Tray'ding Spaces

...you like that post title? I know, I'm clever.

Lately, I have been seeing laquered trays all over design magazine, blogs and catalogs.

Like these from west elm


I came across a tray that I bought a little over 10 years ago from Pier 1. It's a solid little wood tray but is dark and drab and totally not our style. I thought that maybe I could use some left over paint and make it into something new. Something pretty that could serve as a catch all for everything the hubby dumps from his pockets every evening.

I stole a couple hours during nap times and started a new project.

Here's the tray before her facelift


And that super low...obviously 10 years ago price tag from Pier 1


I spray painted the entire thing white


I couldnt decide what I wanted to do with it from there...but I knew it needed something. As I was digging around our "house stuff" shelf in our laundry room storage I found this little guy.


I bought this originally intending for it to be the color of our guest bathroom. All the boys in our house objected. Suprised? Yeah, me niether.

Anyway, here's the tray after the first coat. First coats of paint always look like crap. Thats normally how you know your doing a good first coat. It's kind of thin, uneven and not cute by anyones standards. Oh, and as you can see...I didnt even bother using another paint brush. I just used the one right out of the bottle. Super easy.





Then the second and final coat. She's all done!



And here she is in her new home...




The best thing about this whole project...was that it was free! Gotta love free!