White painted tray {DIY}

Hey, all! I hope you're having a good week so far. My vacay has been just fantastic -- lunch with friends, lounging at the beach...I've really enjoyed just hanging out and relaxing (the sink full of dishes can attest to that!), and I can't wait to end the week with my family's annual camping trip.

I've also finally wrapped up a project that's been months in the works -- and no, it's not some kind of major project or anything. It's just one of those things that got pushed to the side when other things (like picture-perfect beach weather!) came up.

It started with this February post from 4 Men 1 Lady. She found a cheapo tray at Target and transformed it using white spray paint. Cute! I thought, and kind of forgot about it. But then when I was trolling the Target dollar spot a month or so later, I spotted the same tray and picked it up on a whim for $2.50.

I don't have a lot of experience with spray paint, though I've read about so many incredible transformations using this magic in a can. I had a little can of white spray paint, so I just sanded the tray and started spraying. And spraying. And spraying. I think I sprayed that thing like seven times, and those pastel stripes were still showing through. Um, maybe I needed some primer? At this point, the tray sat neglected in the basement for a while.

I sanded it again and grabbed some primer the hubs had on hand...aaaand, too late I realized it was gray primer, not white. Ugh! More sanding, and this time a coat of white primer, followed by a few coats of glossy white spray paint, and we were finally in business.

(An aside: Why are bugs so dumb? I do my spraypainting outside, and it never fails that as soon as I've got a nice, smooth, wet coat of paint on there, half a dozen idiotic bugs decide to fly right into it and stick there. Seriously? I mean, that stuff can't smell good...so what the hey?? Okay, rant over :) )

I wanted to jazz the tray up a bit, so I picked up a piece of textured scrapbooking paper from Michaels, cut it to fit the bottom of the tray and used a little Mod Podge to adhere it to the bottom. To protect the paper from ripping, I covered it in a thin coat of Mod Podge and let it dry.

It may have taken forever a few months, but now I've got a cute little tray that only cost me a few dollars.

I love it! So worth the zillion coats of paint.

Though it looks cute on my living room console table with my DIY book bundle, when I first started the project, I envisioned it on my bureau as a place to corral my perfumes, jewelry and other odds and ends. Looks cute here too!

That's my DIY necklace holder in the background. I'm already wanting to make a bigger one...we'll see how long that project takes!

(Aside #2: Do you call that piece of furniture that holds your clothing a bureau or a dresser? We always called them bureaus, but I think maybe that's a Maine thing, and most people call them dressers. Hmm... I'm tellin' ya, we've got our own dialect here!)

A big thanks to Michelle at 4 Men 1 Lady for her inspiration!

And check out another white tray transformation by Thrifty Crafty Girl here.

Don't you just love that Target dollar spot? There's seriously always something there I want to buy and turn into something great.

All right, folks, I'm off to the woods for the rest of the week for more relaxing, swimming and s'mores. I'll have no cell signal, no electricity and no running water. I know it's not everyone's idea of vacation, but I cannot wait to disconnect from it all and spend my days lounging on the beach with some guilty pleasure reading. While looking at this:

Life's so hard... :)

Linking up!

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