*This post was sponsored by Oriental Trading

First, I’ve got a controversial question for you…Is the bar cart trend dead? It seems like this stylish entertaining accessory experienced its height a few seasons ago, but that now it might be losing steam. That could very well just be my own opinion, though!

I was positively smitten with the look for the longest time (and had the gold cart to prove it), but I finally admitted defeat a year ago after realizing that it was a piece of furniture that seemed to be all for looks with no real function. The pretty-yet-excessive party glasses were mostly just gathering dust and I also learned that the bottles of bourbon and vodka that we did drink from could be losing their flavor out there in the sunny open.

So, if you remember, we changed things up and bought a slimmer secondhand enclosed bar cabinet to house only the pieces we use most, like pitchers, wine glasses, and the collection of spirits that John and I use on special occasions.

We had figured out a way to make our bar work for everyday life, but what about the occasional gathering? Now that we were sans-cart, we were left with no other option than to place party drinks on our already-crowded dining room table or, worse, in the kitchen. This plan wasn’t working either!

So I teamed up with the folks at Oriental Trading to put together a simple tutorial for creating a bar cart “zone” without using an actual bar cart. This set-up is so simple to recreate and takes up a lot less room than the traditional full-sized cart. It’s the ideal solution for small space dwellers or renters, and the best part is that you can tuck everything away when not in use.

Visit Oriental Trading’s Fun365 website here to read all of my styling solutions, and you can get the DIY tutorials for my handmade watercolor art and labeled wine decanters by clicking those links, too. Now, tell me in the comments below: are you still a die-hard fan of the traditional bar cart, or is this portable temporary option more your speed?