Upcycled Old Metal T.V. Trays

Hello again! Did you all have a wonderful weekend? I pretty much just stayed home (saves money that way!) and worked on bringing some spring inside! We already have blossoms on trees and flowers blooming here. It’s probably too early, but it’s so beautiful, it’s hard to complain! I did get to work on a couple of projects too.

I have had these trays for years and could never really decide what to do with them. I have always used them for decorating outside because I felt like the floral design just lent itself to be outdoors. But they never had a specific purpose. I don’t know why this took so long to figure out, but an idea finally came to mind-at least for one of them.

floral metal trays makeoverfloral metal trays makeover single tray

I dug through some letters I have had for awhile and found enough to sort of make the word ‘garden.’ I had to add the leg for the ‘R’ and an extra line for the ‘E’, but I managed to make it work. I planned on doing the word ‘summer’ on the other one, but I didn’t have enough letters.

floral metal trays garden letters

Now that I have my letters, I put a little glue on the back of each one and placed them on the tray. Probably a spray adhesive would have worked better, but I didn’t have any, so I went with what I could.

floral metal trays garden layout

For the other tray, I tried covering the design with burlap and spraying around it.

floral metal trays burlap

With the letters attached on the first tray and lined up, I started spraying lightly over the top with white spray paint. I always use the Rustoleum 2X paint. Love this stuff!

floral metal trays garden painted

Once I knew the letters would stick, I sprayed more layers of paint. It’s best to spray several light layers and let the paint dry in between. Once the paint was dry, I removed the letters.

floral metal trays floral garden

I didn’t like how the second tray turned out, so I tried something different. I printed out 3 large flowers, laid them on top and sprayed around them. I didn’t like this either, so I am going to have to come up with a whole new plan. I will probably spray the whole thing white and then stencil something on top.

floral metal trays flower cutouts

On the first tray, I sanded a little around the edges and over the top. I still wanted it to look like it belonged outside. After the sanding, I sprayed a clear sealer over the top to add some protection for the outdoors. I also added drawer pulls to the edges so it could be used as a tray for serving. At least one out of two turned out good!

floral metal tray styled

I love how a little bit of the floral peeks through.

floral metal tray garden closeup

I wish it was warm enough to actually use this right now!

floral metal tray garden letters

floral metal tray with glassware

Hopefully it won’t be too long before we can enjoy a nice glass of tea out in the garden. Are you ready for spring? Have you started any spring projects yet? I would love to hear about it!

Sunshine and Blessings

20 thoughts on “Upcycled Old Metal T.V. Trays”

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  2. Mary-The Boondocks Blog says:
    Reply

    What a lovely idea ! To have the flowers peek through and really make it look like there is a garden in your tra y!!

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  6. Rebecca says:
    Reply

    Your tray turned out wonderful. I love how just a little of the floral pattern shows through. I’m sure it will make eating outside a little more special this summer.

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