Tray Re-Do

Here's a craft that has nothing to do with school.  Happy Memorial Day!

Before:

After:

You'll need a paint scraper, the acrylic paint colors of your choosing, and Mod Podge.  I also needed a little sanding block.

I'm not super pleased with how the design turned out.  I wasn't able to make the C more round and fancy doing it free-hand and I didn't have a stencil for it.  I also wish the gray color was lighter.  However, it was fun taking something gross and making it pretty!

I found the tray in my bathroom when I moved in my apartment.  I think it was originally plain wood and someone painted white and put down ugly contact paper.  It had then collected all the lovely residue that accumulates in bathrooms.

First, I found a good Lifetime movie to have on in the background:

Then, I scrubbed the tray like crazy with Clorox wipes and spent quite a bit of time scraping off the contact paper.

Once I got all the contact paper off and sanded it a bit, it looked like this:

I painted the bottom of the tray first so I could see if the color I chose was the right one and how many coats I'd need.

I let it dry and then used a technique I learned on Pinterest.  Put thumbtacks on the bottom of the tray so you can easily paint the sides!

Fully painted:

Then, I picked my paint colors for the decoration!

Again, I wish I'd used a much lighter gray, like the one from my frame makeover.  Maybe a lighter yellow, too.

I knew I wanted to do stripes with a C (for my first initial) on top.  I have seen gray and yellow and coral on a lot of decorator and craft blogs, so I decided to experiment.

I put painter's tape around the inside of the tray and started with yellow, since the gray stripes would go on top.  It would be easier than painting yellow on dark gray.  I put down painter's tape for the stripes and tried my best to make them evenly spaced.  

I gave up on using a ruler and just eyeballed it and started painting.

It looks like a bumblebee.  But I persevered.

I wish I had better directions for how I did my C, but I sketched it lightly in pencil freehand, and then took my Pink Melon paint and went for it.  I used a really skinny brush at first, but then switched to a stiff, angled one.

Close-up: You can see it's not perfect!

After I was done painting and it all dried, I added two coats of Mod Podge.

Here it is with a fruit bowl on it!

I decided to put it on my microwave.  I have 4 roommates and I'm slowly making my room as close to what a studio apartment is like as I can so I can feel like a grown-up lady with her own apartment.  Here's my little "kitchen area".  It's sad and wants a pretty tray.

Here you go, kitchen area!