The Journey of a Bargain Bar Cart Trolley

It seemed I was being awarded for the decision to stay put in town for the month of July.
The weather thus far has been consistently warm and sunny and it got me into the tourist spirit.

Italian Fountains in Hyde Park

Even though I love to go around town something 
I rarely do anymore is go to Portobello market on a Saturday of all days!  
It attracts so many tourists that it is hard to navigate the narrow street.
But I thought I would go to the Spanish supermarket there for some pimientos padrones which are now in season.

I walked by Bill's which is crowded all day long but there was a queue to get in.

It's good but it isn't that good!

It was so pleasant to walk by cherry trees in Notting Hill.

The Spanish supermarket is a few blocks away from Golborne Road which is the area's vintage and bric a brac market.  It used to be a proper market where you could get bargains but as the price for the chairs below demonstrates - it is no longer the case.

£370 for a pair of half chairs!
Plus I need to upholster it after you scribbled on it!
Bargain guvnah.

I love wicker.
Soane Britain does a collection of rattan furniture which I adore and this contraption of covering plastic white chairs did tempt me due to its faint semblance.
It was on sale for less than a hundred pounds but I have no valid place to put it and it was coming away at certain places which means it would unravel in a few years time.

Plus I would have to find a way to cover up the white bits.
This is why comparisons to certain brands can be a false economy.

A few months ago I went to West Elm to inspect in real life a bar cart that looked like it would go in my house.
But the proportions were for American Mcmansions rather than London's edited proportions.  The bar cart was the size of a small dining table for most Londoners!
So when I found out this 1960's bar cart was going for under 50 pounds I had to have a punt.

It isn't pure brass but brass plated and it needed a good clean but 
I didn't have time to start to a comp online to see if I was getting ripped off or good value.

But I have been to enough shops and auctions to know that these don't always come up at this price range. The downside to a proper street stall is that you can't come back the next day and have a think about it - you need to make your decision in a finite time window.
Otherwise you will be haunted by the regret.

Wrong as it is, my litmus test was the following.
 What would this cost at Ikea?
Could I ( theoretically ) ebay it at cost?

The whole preppy/Lilly Pulitzer thing isn't a huge trend in London. It is peculiar considering most preppies in North America have bloodlines tracing back to Great Britain yet the design ethos doesn't reign supreme here. 

So a rather garish bar cart might not be too popular for Londoners.
Plus even if you liked the cart how would you get it home?

The roads were partly closed and diverted.
And as it was a sunny Saturday taxis were impossible to get.
 I was not going to schlepp it on a bus as was suggested by the seller.
So I rolled it home.

Past train tracks and comments that school boys thought were so funny when they asked me for tea and coffee.

Even though I walked the back streets I still managed to bump into an acquaintance.
Positive was that I put my bag on the trolley when it was starting to get heavy.

The looks of passing pedestrian were mixed.
Some were knowingly smiling at me thinking that I must have gotten a bargain at the market.
Others were judging me wondering why on earth 
I would bother wheeling this ugly cart around the neighborhood.

The wheels were still going strong so it proved it was in good condition but at this point it did more mileage than a bar trolley does on a flight from London to L.A.

But I finally got it home.
I gave it a good clean and played around where I would put it.

The place I had in mind when I bought it was an area that I was planning to get either a demi-lune table / console / bar cart.

The reason I rather appreciated 
the brightness of the green faux marble and 
the brass was to enliven a rather stern gallery wall of prints. 

But while I did try and play around with it and see how it would settle, the scale wasn't right.

As it wasn't a substantial financial outlay I thought it would be fun to try it in different place in the house so I am presently trying it out as a side table for what used to be my guest bedroom.

It's only been a day so I shall see if it works and 

if I am not sick of it by the end of the week.

I quite like matching side tables and Mr CSW is into symmetry 

so am unsure how the non matching side tables work.

But sometimes one has to take a chance and exit our design comfort zone.

I shall update you if I move it around again.

But I have enjoyed the "journey" this bar cart has taken me on! ;)