How to Style the Perfect Bar Cart for Any Party

Just like when you're designing a space in your home, a well-styled bar cart begins with a plan. Roxy Owens, founder of Society Social, advises, "Tres facile! It's easy. Use trays to help you divide the bar cart into zones and dedicate each zone to a specific essential, whether it's glassware, bottles or your own brass menagerie. You'll be simultaneously stylish and organized." See the following bar cart ideas and tips, then get ready to entertain.

Color, pattern and texture all come into play when styling your bar cart. "Custom coasters add style and function," Owens says. "Cloth cocktail napkins are a small touch that can go a long way, and researching a small or local distillery can yield pretty packaging as well as equally delicious spirits."

Your bar cart can be the perfect display space. Use it to present some of your favorite glassware and dishes. "My bar cart was super easy to style. It's vintage and has just the perfect patina, so just about anything looks good on it," says designer Naomi Stein of Design Manifest. "It's the place where I stock my favorite mixers and showcase my vintage glasses and fancy plates. Fresh flowers are a must to add beautiful aroma and color. The finishing touch for me is the painting above. It's like the cherry to my bar-cart cocktail."

Turn an antique bar cart into a modern treasure with a little elbow grease and a clear vision. Catherine Sheppard of The Life Styled transformed this flea market find into an antique focal point. "I scoured flea markets looking for something that had the look I wanted until I finally scored the perfect antique at a junkyard. It was tarnished beyond recognition ... and the handle was broken off. After a couple rounds of polishing, a trip to a brass solderer and a glassmaker, it came back looking like new."