Working on the Ladureé cart

I have had a whole year to plan this, but the motivation to start working on the cart has been elusive.  Today I took a plunge and simply started working.  

I have been compiling pictures from different Ladureé carts around the world, and using them for inspiration.  My cart was like this to start with:

Stock photo of the assembled cart

Comparing it with others that I had seen, there were several things I did not like:  the handles, for starters, and the fact that the body has the bottom way down, so anything you want to feature gets hidden, and you have to peek in.

So I decided to slightly alter it, to make it look more like this one:

 

So, I would be removing the handles and adding a "roof" and some legs.  I would also add kind of like a "table" to make the cart flush to show the merchandise.

Since I already had some painted parts, I decided to start making a pattern for the table in 1mm cardboard.  It was easy, and it served my purpose very well:

1mm cardboard did not seem very sturdy, so I used 5 mm foamboard to craft something that would not bend:

Just draw the pattern...

...and cut it to shape

Paint it mint green...

...and dry fit inside the cart

It's not perfect, but I am happy with the results!

Next, to craft the roof.  I used the same foamboard to cut two pieces, and painted them green (they need more coats, but that will be done tomorrow):

Next, to try to craft the legs:  I bought some stairs pillars from Tienda de Casitas.  I assembled the wheels, tried the pillars with them to check the size, and cut them to measure with the help of my husband:

 

They look wonderful!

I am so happy with them, because they look very similar to the ones in this picture:

 

So tomorrow I will be painting them green.  And I realized that I need to paint the columns that hold the roof in gold, so I will be doing that as well.

More tomorrow!