Photo Tray Turned Farmhouse Coffee Tray With Rustic Charm

This week I'm going to show you how to turn an Umbra photo tray into a Farmhouse Coffee Tray With Rustic Charm in a few easy steps. I paid a whopping $3.00 for the photo tray at the thrift store. The plan was to paint it white with some distressing and add a vintage graphic inside each photo frame but that's not at all what happened.

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.

Cheers

If you liked this idea on how to transform a Photograph Tray Into A Coffee Tray with rustic charm, please share it with a friend and/or save it on Pinterest.

Have I inspired you to look twice at the photograph frames often found on thrift store shelves?

If you missed it, last week I shared How To Repurpose A Jewelry Box Into Remote Control Storage.

Next Tuesday I will be updating a Vintage 12-Slot Cubby Organizer and decorating it for Valentine's Day. Until then I hope you have a great week.

I've shared this project at these fabulous THESE PARTIES.