A Little Square Tray - Before and After

Sometime this past summer I had stopped into this kinda cheap home decor store called Bouclair to look for window panels. I saw a cute, white, square tray up at the front of the store and was thiiiiiiis close to buying it. I had never even owned a tray 6 months ago but ever since I found the one I mentioned in this post, I've been itching to have another. When I originally saw the tray it was $29.99 and more than I had wanted to spend at the time. 

I dropped into the same store last week and found the very last square tray at the back of the store in the clearance section. It was marked down to $14.99. Woohoo! While the tray wasn't too bad in its original state, I thought I could improve upon the uber-shiny-stark-white finish as well as the silver leaf design that was sprayed on top.  

Red sticker - score!

I gave the tray a light sanding, then primed it with interior latex primer. I used one coat of white latex paint over top (I was feeling too lazy to do two coats) and then lightly distressed the corners and edges with some 100 grit sandpaper.

An 11.5" x 11.5" square.

While my paint was drying I tried my luck at cutting a perfect square out of this lovely paper. The reason I chose this paper was that: a) I already had it and b) The braided rug in our living room also has some light purple in it. Okay, okay I will admit that I just might be turning into a crazy scrapbook paper lady after all.

A few supplies.

I was a bit nervous to do this step because I had never really used Mod Podge before. It wasn't so bad. Although now I know what people are talking about when they mention bubbles and ripples and smooshing the paper. Not gonna lie, mine is full of bubbles, ripples, and lumps.  

Gluey and goopy.

 Even though the paper fit inside the bottom of the tray perfectly before I glued, it ended up a wee bit short on two of the sides and a wee bit long on the other two sides. Not really sure how that happened.

I was a bit impatient for the Mod Podge to dry so I took out my awesome new hairdryer (called The Speed Freak, oh yeah) to speed up the process. Then, onto the fun part. Sticking random things in it and then taking a million and one pictures.

The tray is actually going to go on the trunk/coffee table in my living room. I wasn't able to take any pictures of it there since my couches have been stripped of their slipcovers for a steamy, hot, bleach-filled wash. I wandered downstairs the other day to find this guilty-looking culprit snoozing on my clean white couch. Apparently he's been sneaking up on both the sofa and loveseat when we're in other rooms or gone to work. Um, we can see your pawprints and dog fur on there, you silly dog. 

Busted!

Check out these other deeeee-lightful projects:

Saturday Soiree @ A Little Lovely
Make It 4 Monday @ Cottage Instincts
Style Feature Saturday @ Perfectly Imperfect
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on The Porch
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday @ Coastal Charm
Anything Related @ All Thingz Related
Lucky Linky @ Lucky Star Lane
Power of Paint Party @ Domestically Speaking
White Wednesday @ Faded Charm
Transformation Thursdays @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
Hooking Up W/ HoH @ House of Hepworths
Strut Your Stuff Thursday @ Somewhat Simple
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest