turn an accent table into a decorative tray
decorating,  DIY

Easily Turn an Accent Table into a Decorative Tray

This easy DIY project to turn an accent table into a decorative tray only took me ten years to finish.

Ten. Years.

If I don’t win the procrastination prize of the day, I’m going to get around to feeling sad later.

Don’t overlook old, wobbly accent tables because they no longer function well as accent tables. You know, because of the wobbly part.

All you have to do is cut the legs off of the accent table and use the top of the table as a decorative tray.

Seriously! A little chip, a little chop. Boom!

It is that easy to turn an accent table into a decorative tray. I swear it won’t take ten years.

turn an accent table into a decorative tray

I don’t have before pictures of this project because I wasn’t blogging ten years ago.

I used the decorative tray as it was for years in various places and it was perfectly fine. You can see it in this post of our home in Ireland when I used it to hold towels in our hot press. (I also explained what a hot press was in that post.)

For the longest time (hence the procrastination part) I thought the decorative tray needed one little thing to finish it off.

Feet!

turn an accent table into a decorative tray

Last week I picked up four 1 1/4-inch wood ball knobs from Hobby Lobby. A 4-pack was $1.99.

The ball knobs come unfinished and these particular knobs have one flat edge.

I stained the knobs to match and affixed them to the bottom of the tray. You can use double-ended screws for this or maybe just wood glue if your tray won’t get heavy use.

turn an accent table into a decorative tray

It took ten minutes to finish this project.

So, ten years and ten minutes later, I have a perfectly unique decorative wood tray that I made from an accent table.

Alternatively, you could turn an accent table into a decorative tray by adding handles to it. A round accent table could even be turned into a lazy Susan. There’s so much potential and plenty of ways to breathe life back into an old accent table.

I hope this post has inspired you to take a second look at all the old furniture you see at garage sales and thrift shops. If you do make something out of an old table, I’d love to see it!

Happy creating!


I couldn’t find the exact ball knobs I used online, but here’s a link to the 1-inch ones at Hobby Lobby. Amazon does carry  1 1/4 inch ball knobs, but they are four times as expensive, so don’t buy them there unless you don’t want to leave your house. I can’t blame you for not wanting to leave your home. I frequently have the same feeling about my own home.

The wood finish on my decorative tray was looking a little tired and dried out. I used my favorite Howard Feed-N-Wax Wood Polish and Conditioner with beeswax to condition it. You just rub the conditioner on with a soft rag or paper towel and it gives the wood back a lovely lustre. Plus, it smells really good.


Thanks for coming on this journey with me! Here’s some more light reading to round out your day. 

DIY Personalized Wood Hangers – these would make a great and inexpensive Christmas gift!

Display Shelf from a Silverware Tray – The key is to have a wood silverware tray to work with.

Leather Wrapped Rock Paperweight – Also could be a cool Christmas gift.

DIY Leather Drawer Pulls – I do love creative knobs and pulls! This DIY version was so much cheaper than buying leather pulls online and a year later they are still holding strong!

 

*affiliate links in this post*

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