Wood and Metal Tray Makeover (napkin decoupage)

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Wood and metal tray makeover with metallic paint and napkin decoupage! 

Hello friends!

We are still working on our hall bath over here but I did manage to get one of my most recent hauls done and am sharing it today. Fun, fun!
If you missed it, I shared my most recent thrift store haul last week, you can see it here >>> Thrift Store Finds & More

I’m going to be working on painting the bathroom floor hopefully this week so stay tuned over on Instagram. I’m so excited about it!
I’ll be sharing as I go and can’t wait to see how it works out…hopefully good! lol
Hopefully, it will be as amazing (and well done ;) ) as I’m envisioning it. We’ll see!

Just to recap, here is my most recent haul…

thrift store items in their "before" state

And here is what I’m doing today…

Wood and metal tray before

I knew I wanted to put some kind of napkin decoupage on the bottom of this tray and decided to go with this one.

I began by cleaning it up and wiping it down.
Then I gave it a whitewash using white paint that I had very much watered down.

metal and wood tray with whitewashed bottom

Simple really.

whitewashed wood tray

But look how different it looks already.

I originally thought I’d just whitewash the metal pieces too but didn’t really love it.

metal corner tray whitewashed

I’ll come back to that in a minute.

First, let’s look at this pretty napkin that I decided to decoupage with.

napkin laid in wood tray

I just pressed it into place and ran my finger along the seams. That left a crease in the napkin so I could easily cut it.

napkin upside down showing cut lines

cut napkin in place inside wood tray

Then I applied the decoupage gel to the bottom of the tray…

bottom of tray with decoupage gel brushed in

And gently laid the napkin in place, pressing firmly but oh so gently so as to not rip it.

gently pressing down the napkin

One of my readers (Cecilia?…forgive me, I can’t remember) here told me about using plastic wrap so it won’t stick like your fingers will.

Once it was all in place I let it dry then I decided to paint the metal with this metallic paint.

small jar of brushed steel metallic paint

I LOVE the look! So much better.

Here you can see the one on the left that I painted and the one on the right that got the wash.

showing one side with metallic paint and the other side without

Once it was all dry I decided to apply my matte poly to everything.

So sweet…

gold mirror with decorative tray

The napkin decoupage gives it a nice little touch.

decorative tray with pink flowers

Lots of things you can do with a tray like this.

Keep your perfumes in it…use it for hand towels (napkins) in the bathroom, jewelry, mail, etc.

Or soaps and washcloths for guests…

decorative tray with soaps and white washcloths

up close of napkin decoupage

Unfortunately, the stain underneath came through but I decided to call it character rather than fret over it! lol

top view of wood tray

But I’m loving that Brushed Steel metallic paint.

up close of metal corner painted in brushed steel

And that only took one quick coat. Love that too!

up close of whitewashed wood

Everything is a win in whitewash too.
It’s SO easy to change up wood this way…so quickly and easily.

PIN it to save it!

Wood and metal tray makeover with metallic paint and napkin decoupage! artsychicksrule.com

A super fun little craft to do!

Stay tuned for this next one from the haul!

UPDATE!! You can see this one now, here.

Hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be sharing more of this haul later this week. :) Stay tuned! (and the hall bath floor makeover too)

xoxo


23 Comments

  1. Love it..šŸ¤© I will remember to put a primer like Boss on the bottom of the tray when doing my thrifted piece. Thanks for all your ideas…. I’m wondering what u r going to do with your round wood disc???

    1. Yes, that will definitely help! Or Zinsser BIN primer with Shellac would work too. I am going to do something for spring with that one I think! :) xo

  2. Hey Nancy!! I love what you did to this tray. I love making over trays but they are not big sellers in my booth. Maybe I should stage them differently? I dont know but I have used deco papers, transfers, napkins, everything. I love them.

    1. I LOVE making over trays but I’m sure they are not the most exciting thing! lol And yes, I bet if you stage them “in use” with different ideas that might get people thinking about how they could use them in their own homes. :) xo

  3. This is a cute tray and as usual you did a great job. I love decoupage but donā€™t always have the best luck with it, it doesnā€™t dry and disappear but leaves streaks if it gets on other parts of the project. Loved your thrift shop day with your daughter she is gorgeous and you two look so much alike!

  4. The tray turned out nice! I can see some cute feet on the bottom (I’m on a spindle binge!). Glad the plastic works good for you. You have a nice pile of treasures from your thrifting trip; looking forward to seeing what you do with all of it!

    1. Thanks, Cecilia! Yes! I considered putting little knob feet on this one actually. :) And yes, the plastic wrap is a great idea! I’m so glad you shared it. Can’t wait to play with the rest of the goodies now. xoxo

  5. What a cute makeover! I love the tissue design you used. The fact that the stain sort of pops through really gives it character. The brushed metal is a nice finishing touch! Love this in a bathroom for soaps, etc. – just like you styled it. Enjoy the rest of your week!

    1. Thank you, Sue!! I’m so glad you think so too! Character, yes! I really loved the metallic paint…it really transformed it! Have a wonderful weekend!! xoxo

    1. It was fun!! I am really loving decoupage lately… and that metallic paint was a fun finishing touch this time! Happy weekend to you! xo

  6. Hello, Nancy,

    I enjoy your site and your creative and easy-to-follow makeovers–thank you! I have a couple of questions that I hope you may answer for me.

    1. How do I access a certain post on your Instagram page? When I follow the link about a particular makeover from this page, your main Instagram page opens, but I don’t know how to find the particular post I’m looking for–the page is just filled with lots of photos, but not the makeover post from this page. I do have an Instagram account, but I’m not very knowledgeable about how it works.

    2. Since you collaborate with Prodigal Pieces, would you be interested in conveying a message? For weeks I’ve tried to access that site from your page when you provide links to your friends’ makeovers, but the bottom of her page is covered with a semi-transparent band that blocks entry. I’ve also tried accessing the site directly from the Internet, and the band is always there. Perhaps she would like to check how her page is working, in case others are also denied access to her site. Since I can’t access the site, I can’t send a message about this problem.

    Thank you–I send wishes for a lovely weekend!

    Leigh

    1. Hi Leigh!
      Okay, so most of those that I speak of is in the “stories” which is when you click on my profile picture over there. Those only last 24 hours though. If you don’t catch them when I post, you will miss them, unfortunately. And yes, absolutely, I will pass that info along to Larissa over at Prodigal Pieces! xoxo

  7. I love your tray makeover! I just bought a really ugly one at Goodwill the other day. I’ve been looking at it, trying to see the beauty lurking somewhere in there… it’s not jumping out at me. Ha! But you’ve given me another possibility. I was thinking of putting tile on the bottom. I have lots of extras lying around in the garage from past projects. Anyway, I really enjoy your projects. Thanks for lots of inspiration.

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