Sunflower Tray Makeover Idea
Love sunflowers?? Try this sunflower tray makeover idea. Perfect for summer and for anyone who loves sunflowers!
Hello friends! Today I’m sharing a brand new sunflower tray perfect for summer! I just love how this one turned out…now. Haha!
Yep, I had to tweak this one after I “finished” it. That happens sometimes though. Follow along and I’ll show you what happened.
Sunflower Tray Makeover Idea
This is actually a tray I’ve had for years. It used to live on our screened porch. Hold on, I might have a photo of it there…
…here it is!
And there on the table under the TV.
Well, I think I might have mentioned that we are closing in our screened porch.
Have I? Anyway, we are.
And we are living through more remodeling at this house!! lol It never ends. ha! But this is something we’ve wanted to do for years. However, we had planned to move before now and figured why bother? Since we never found a house we loved and the interest rates increased, we decided to stay for now. (I say that with the knowledge that if something comes across our radar that we love…we might jump on it!)
Okay, so we are putting windows all the way around so it will still be bright and sunny. We will also have a somewhat vaulted ceiling with 2 skylights. I can’t wait to finish it! Excited about it and the fact that we are adding to our square footage which will be nice when we do sell.
With all that, I have been selling everything I had on this porch. By the way, in case you are wondering if we will miss this space as-is…the answer is NO! As pretty as it is and as nice as we’ve tried to make it, we just never really use it. We will use it so much more for what we have planned as it will be a much-needed space for us here at this house. Stay tuned. ;)
Back to the sunflower tray! Instead of selling this one, I decided to give it a brand new look.
MATERIALS LIST FOR SUNFLOWER TRAY MAKEOVER
- Plaster Paint
- Chocolate Paint
- Mustard Paint
- Cranberry Paint
- Prairie Sunset Paint
- Tough Coat Topcoat in Matte
- Polishing Pad
- Sunflower Transfer
Prefer to shop on Etsy? I have an Etsy shop also, here!
BEFORE…
I cleaned it up from being outside and decided to use this pretty Sunflower transfer since it’s perfect for summertime.
Here is the section I decided to use to go along one side of the tray.
I “measured” the transfer by pressing it around the tray with this metal tool.
See the creases??
Easy to just cut and done!
How fun would it be to add some dimension with color? I decided to paint one side darker and one side lighter.
So I grabbed a pencil and figured out where I could hide the transition from one color to the next and marked it underneath.
I mixed up some paint to sort of match the browns in the sunflowers. I used a color I mixed up to paint a leather ottoman and a tiny bit of Chocolate. (you can find that color blend here) and Prairie Sunset yellow. (everything is linked in the pink “Materials List” box above)
And for the other side, I mixed Plaster with Prairie Sunset.
Looks kind of whacky right now but just wait!
Line up the sunflower transfer so the paint line is under the solid areas of the florals/leaves.
Attach as usual.
If you are new to decor/furniture transfers, you can find my full tutorial on how to do this here: How To Use Rub On Decor Transfers
I love using these Polishing Pads to rub over the transfers once applied. They burnish them to a nice sheen and also help to get rid of that halo-y edge (see them below) transfers can have.
Lastly, I applied a coat of Tough Coat Topcoat for protection.
Then I took all my photos to share with you all…and I saw it. haha!
Do you see it???
That leaf up there just hanging out?? Why?? lol I should not have included it! Ugh!!
What’s that saying?? Can’t see the forest for the trees? I don’t know, something like that! But I was so involved in doing it that I didn’t realize it until I stepped back and looked at it. Duh!
I literally took all the photos, went to my office, uploaded them to edit and as I was going through them I thought “what the heck” with that goofy leaf??! I was going to write and send this post out for Tuesday but I stopped in my tracks and went to see if I could rectify this situation instead.
Could I maybe somehow sand off the leaf?? I tried.
That’s about all I could really get as I didn’t want to remove the paint around or under it. The problem was, I didn’t measure when I made the yellow paint so I didn’t really feel painting over it was an option because surely I would not be able to match the paint perfectly!
But after seeing this not working for me, I decided to try.
And dang, I did a pretty good match job!! Yay!!!
I did a little dry brushing around the edges of where I painted and all over the rest of the yellow to blend it and good as new!
After that dried, you could not even tell I painted it…or that the goofy leaf was ever there!! Yippee!
I love when things work out like that!
Here it is all done…
SO much better!! Can not even tell I repainted it, can you??
I have to share this one with the goofy leaf still there before I repainted it with Piper because I didn’t get one today when I retook the photos. And Ryder was lying around somewhere else, sorry! He’s not quite as nosey as he used to be, lol, now that he’s 8. Which I just cannot believe he’s 8 already, can you??!
I’ll try to get one of him soon though!
Isn’t it fun with the two paint colors?
Perfect for that someone who loves sunflowers.
PIN it to save it!
I hope you enjoyed this one! It was fun to do with the different paint colors, etc. Even the “fix” was fun!
Happy 4th to all of my US friends!! Have a wonderful and blessed weekend!
xoxo
Hi Nancy… what I like most of your blogs is…you keep it real!! You show us how to fix mistakes. That makes you try new projects knowing there are ways to fix mistakes. I have had plenty of “Oops”. I think how to fix it, and the item turns out lovely.. if I didnt tell people they would never had known. Sometimes I just never say anything. The sunflower basket is lovely and can last you a few months through Fall if you wanted too.
Hi Lorri! I’m so glad you like seeing them! Sometimes I cringe about sharing my mistakes but I do feel like it could be helpful to others so I do it anyway! And yes, you are so right, this would be great for the fall too! Thank you!! :) xo
I love it! Yes, the two-tone looks great! I’ll have to try that. :)
Thank you, Cyndi! Yes, do!! xo
So pretty! I adore sunflowers and just saw the cutest sunflower outdoor pillows recently at Wal-Mart. I didn’t grab them that day but plan to get some soon. Happy Independence Day!🌻🇺🇸
Hi Vicki!
Thanks you! And yes, go back and get those pretty pillows! I always kick myself for not doing that too! Hope you had a wonderful 4th! xoxo
I love the two paint colors, great idea. The tray looks amazing but, honestly, I liked the goofy leaf too!
Thanks, Mary! That’s so funny, glad to know you liked it both ways!! :) xo
You absolutely cannot tell where you repainted it, Nancy. I’m amazed that you can paint over transfers and not see them at all underneath! Good to know in case something doesn’t work out 😉
Thanks, Marcie! Yes, they are so, so thin you really can. I did sand it a bit but even so, they are just that thin. And yes, so good since we have goofs sometimes! haha!
Hello!!!
Pretty tray…artsy!!!!
You will love your built-in porch. We had one screened in and it always too cold or hot out here. And it always seemed like you had to dust/sweep/clean-it -up before you could enjoy it out there. It seemed like such a bother to just go out there to have a cup of coffee. We built it in and LOVE it now. If you want to claim it as more square footage, you have to add a heating and cooling system. We put in a mini-split unit…AC and heating combo. At least that is the ruling in Arizona. Yes, we have windows all around and it is a great place to do art, needlework or reading or just to hang out. You will love it!!!
Hey there Addie, my friend! Thanks!! That is just about the same way I feel about our screened porch. I can’t wait to love mine too!! And yes, we are planning to HVAC in there too definitely! Will share once it’s done! xoxo
OHHHHHH!!! I can’t believe I am so dumb!!!!! My head is spinning from all the heat we have been having….so I came in to relax and read emails!!! I hit them wrong button….this time I saw it but it was tooooo late. It was the “click here to stop seeing these replies??”
I hope I didn’t mess it up again??? Your answer did go to the spam file and I marked it “NOT SPAM”. Is sorry….can you fix….again??? xoxo AD
Hey Addie!!
You are still subscribed!! Nothing happened! :) I hate that my email newsletters that people sign up for, go to SPAM! Ugh, it’s frustrating but hard to control. Glad you told them I wasn’t SPAM, haha!! Thank you!! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! xoxo
Beautifully done, Nancy. And just for the record I LIKED that leaf up there!
You sure gave this tray a nice new life now.
Grats on the home improvement – that’s a big undertaking. Will it just be a 3 season room? Or a 4 season room? Will it have HVAC? Just curious. It’s funny we moved here 22 years ago and the first thing we were going to do is put in a screened porch (mosquitos seek me out and chomp me to bits.) Still haven’t done it. And reading you are getting rid of yours. What irony. But then again you live in a very warm southern state. But still, I’d so love a screened porch!!!!!! Can’t wait to see how it progresses.
Happy Independence Day!!
Thanks, Michele!! And I love that you liked the goofy leaf!! :)
The room will have HVAC so it will just be another room of our home. (it opens to the living/kitchen area) When we moved here I loved the idea of the screened porch but never really used it. We’ve wanted to do this for years and finally are. I can’t wait to have it done so we can enjoy the new space! xoxo (PS: I hope you get your screeened porch soon!! :) )
Your tray looks wonderful, you did a great job with the color matching(twice!) and the tray itself is perfect for this design. You do meticulous work, thanks for showing us.
Thank you, Celia! So glad you like it! :) xo
I love the tray, Nancy. It is just too pretty. When you said, “oops”, I KNEW you’d fix it and have it turn out perfect! I have faith in you, and appreciate that you leave the so-called “boo-boos” for us. You’re ACES!!
Thank you, Caye!! You are so kind to say that! I don’t mind sharing my oops to help others. (although I sometimes cringe at the thought on some of them, haha!!) Hope you have a wonderful week, friend! xo