Thriftstore Tray Makeover

I do love a good thriftstore find, but sometimes when you find something out there for cheap, it might not look exactly the way you want it to look.  Enter paint, once again.  I love coming up with ideas on improving something and making it better.  Not long ago, I picked up this wooden tray with pretty silver shell handles at the Goodwill for around $4.   Cheap, but not that interesting.  I thought it would be fun to add a paint treatment to the wood and use it for carrying drinks or even as an accent tray for a vignette.  Gray and white are my choices for this tray.

Here’s the tray as I found it at the thriftstore, plain blonde wood.  A little mehhh, it’s OK.  I do love those handles though.

I used a stain from Rustoleum called Weathered Gray on this piece and covered all the wood with the gray tone.  Originally I used some stripes of tape on the tray, but didn’t like that look with the bare wood showing through, so I went to Plan B and stained the whole thing with more stain as well. It’s OK to have a Plan B, you know?!  I sanded down where the stripes were to get rid of them for the most part (they didn’t completely go away, but I am OK with that) and then went to my next plan.

I got out my chevron FrogTape® Shape Tape™ and placed the tape so it made a diamond pattern in the middle of the tray, using 3 strips of tape.  Be sure and press down the edges of the tape to prevent paint from getting underneath.

I taped around the edge of the tray with green FrogTape too to keep my spray paint from landing where I didn’t want it.

Using Rustoleum Heirloom White in Satin, I then sprayed the chevron Shape Tape well with 2 thin coats, letting it dry just a couple of minutes before ripping off the tape.  You can find FrogTape Shape Tape at Home Depot or Lowes.

It will cover all the tape, but just carefully peel up the edge and start peeling back the tape, leaving a nice crisp diamond chevron pattern behind.

Here’s the tray after taping and painting.  I like how it looks with the silver handles.

It will be a cute little serving tray for drinks or snacks.  I know you are not supposed to serve food on painted surfaces, but drinks are fine.  And it would be a great addition for a coffee table vignette with its new look.

Do you have any old trays sitting around that might need an update?  Paint works wonders, I always say. 

Working with FrogTape, I’m always on the lookout for something that I can repurpose and make better.  That’s my Frogtape project this month, hope this got you inspired once again with the POWER of paint and how you can virtually change anything with paint. My fave home improvement weapon, paint does wonders for everything.

Disclosure: I am a Brand Ambassador for FrogTape® and receive compensation for completing projects for FrogTape®. All opinions, projects, and ideas are based on my own experience.