Hi All! Recently we bought some new furniture for the family room so that we would have more seating when family and friends stopped over. The two recliners weren’t cutting it. My husband would be in one while my daughter was in other either with her hubby or kids piled on top. LOL. Then when we go to the living room for more seating the kids than fight over the two recliners. So now we have a couch, oversized chair and a large ottoman which will be used as an ottoman/coffee table. So, today’s project I am repurposing a cabinet door into a tray to be used on the ottoman.
Luckily, I had one left from one of our junkin trips. The other I turned into Farm Fresh Eggs sign.
The cabinet door was unpainted and no sanding was needed so I was able to jump right into painting.
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Supplies for Repurposing a Cabinet Door into a Tray
Large wood cabinet door
Paintbrush
Espresso acrylic paint
Stencil
Stencil brush
Mod Podge
Clear varnish
Two wrought iron handles
Four screws
Drill with bit
[tweetthis display_mode=”box”]How to make an ottoman tray from a cabinet door. #diyTray[/tweetthis]
Repurposing a Cabinet Door into a Tray
I was going to paint the tray, but the hubby suggested staining it. I really didn’t want to use an oil-based paint that would be sitting on top of my new ottoman.
Since the cabinet door that I would be using was unpainted raw wood I decided that I would do a wash using some acrylic paint and watering it down. The raw wood will absorb the paint like a stain and would dry much quicker. That way I can add the stencil the same day. Then just let it dry overnight.
In the past, I have had some of my stencils run a little bit when using Mod Podge. This time I decided to spray a very light coat of clear varnish over the area with the stencil before applying Mod Podge.
Once the clear varnish was thoroughly dry, I went ahead and applied Mod Podge to both sides to seal and protect.
While my new tray was drying, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to find me two wrought iron handles because I need like the ones that I had on hand.
When arriving back home I marked off where I needed to drill the holes for the new handles.
Then added the wrought handles to my new tray and TaDa I had me a new tray to set on the new ottoman. That’s all there is to repurposing a cabinet door into a tray. Having an unfinished wooden door made this an easy job. How do you like my new tray? I wanted to do it I a dark brown wash or paint but the hubby liked the lighter color. Which do you think would have looked better this light brown or a darker brown?
More Fun Projects You May Enjoy!
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Repurposed wood chair turned shelf
This is so cute! What an awesome way to use a cabinet door!
Thank you Christina! I does serve it’s purpose well. 🙂
One day my friend I’m going to learn to stencil as neatly as what you do. What’s the secret?
You should have seen my stenciling years ago when I first gave it a try. LOL a big runny mess. I found a stencil brush works best for me (not a stencil sponge). I get a paper plate and dip my brush in some paint then dab it off on the paper plate until I have just a little left on the brush. Then pick up some more off the plate until I need more than dip brush in paint and dab off on plate again. You want just a little bit on your brush or it will run under the stencil. You can do it, my friend! 🙂
Linda this is such a cute and practical tray. I love the stencil too. I think I need to look around to find one of these and steal your idea.
Thanks Mary! It was the perfect size that I was needing! I would love to see what you come up with!
Hi Linda! This is such a great way to reuse old cabinet doors. This is going to be my next DIY project. But the ones that I have had knobs on them so there is a hole on one side. How would you say I can cover that hole? Thanks!
Hi Jenne! I don’t think that it would matter. If you paint the tray and distress it would just add to the distressed look. But you could fill the hole in with wood putty then sand and paint or stain. Thanks for stopping by!
This is adorable. I love the stencil so much, really adds that vintage look to it.
Thank you Jenne, and thanks for stopping by! 🙂