Photo Tray Turned Farmhouse Coffee Tray With Rustic Charm

Photo Tray Turned Farmhouse Coffee Tray With Rustic Charm

This is what the tray looked like before...


This makeover took on a life of its own when the sheen on the tray would not hold the white paint. Most often with chalk paint, you do not have to prep or sand before painting but in this case, I had to use my mouse sander to give the paint some bite. Patches of paint remained on the tray as I was sanding and I was liking the rustic charm that was beginning to happen. That's when inspiration struck and Plan B was born.


I dry brushed the white chalk paint in long random strokes, letting some of the bare wood show through. Then I began dry brushing layers of color starting with Rocky Mountain (dark gray). For the final paint layer, I added very subtle brush strokes of the color Louis blue. Once dry, I applied clear wax using a lint free rag and the layers of color popped.

I removed the photograph mat (keeping it for a future project) and glued two sheets of rustic barn wood scrapbook paper together and cut it to size to fit under the glass (which unfortunately was not removable).


With one of my favorite stencils that I purchased from Funky Junk Interiors, I applied it onto the scrapbook paper using the color Rocky Mountain again.



If you look closely you can see that I filled in the stencil bridges on the letters using a script liner art brush.


After I assembled the frame, I wrapped jute twine around each handle and hot glued it in place. Then I dry brushed both the Rocky Mountain and White chalk paint colors over the jute to age it a bit.

TIP:  Use old Pringle containers to store twine, rope, and colored string. Simply use a hole punch in the center of the plastic lid and run the rope through it (pictured above). It's so handy.

Such a quick and easy makeover and what a difference some scrapbook paper can make.



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