Using Serving Carts to Decorate your Home

Serving carts are really versatile items and offer so many different possibilities when it comes to decorating your home. While they might not be used quite as often as they once were, they haven’t lost any of their usefulness – quite the opposite in fact.

Here at DecorTips, we simply love them. As well as being decorative and aesthetically beautiful, serving carts will make a practical addition to any room. In this article, we’ll show you some of the different ways you can use them to decorate your home.

Serving carts: history and origins

Serving carts were first used back in the Victorian era. Most commonly found in the homes of the upper classes, servants would use them to transport food up from the kitchen, carrying tea and any food that was to be served. However, despite once being an extremely popular home essential, these carts gradually began to fall out of everyday use.

It wasn’t until decades later that people first began to use them as decorative elements. Today, these elegant and interesting items have become statement pieces for living and dining rooms.

If you’re thinking about buying one for your home, you’ll find that there are a number of modern and antique serving carts to choose from. Alternatively, you could probably buy an antique serving cart from a second hand or antiques store.

How to decorate with serving carts

There are no set rules when it comes to decorating with serving carts. As we’ve said many times before, in the world of interior decor, there are no rules. However, we can still give you some pointers to help you make the most of your serving cart. Here are two things you might want to keep in mind:

• Height: serving carts are typically made up of two different shelves. These shelves are normally formed of trays, which are positioned one above the other, allowing you to carry food and drink from the kitchen to the table. We recommend playing around with the heights to create different arrangements, keeping in mind the various different height options your cart has to offer. Try to arrange the objects so as to create a connection between the shelves. That way, the two will come together to form a whole, rather than two entirely separate sections.
• Space: serving carts are really eye-catching elements, especially those with wheels and vintage wrought iron frames. As such, we would recommend setting your cart slightly apart from other objects so that it has its own space. After all, it would be a shame to hide such a beautiful element behind other objects.

Bar carts

A great way to give your serving cart a second life is to use it as a bar cart. Place a selection of bottles and glasses on the trays, and make sure to place your cart somewhere close to your wine cellar. As well as being really attractive, it’ll also come in handy at family gatherings and meals with friends.

Serving carts are often used in bars.

As well as being really useful, bar carts also make great decorative elements. Choose some eye-catching bottles and glasses, and arrange them to create beautiful decorative displays. You can play around with different shapes and sizes of bottles, as well as aspects such as color and texture.

Book carts

If you’re an avid book-reader and like having your favorite novels close to hand, reusing an old serving cart as a book cart might be the perfect option for you. The two trays will give you plenty of space for all the books you want.

If you want to create a more decorative display, you can also decorate your book cart with a vase of flowers, or a small reading lamp.

However, these are just two options. Practical and beautiful, serving carts can be used in an infinite number of different ways.

As you can see, despite being used for hundreds of years, serving carts continue to be really on-trend, and will make a great addition to any room. Play around with different heights and arrangements, and they will become the focal point of your decor. Plus, you can even give them a new lease of life by converting these Victorian-era items into a modern bar or book cart.