Build a Wood Bar Cart for Entertaining and Storage; Day 5

Hey Remodelaholics! Nina from Everyday Enchanting here, bringing you some holiday entertaining DIY Inspiration! This year we’re hosting both Thanksgiving and Christmas for both sides of the family, as well as a birthday party for my younger son and the neighborhood cookie swap- so we have a lot of events on our holiday entertaining schedule! With the new baby due to arrive in January, traveling was a little iffy, so we thought it would be safer to have everyone come to us. Although we remodeled our kitchen last year, and added a DIY kitchen island, I was still seeking additional space for the coffee maker and jars of beverage supplies taking up the counter space.

Cue my idea for a DIY bar cart! I absolutely love this versatile piece. We added casters, so it can move around to different rooms to suit our different events. For example, it became a mulled cider bar for Thanksgiving, will be a hot chocolate bar during the cookie swap, and will hold various brunch items and coffee on Christmas morning.

I’m still searching for the perfect handle hardware, but with the casters it still moves easily! Here’s how we built it.

DIY Wood Bar Cart

Materials List:

• (3) 2 x 4 x 10s
• (1) 2 x 4 x 8s
• (1) 20 x 72″ Stain Grade Panel
• (1) 20 x 36″ Stain Grade Panel
• (4) 2″ Locking Swivel Casters
• Handle (optional)

Cut List:

• (6) 2x4s at 31.5″
• (4) 2x4s at 34.5″
• (6) 2x4s at 15.5
• (2) 15.5 x 34.5″ Shelves

The first two 2x4x10s will be cut to (3) 31.5″ lengths and (1) 15.5″ length.

The third 2x4x10s will be cut to (3) 34.5″ lengths and (1) 15.5″ length.

The 2x4x8 will be cut to (1) 34.5″ length and (3) 15.5″ lengths.

The 20×72″ Stain Grade Panel will be cut to (2) shelves at 15.5 x 34.5″.

The 20 x 36″ Stain Grade Panel will become the top.

Step 1

Make all of your cuts to the specifications above. After that, we ran the 2x4s through the table saw to give them a nice square appearance. I also sanded down each piece before assembly using an orbital sander and 80-grit sandpaper.

Step 2

You will need all (6) of your 31.5″ lengths for this step. Use a pocket hole jig and drill two holes on each end of the inside of the pieces. Take (2) of your pieces, and (2) of the 15.5″ lengths. Create a box with the 31.5″ pieces inset, as shown in the photo.

We made sure the box was square, and used clamps and glue to secure each angle. Once we had the angles secure, we used pocket hole screws to attach the pieces. We repeated this twice more, so we had three total boxes.

Step 3

Next we attached our (4) 34.5″ pieces vertically to the outside corners of one of the boxes. Again we checked for square, added wood glue, and used clamps. We used two screws in each corner from the inside.

We decided the middle shelf should sit directly in the middle, centered, and we repeated the process to attach it securely (we also used spacers for this step to help make sure we were level). Lastly, we added the third box at the top of the structure so that it sat flush with the top of the 34.5″ pieces.

Step 4

The casters were actually very helpful to raise the cart frame off the ground for the staining process, so we went ahead and installed those to the bottom of the cart.

Next, I sanded down the whole cart again with 80-grit sandpaper, and followed that with 120-grit for a smooth finish. We gave the cart frame a coat of Minwax Dark Walnut stain (my go-to!).

Step 5

Our final step was to add the shelves. We cut them down to size using the table saw, and I sanded away the saw marks using 80-grit sandpaper. I then followed with 120-grit, and also softened the edges a bit.

We attached to the cart frame using wood glue and finish nails. You can fill in the holes from the nails with wood filler if you choose. Once dry, we applied a coat of Minwax Dark Walnut to the shelves, and followed with Polycrylic.

Project Breakdown:

Time: approx. 4hrs

Cost: approx. $75 (although we had a lot of the wood already)

Thistlewood, Inspired by Charm, Funky Junk, Shanty 2 Chic and Songbird Blog

Published: December 5, 2014Filed Under: Christmas, Contributor, Furniture Building Projects and Plans, Holiday, How To, Tutorials Tagged: 12 Days of Christmas, DIY, Furniture, Tutorials

About Nina

Nina is a blogger at Everyday Enchanting where shares DIY projects, party inspiration, crafts, and recipes. She and her husband Mack are gradually transforming a 1980s colonial into a dream home full of modern farmhouse style. In her spare time she loves to do projects (of course!), daydream about future projects, read, and travel to NH.