I’ve had this beautiful silver tray for more than a year now, holding onto it because I knew eventually I’d come up with something cool for it. Well, I finally was inspired to tackle the tray, turning it into a side table for my navy blue chair.
My coworker and I were rummaging through a local thrift store on our lunch break last week and I found (what Rachel called) a plant stand that would become the perfect base for my table.
A whole $5 later and I took that puppy home and got to work. First, I had to remove the top of the plant stand. Whoever built this screwed the top in right through the top itself. It didn’t look so hot, but whatevs.
Once the top was off, I wanted to cut the icky part of the base off of the top. It was covered in an adhesive and was rather gunky.
My hacksaw quickly did the trick.
Next up, drilling through my tray. I used a drill bit that was capable of drilling through metal to put a hole smack dab in the middle of my tray.
Then using a screw, I secured the tray to the top. In theory, I’ll eventually get a nicer screw for the top that is even less noticeable, but the one I chose you can barely see, so it works for now.
Ta da!
Except my hubby thought it was really ugly. And the more I looked at it, especially next to the chair, the more I thought it was sorta ugly, too
So then I decided to spray paint the base black. I did the best spray paint job of my life, which involved a TON of patience. A few coats later and a coat of primer and I was almost finished.
One last step — I cut a small circle of thin wood out to sit under the tray so it wouldn’t be flimsy. After painting this black, too, I secured the table back together.
Much better, huh?
It’s the perfect size for a side table, although Brian still hates it so I might relocate this table into our downstairs bathroom to hold a few decorative knickknacks and some hand lotion.
I think it’s pretty darn cute, though. And for under $10 — heck yes!
A Smith of All Trades 