Easily Update a Thrift Store Tray

by Jenny @ Refresh Living

4 Materials

$10

1 Hour

Easy

This easy upcycled project started with a round metal tray from the thrift store. After adding some paint and patterned paper, it has a completely new look for much cheaper than I could have bought a new one. If you love transforming old, discarded items into something new for your home, you should come visit my blog, Refresh Living. I'm all about decorating and remodeling my home on a major budget - all DIY style! (Seriously, I have issues and refuse to hire (any pay) someone else to do something that I can teach myself to do.)

The tray was sturdy and in decent shape, I just personally didn't love the bright silver. Obviously, you could choose any color of spray paint that matched your style - I chose to use white, and then add color and pattern to the bottom of the tray.

After painting on two coats and letting it dry, I traced the bottom shape of the tray onto the patterned paper. This specific paper is from Rifle Paper Co. and the pattern is Juliet Rose. I cut slightly inside the line that I traced, and then made a few adjustments so that it laid flat in the bottom of the tray. (You could also use fabric for this step as well!)

I spread a thin layer of Mod Podge on the bottom of the tray and pressed the paper down, smoothing out the bubbles from the inside out. In the image above, you can see that I did get some wrinkles (I probably used too much Mod Podge), but once you complete the next step, those wrinkles aren't nearly as noticeable.

To make the tray stand up to a little bit of moisture, I applied three topcoats of Mod Podge to the top of the paper, letting it dry completely between coats. You could alternatively apply a couple of coats of clear Polyacrylic to the entire tray as well (or just on top of the paper) and that would increase the water resistance.