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This DIYer Made a Trendy Decor Item with a Plain Tray and $15 of Hardware Store Finds

Megan Baker Detloff
Megan Baker DetloffHome Projects Director
Megan is a writer and editor who specializes in home upgrades, DIY projects, hacks, and design. Before Apartment Therapy, she was an editor at HGTV Magazine and This Old House Magazine. Megan has a degree in Magazine Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. She is a self-taught weighted blanket connoisseur.
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published Dec 26, 2020
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Before: plain wood tray on a console
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Credit: Tray: Walnut Hollow

Leave it to a DIYer to see an ordinary item and imagine greater potential. That’s what inspired the first season of Megan’s Mystery Makeover, where we mailed every DIYer a mystery item and had them make it over with just $50 in materials. This season, we’re adding even more of a twist.

For this round, we tasked three amazing DIYers to all transform the exact same piece: a plain wood tray. We chose this item because we figured it had a lot of potential—it’s solid wood, making it easy to paint or stain, and the large, flat surface made it a versatile canvas for our DIYers to put their own spin on.

A.V. of A.V. Does What was up first in the lineup, revamping the wood tray to create a stylish and practical lap desk that’s perfect for working from home. Next, Wendy of The Kwendy Home turned the same plain wood on its end to create an adorable kitchen spice rack that holds her hot chocolate-making supplies.

This week, it’s our final DIYer’s turn to give the tray a fresh twist. Amanda Walker of Dwell Aware has taken on plenty of DIYs in the quest to beautify her home, so she’s no stranger to the hardware store. That’s the exact place she headed to stock up for her project, picking up joint compound and a sample pot of paint to use in her tray transformation.

Watch the video above to see how she pulled it off—and how you can recreate the same look in your own home.

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