DIY Ana White Rolling Cart | Fall One Room Challenge | Week 4 and 5

Four weeks in you guys. This is the part of the One Room Challenge that I usually start to get tired and wonder WHY?! But things are moving right along this time around. You can get caught up on Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and  read more about the One Room Challenge. This week I worked on my rolling cart to house the printer, printer paper, and my Cricut. I can't believe how simple this build was! It literally took me longer to drive to Lowe's to purchase the materials than it did to actually build it.

OK, we interrupt the regularly scheduled Week 4 post and are extending it into Week 5. Why? (If you caught my Instagram stories last week you already know why!) Well, because of a little incident involving my finger and dropping a running drill on it. Ya, that happened! Yay me! Fortunately my finger is in-tact and NOT cut off. No stitches needed! But it was a pretty nasty and gross finger that I ended up with, and I'll spare you the details. You're welcome. Let's just say it was definitely going to be hard to type, let alone finish the build with the very small but oh-so-painful injury. But yay! Much better now...on to the details of the Ana White build!

Fall One Room Challenge Weeks 4 and 5
Get caught up here:

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6

DIY Gray and Gold Ana White Cart 

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I always love (sarcasm, by the way) how people say "I made this and it only cost me $2.00" and then when you go to the store to get the supplies it ends up being a $500.00 DIY project. But you guys. It literally only cost me $40.00 to make this rolling cart! I tried to buy one, somewhat close to what I wanted, but of course all the carts I found were way out side of my budget. Browsing through Pinterest I came across this rolling industrial cart build from Ana White. It was the perfect size, and more importantly a very simple and easy DIY...or so I thought (insert a mocking laugh here).

Can we talk about Lowe's for a quick second? Customer service is king, or whatever the saying is, right? The customer service guys that helped me out in the lumber department went above and beyond to help me out. I was SO impressed! So, Dear Lowe's if you are reading this, you should know that the reps you have in the Turlock store are awesome! They helped me make the cuts I needed on my board, which really helps when you have kids and would rather not have to drag out too many tools. (And in hindsight, with the way this project went it probably saved me from cutting my hand off). It helps with fitting things in the car too. That would have been pretty much impossible to squeeze an uncut 12x8 into my car. Also, THANK YOU for having the race car carts. It's the highlight of our shopping trips there. OK...back to the Ana White DIY cart!

Casters

The caster wheels were the part of the project that gave me the most grief. I wanted really large over-sized industrial wheels, but apparently (as usual) my taste far exceeds my budget. Sheesh...those casters can get REALLY pricey! Luckily I found some that were cute and would work, similar to these but not as large as I had hoped for. I couldn't beat the price though - 2 in a package and on sale for under $4.00 per package! And major bonus, they were already gold! One less thing to have to paint is winning in my book. They also have that mid-century mod look going on and I love it! I would have been really happy with these farmhouse style casters...where were they when I was trying to buy them?!

Putting It Together...

I decided to switch up Ana White's plans a little bit. Instead of cutting the aluminum angles at 24", I bought the angles that were 36". I did that for 2 reasons:

1) I didn't feel like cutting anything (ha! Probably a good thing...I might have cut my hand off!) 

2) I wanted my cart a little taller and to have a little extra space between shelves. I'm really happy I decided to go with the 36", everything fits perfect with room to work around it!

I painted the aluminum angles and screws with a coat of gold spray paint. I stained the boards the same color as the built in desk and shelves. Once everything was dry I followed the directions on Ana-White.com and voila! Rolling cart done, check! OK, it wasn't quite that smooth. It took longer that I would have liked when it was all said and done. But I literally had blood sweat and tears over this thing. Despite the setbacks, I love how it turned out!

It really is the perfect size for my printer and Cricut. I couldn't be happier with how the project turned out!

Tips

- Don't cut your finger off! I know, I know, DUH, right? But seriously, follow all the safety precautions! Had I slowed down a little and not tried to multitask 500 things at once, I would have remembered that metal is slippery when you're drilling it, and you NEED TO USE CLAMPS and not your fingers to hold it down. Seriously though. Be smart!

- Definitely have your boards cut at the store if you can! I mean ya, you can pull your stuff out and make your cuts at home - but if they will do it for you, why not buy yourself a little time?

- This sounds like an obvious one, but take a list with your measurements and cuts with you to the store! Bonus, take screenshots on your phone of the store's website so you know which aisle and bay to look in. (Especially if you're shopping with kids...you're living on borrowed time!)

- Make sure your boards are straight and no weird crooked bends! Take the board off the shelf and look down the edge from one end to the other to make sure it's straight.

P I N  I T !

Don't forget to pop over and check out the other amazing rooms participating in the One Room Challenge!