Zero Waste Scotland set me a challenge to upcycle a piece of second-hand furniture for Pass It On Week, which starts tomorrow (11th March) and runs until 19th March. Since bar carts are all the rage at the moment, I had to go for this option when I spotted a sturdy, but slightly old-fashioned, wooden one in a Revolve-certified charity re-use furniture shop – the RAMH Reuse Superstore in Johnstone.

Pass It On Week is a project run by Zero Waste Scotland to highlight just how often people dispose of items that they don’t want anymore; when actually, those items could be loved and re-used by someone else. Passing them on would not only spread joy, but would save people money (compared to buying new) and would help the environment too. The aim of Pass It On Week is to keep items in use for longer. This bar cart that I have upcycled will now go on to bring me years of joy (and fun).

I chose to go to the RAMH store in Johnstone as it is Revolve-certified – a quality mark operated by Zero Waste Scotland that lets people know they are buying from a credible re-use retailer. There are currently over 80 Revolve stores in Scotland, and it’s just as easy to donate items to a Revolve store as it is to buy from one. All you need to do is contact the Re-use Phone Line to have unwanted furniture and household items, that are in good condition, collected for free and made available for someone else to use.

The bar cart that I picked up was solid wood and was a bargain at just £12. I was quite scratched and worn, but was fully-functioning. I also bought some really high-quality glassware for 20p-£1.50 each; taking my overall total spend in the RAMH store to just £19.

When I got the cart home, I cleaned it and then sanded it down with some course sand paper – just enough to make the surface rough enough for the paint to grip to. I then took it outside to spray paint metallic gold (the paint cost me £5.99). Unfortunately it started to rain just as I had finished, so I ended up having to do another coat once this one had dried, as the raindrops had left marks.

Next I measured out the width and height of the top tray of the cart, and cut a piece of marble sticky-back vinyl (that I had already in my craft room) to size. I applied this to the top of the cart and it was finished. All I had to do was set up the glassware and our myself a drink.

Has this inspired you to take on any upcycling projects?

This is a sponsored post with Zero Waste Scotland, but all opinions are my own.

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