Before this whole mocktail movement and the Marnie Rae brand, you could find my making most of my drinks in my kitchen. I thought bar carts were super cute pieces of furniture, and not the most functional, but man was I wrong, The further I get in my mocktail making adventures, the more I rely on my bar cart and the functionality it provides to store all of my mocktail making tools that are functional and pretty (they are pretty for a reason, friends). 

The styling of a bar cart is just as important as It’s functionality. It is after all a statement piece of furniture. Now onto the how part of styling a bar cart, are you ready?

STEP ONE: SELECT YOUR BAR CART.

This step is potentially the most crucial, you must complete this step before you proceed to other steps. You can read this blog post here if you need ideas of the bar carts I love. The important things to remember when selecting a bar cart:

  • How many shelves does it have? 

  • What type of storage does it have? A wine rack? Storage with doors?

  • Add a wine rack if you want to provide extra storage like this one or this one. 

STEP TWO: BUY ALL THE THINGS.

Disclaimer: You could spend a million dollars on a well styled bar cart, but you can also spend less than $100 on a beautifully styled bar cart. Heck, you could go thrifting and spend less than $20 on a bar cart. You get the idea. 

Here is a shopping list for your bar cart:

  • glasses

  • bar tools

  • shaker

  • decanters

  • mocktail books

  • decorative ice bucket

And here’s a quick grocery list for you:

  • flowers

  • mixers

  • Garnishes: limes, lemons, oranges

STEP THREE: STYLE.

This is arguably the hardest step. But, let’s break it down. Balance and size are important terms to know when styling anything, but specifically a bar cart. 

Balance is described as the distribution of visual weight of objects, color, texture, and space. 

Size is the height x width. We all learned basic shapes in grade school but there are three typical shape types; geometric (triangles, squares, circles, etc), organic (leaves, animals, trees, people, etc), and abstract (icons, etc). 

Also, something to note is that odd numbers generally look better in groupings than even numbers. Don’t ask me why, that’s just a general rule of thumb. 

Let’s break down this first picture:

  1. There are organic shapes (think flowers) on opposite sides of the bar cart, providing balance. 

  2. Laying books on their sides provide height to put smaller objects on while being super cute.

  3. Three bottles of wine on the top shelf are arranged in three (odd numbers). 

Now let’s break down this second picture:

  1. The gold pineapple on the top shelf and the gold ice bucket on the lower shelf provide balance because of their color. 

  2. The flowers on the top right shelf of the bar cart balance out with the terrarium on the lower left of the bar cart. 

  3. Three bottles arranged on the lower cart–you caught that right? The rule!! Don’t forget it!

One more, because we’re making your an expert here:

  1. I bet you guessed that balance in this photo is the florals on both sides of the bar cart. 

  2. Notice the three (odd number) of bottles on the top shelf

  3. Books are stacked to provide cuteness and height for the smaller items. 

Now that you’re an EXPERT you’re ready to style your own bar cart. I’m dead serious when I say I want to see your bar carts–would you just snap a pic and send it to me at hello@marnierae.com or tag me on Instagram?

-Marnie Rae

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