Hand-Painted Tray

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This project took two days longer than I hoped it would.  I’ll thank a laundry invasion and the fact that I only worked on it for a little bit each day/night- you can tell by the varying light in the pictures.  But I really, really like the finished product.
Anyway, I began with what I had: A frame and a scrap piece of MDF (medium-density fiberboard), cut to fit inside the frame. 

The frame was perfect for a tray because of its deep sides. 

While the frame got a fresh coat of white paint (this frame has been around since the 70’s, and was hand-made by a friend of Mike’s grandma.  But it still needed new paint, and a new purpose.) I had my munchkin give the MDF an acrylic base coat of white.  MDF really soaks up paint, so you need a really good priming job. 
I drew a few sketches of what design to put on my MDF, and I decided on a random leaf pattern.  I am no artist, but I can do leaves!

Then I busted out my gray paint, and I started painting. 

And I’d mix in some white, and paint some more.

Then a pop of green!

I bought some Poly spray, water-based, because my experience with oil-based roll on poly was less than memorable.  I gave both the new white frame and the MDF a few coats.

I used wood glue to adhere the MDF to the frame; this worked great… without clamps, I just put my machine on top of it; it is the heaviest thing I own.  Don’t worry, it was only on the chair for this picture.

But the glue dried a lovely shade of… natural, so it is still peeking out a little bit.  I’ll forego bitterness this time, because it was nothing compared to my experience with the Epoxy… It is not easy to fight gravity while trying to glue handles to a tray!

But in the end, the handles stayed.

And someday, when I have a pretty gray guest bathroom, I can roll up towels (currently in the wash) and have q-tips and cotton balls in pretty apothecary jars.  Today, it is toilet paper and hair clips.

It is so pretty!!! I was tempted just to hang it, but I have white walls and it was a little too stark.  This works!

Of course, you could always use a regular frame, put some scrapbook paper under the glass, and add handles.  I didn’t have any of that on hand :)