(New Blog Feature) Home Style: Trays

Hey friends,

Okay, so here's the deal. Somewhere between several and many of you have asked to see parts of my house, which is so super sweet of you all. Honestly. My "real life" friends know that, although I enjoy dabbling in certain realms of home design, I have no innate skill or eye whatsoever.

That being said, I don't want to ignore those of you who've expressed interest in my home. So, I'm going to shake things up a bit on this blog. On occasion (I'm trying to figure out just how often...weekly? twice a week? yearly? What are your thoughts?), I'm going to add a home design DIY or idea or something that I've done. That way, those of you who care will see parts of my house and home style. The rest of you can ignore me. (But not you, Mom. You're stuck with me...)

So. Let's start small, shall we? Today's idea features a tray makeover. I think trays are wonderfully subtle ways to infuse a bit of style into a space without screaming, "Hey everyone, look at me!" They're also very practical, for serving food at parties, holding utensils at family gatherings, keeping keys and sunglasses and miscellaneous stuff quarantined by the door, etc. They're not only fun but incredibly useful.

I thrifted this little baby for about $2 last Fall.

Thought it had potential, with the cool iron edging and solid wood base, although it was a bit scuffed up and had the look of check-out-what-I-did-at-craft-night. (Craft nights are great, mind you...I just prefer that the finished product doesn't give that impression right outta the gate, you know?) 

I took it apart, spray painted the metal navy and primed and painted the wood base white. After the base dried, I taped out a chevron design, which I then painted grey. Went over the whole thing with wipe-on polyurethane. This is the end result (my first attempt at chevron pattern...I learned some things). The tray sits on a chartreuse console table, and I love the color combo of all of it together.

I'm still working on a vignette for the top of the tray (ideas, anyone?), but in the meantime, I think it's an improvement over the original tired old painted cherries. Nothing against cherries, of course. They're a delicious fruit.