for a roller for painting wood.

With the paintwork improved, it was time to make the designs I wanted on the top of the trolley. I used chalk to make the sketches and guide me when filling them in with paint. As well as a large teapot in the center, I made some roses on the sides and a bunch of leaves.

The paints used for the drawings were the same and this turned out to be a good thing, as they are very resistant and I can sanitize the trolley with a damp cloth or even some cleaning products. This is important because I created this trolley so that it could occupy a place in the kitchen.

Making and painting the designs is always my favorite part of renovations and I had a lot of fun in the process. When everything was ready, the trolley went into the kitchen and I once again left my own design mark on my decor, which, as you already know, is all like this.

And the best part is that as the trolley has wheels, I can also take it out into the yard when I'm having friends over and use it as a side table.

Until the next project!

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