Pretty Papered Tray

I love a decorative tray because they are both beautiful and practical. They add a pop of color to a table and they can keep a nightstand from becoming cluttered.  

BHG

I love this beautiful rich red flowered tray from Belle & June. If only I could paint.

Belle & June

Over the past couple of years I have collected a few wooden trays which I painted and posted about here and here. A third tray I found at the thrift store last year. It is 12" square and had plain white ceramic tiles that my dumb butt thought I could just crack and remove the tile. WRONG!. They were stuck so firmly to the bottom I nearly destroyed the tray trying to pry them out. 

So now what. My first thought was to tile over the bottom and until I ran into this post by Sarah at Cozy Cottage Cute where she used decorative paper to redo her tray. 

Cozy Cottage Cute

Cheap, quick, cute, perfect.

I took a trip over to Joann's fabrics and perused the paper  area. Decorative papers are fun to look at so if you plan to look for fancy paper to cover a tray, plan on spending a few minutes. I settled on these three as options.

I felt the spice rack paper was more kitchen oriented and I would be limited in where I could put it. The blue paper was a little to plain so the perfect choice was the Route 66 graphic.

This historic road runs through my home state of Illinois so I think it's appropriate and the blue, gray and pale yellow colors will make it easy to use in any room. Before I can do anything I have to repair the tray. I had some drywall compound on hand so I roughed up the tile and filled in the hole i made. I let it dry and harden for a day and then sanded it down.

Good as new. Or at least good enough to paper over. Now on to decorating the tray. I had previously painted the tray this soft gray so all I had to do was attach the paper. To start, I cut down the paper to fit the tray.

Using Mod Podge I spread a thin layer of the medium over the tile and let it dry a little until it was tacky. I then carefully laid the paper down and smooth out the edges with an old credit card and let it dry. Next I put two layers of Mod Podge on the top to seal it letting it dry completely between coats. Here is the completed tray.

You can find wooden trays that are painted or unpainted anywhere and everywhere. As long as it is the size you want you can change the appearance with a little fancy paper and a jar of Mod Podge. My favorite thing about using the Mod Podge on this decorative paper is the antiqued texture it give to it. It makes the paper more vibrant and interesting. 

Send me picks of your tray projects. I'd love to see your vision for transforming a tray.

trayTBarbara