Last week, I traveled to Colorado to see my daughter and help prepare for her baby shower (for logistical reasons the hostesses had the shower in my daughter's home).
The night before the shower we were rearranging furniture and realized there were not enough surfaces for all the guests to put their drinks down. My daughter's sofa is a sectional, similar in configuration to this one, with a large ottoman instead of a coffee table.
With twelve hours before guests would arrive, we did some brain-storming. We needed a huge tray. We felt that two smaller trays would feel too cluttered. Twelve hours doesn't give you time to order something from Pottery Barn, so we headed out to the only stores open at that hour -- Hobby Lobby and Target.
HL had some great trays, but they were all either too small, or woven. We worried that a glass would tip too easily on a woven tray. Target had a few trays, but they were too small, too plastic, or too warped. Then we saw this:
A bulletin board! It was big, flat, and had clean lines that would work with my daughter's modern furniture. We didn't want it to look like we just plunked a bulletin board onto her ottoman, so we also bought these:
It took about fifteen minutes and a drill to create this:
We simply marked where to drill holes to attach the handles, drilled the holes, then attached the handles. That's it! There was a white decal in one corner of the frame that we scrubbed lightly with a Brillo pad, then we touched up that area with a black Magic Marker.
Keeping the styling very simple worked well with my daughter's decor. If I were to do this for my own home, I might have added some molding and distressed the tray a bit -- this project can be adapted to any style! The tray got lots of attention at the party -- everyone loved it. Even the son-in-law liked it!
This tray cost around twenty-three dollars to make, but if you used a thrifted bulletin board, you could cut the cost in half.
We liked the cork surface for its practicality and its beautiful texture, but of course you could cover it with burlap, fabric, or paper to make the project your own.
The night before the shower we were rearranging furniture and realized there were not enough surfaces for all the guests to put their drinks down. My daughter's sofa is a sectional, similar in configuration to this one, with a large ottoman instead of a coffee table.
HL had some great trays, but they were all either too small, or woven. We worried that a glass would tip too easily on a woven tray. Target had a few trays, but they were too small, too plastic, or too warped. Then we saw this:
A bulletin board! It was big, flat, and had clean lines that would work with my daughter's modern furniture. We didn't want it to look like we just plunked a bulletin board onto her ottoman, so we also bought these:
It took about fifteen minutes and a drill to create this:
We simply marked where to drill holes to attach the handles, drilled the holes, then attached the handles. That's it! There was a white decal in one corner of the frame that we scrubbed lightly with a Brillo pad, then we touched up that area with a black Magic Marker.
Keeping the styling very simple worked well with my daughter's decor. If I were to do this for my own home, I might have added some molding and distressed the tray a bit -- this project can be adapted to any style! The tray got lots of attention at the party -- everyone loved it. Even the son-in-law liked it!
This tray cost around twenty-three dollars to make, but if you used a thrifted bulletin board, you could cut the cost in half.
We liked the cork surface for its practicality and its beautiful texture, but of course you could cover it with burlap, fabric, or paper to make the project your own.
Hope you liked this quick, easy project!
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