Accio Drinks!
I'm a Potterhead for sure. No doubt about it. Luckily enough, my family is too. So when I made my little sister a fantastic gift, it got the reception I was hoping for.
My sister just moved into her first apartment. She found an adorable fourplex near downtown St. Louis that met one of her biggest requirements... a brick wall, 4 brick walls in fact. So naturally I decided to make some art for her brick walled apartment. After brainstorming one afternoon the idea hit me, a trolley cart that looked as if it were on it's way to Platform 9 3/4. In my mind a perfect use of a brick wall. But how to make it a piece of furniture that would be useful, not just some bookcase. Bam! Lightning struck again, a BAR CART. Thus the sketches began.
I decided right away that i was going to use metal and wood and go for a steampunk type look. It would match her decor perfectly since she is on a pallet wood kick. I bought the conduit fittings and pipe at Lowe's and had them cut and thread them to my desired lengths, I bought the wheels from Home Depot. Most of the wood we had left over from various house projects. Amazon was the place to find the wine glass holders and the copper wire lights. Finally a trip to Hobby Lobby supplied the buckles, nail-heads, birdcage, coasters and tray. The bar towel was from a painters drop cloth that was left over from curtains I made.
When I was finished I had a pretty sturdy little cart that could hold 12 bottles of wine, 4 large wine glasses, and 2 drawers full of bar tools.
No cart is complete without accessories. So I hand-painted 4 cork coasters to be from the drinking establishments of the wizarding world: The Leaking Cauldron, Three Broomsticks, and The Hogs Head, oh and since I couldn't think of a 4th I made one with Weasly's Wizarding Wheezes' Love Potion. I took two glass mason jar mugs (the ones with the handles) and etched "Butterbeer" into them. I also hand painted a bar towel with 9 3/4, just to nail the point home to people visiting her apartment who are less familiar with our obsession. Take a look below at the progress pics, I'm contemplating put up some plans to build your own, but I wanted to see if there was interest first before I took on that task. There are more specific instructions on the butterbeer mugs here.
