Little Changes: Chevron Tray

I crafted!  Well...I repurposed!  And it was marvelous!  I feel this crafting urge might be coming back!

We originally bought this tray to be placed on the ottoman because honestly - that's where we eat 90% of our meals.  It's true.  And we needed a hard surface to place drinks but over time, we noticed that we used it less and less and for the last year or so it's just been in the pantry collecting dust.

I was doing some spring cleaning that involved cleaning out said pantry and it hit me that if I just painted the bottom it could really pop and liven the dark furniture up a little more.  I got excited and after I was done spring cleaning I sat down with my blue and green paint and tried to decide what I should do with it...

While I realize chevron is slowly phasing itself out and the trendier option would have been a lattice pattern of some sort, I knew that I could do the chevron pattern and trusted myself with it more.  Also, I didn't have to buy a stencil.

So I got out the painter's tape and taped off the entire circle.  I decided to put the blue on first and while I painted it on I realized that if I only left it at one coat, it had a bit of a beachy, reclaimed feel.  So after one coat I took the tape off and while it was a cute look, I decided to add green to it as well.

That I did by hand.  Yes, the professional would have waited for it to dry and retaped, but I have never claimed to be that patient, so I free handed the green.  It wasn't hard at all.  I wanted to leave a little bit of space between the blue and green to define a line.

Once the painting was done, I left it overnight to dry.  The next morning I came back with some light sandpaper and sanded it in a few places.  Then I grabbed a couple of my favorite tattered books and a little vase and ended up with this beauty:

And honestly I really like the feel of it, it's bright and bold and the ottoman really needed it!  I LOVE the end result and even my husband thinks it makes the room feel a little more "finished."  It may have been his way of telling me to dial it back on the little crafty additions, but I didn't hear it that way.

I wish I could take a better picture of how it pops in the room, but I took these pictures last week and well, I've been home sick and don't feel like cleaning chicken soup off the ottoman for a photo shoot about a tray.

So there it is - I'm now re-using my tray...even if drinks are no longer allowed anywhere near it.

I'll be linking this up!