FaceBook Selling Groups can be a great place to find a deal. You have to be fast though! Usually when I get around to seeing something, I am so far in line behind the person with first dibs, it never gets to me.
I have loved these old laundry carts for a long time. Every time I have seen one at an antique fair, it was never for sale. It was only being used for display. I never saw one for sale.
Fortunately my wonderful God-children scoured the internet and found one for me as a Christmas present a couple of years ago.
Best. gift. ever. That one is in my living room. It holds my blanket throws. It won't ever make to a antique market.
Back to FaceBook selling groups. I was online and saw a post for a laundry cart...for only $15 and no one had grabbed it yet. I contacted the seller immediately and asked when I could pick it up.
It had some condition issues. Several of the joints had come apart and were now held together by twine and copper wire.
Almost all of the middle joints were held together this way.
I needed to find the clamps that were used to originally bind these...but I didn't know what they were called.
Believe it or not, the folks at the big box stores don't know what "clippie thingies" are (my description). Fortunately I saw them used on a planter at a friend's house. I asked her where she got them. Her husband had a coffee can with a bunch of them and the tool needed to apply them.
Just what I needed. Thankfully, they loaned them to me. For the record, they are called rabbit cage J-clips.
So I replaced all the twine (more like plastic raffia!) and copper wire with the clips.
It was really starting to look better. It's a little lopsided, but isn't bad for its age. The plastic wheels were broken—all of them. I looked through my stash to see if I had four matching that would work. I didn't. So I picked up a 4 pk at Menards for a couple of dollars.
I sprayed the entire cart with a coat of poly. I wanted to preserve the rusty-crusty look, but did not want the rust to rub off on the linens I am planning to put in it.
The finished piece is off to my booth. I will roll up my quilts and put them in the basket. I will become one of those obnoxious dealers that use it for display only.... :).