Why I'll Never Make Another 3-Tiered Tray. Probably.

My Attempt at Making a Three-Tiered Tray
You've likely been to the home décor stores and seen all the cute little three-tiered trays. Some are round, some are rectangular. Some are metal, some are wood. But pretty much all of them are... expensive!

For years now, I've been under the impression that I can make/fake just about anything, and I can do it CHEAPER. So, why wouldn't this concept apply to a three-tiered tray? Right?

Wrong. So, so wrong.

When I set out to make my very own farmhouse style tray, I thought it would be very straightforward and simple. Not to mention sooooo much cheaper than the $50-$100 these things cost in stores.

The Trays
The first thing I needed was, of course, the trays. In various sizes. Three of them. First, I searched and searched the thrift stores. I knew I'd seen trays there before. Heck, I'd even bought a couple and made them over. But could I find any this time? No. Not a one. Okay, there was one, but it had ceramic tiles glued to it. Bleck.

So, on to my never-fail source for everything... the Internet! There were LOTS of trays for sale there. On Amazon, Walmart, Ebay. Of course, the new ones were EXPENSIVE. Just to buy three of them, I might as well have purchased the finished product at Hobby Lobby. I needed something CHEAPER!

So, I found a cute set of nesting trays on Ebay. They had a sunflower pattern painted inside and were green outside, but who cared! They were PERFECT. I ordered them and waited for the mail to arrive with my oh-so-awesome thrifty nesting trays.

Well, they arrived. In a very tiny box. We're talking smaller than a piece of printing paper. Hmmm. Yep, upon opening them, I realized they might work for the top and middle tiers of my stand, but definitely not the bottom one. Back to the Internet.

I found another set of nesting trays on Amazon. They were big and got good reviews. A little pricey, but hey, now I was INVESTED. I ordered the trays.

Looking for similar trays?
Take a look at these nesting trays on Amazon

The Middle Pieces
Next, I needed the middle pieces. And what could work better than wooden candlesticks? Now, I
know I'd seen these at the thrift stores at least a hundred times. But could I find any? Yes. Two, in fact.... but that was after I'd already ordered four on Amazon.

Candlesticks on Amazon

This venture was getting awfully pricey. And it was about to get worse. I talked to Hubby about my awesome plan, and told him his role... to make the whole thing stick together in a way that was sturdy and could be carried around. We bought lots of hardware stuff. Metal rods that looked like giant screws and some kind of other screw-thingy for the top and a couple nuts and bolts and what not.

Then Hubby tried to drill a hole through the first, biggest candlestick... and cracked it. We realized drilling a perfectly straight, teensy hole through the middle of three candlesticks requires special equipment that we neither had nor could afford.

So, Hubby came up with method 2. The dowel method. He drilled out the tops and bottoms of the candlesticks and used a dowel to connect them, gluing the whole thing to the trays. See photos because I have no idea how to explain this.

As for the "pretty" bit, I just primed the trays with Zinsser primer. (Except the trays I ordered on Amazon. Those suckers were SHINY. So, I sprayed them with a thin layer of black spray paint first, hoping to add a little adhesive power, then I primed them.) And I painted them in an antique white.  I did the same to the candlesticks. I tried sanding for a distressed look, but because all the trays were different colors, textures, materials, this did not look good. So, I opted to do a dry brush technique.

 Using a dark, charcoal gray acrylic paint (just a Walmart craft paint called "Pavement") I dipped a rough paint brush, wiped it almost dry on a paper towel, then light brushed the trays, letting their texture pull small bits of paint off my brush.

Hubby assembled my trays. They are quite wobbly, but will likely hold together as long as I'm not too hard on them. I AM very happy with the result, but I would NOT do it again. Here's why.

• This was a lot of work and did not turn out very sturdy.
• Cost.

A breakdown of the cost:
Small sunflower trays on Ebay: $16
Amazon trays: $20
Candlesticks on Amazon: $16
Candlesticks from thrift store: $4
Dowel: $2
Pricey Hardware: Planning to return. I hope.
Paint and other stuff I had on hand already.

So, in total, this project cost almost $60. Now, granted I could make another tray. I have enough materials. But the price was enough I could have saved lots of time and headache just buying a new one that was sturdy and already assembled.

Lesson learned.

Well... maybe. :)

Read about this Farmers' Market Bench Makeover

Edison Lamp Bookends & A Clock

Edison Lamp Bookends - by What's On My Porch

EDISON LAMP BOOKENDS
I am often inspired by other people's projects, and these Edison Lamp Bookends are no exception. I was browsing Etsy when I came across a bookend with a light bulb in it. I loved it! But the design was rather simple for me. I wondered what it would be like to make my own bookends with a little embellishment. So, I got to work. Or rather, Hubby got to work--cutting boards and assembling them into cute little L-shapes.

I knew I wanted my bookends to have feet. I experimented with lots of ideas: including Tim Holtz feet and deals on Ebay and even those little rubber dots. In the end, I decided on a package of large wooden beads from Walmart. Sounds weird, but they were perfect, and the variety means I can get lots of different looks if I want to make more bookends!

I also knew I wanted corner details. The Tim Holtz corners work here. It's not as expensive
when I just use two in my design. Also, I LOVE vintage keys, and I happened to have a bunch that I purchased at a yard sale this summer... just waiting for a project. Also, my husband bought a toolbox with a length of old chain inside. Voila! I decided to string the chain across using eyelets to fasten it, then i just slid one of the keys onto the chain. It can be unhooked and fastened to just one side if you want to make room for more books.

The bulb is an Edison bulb that I bought online. The low wattage and amber glow are very
romantic, perfect for this project... plus you can see the cool looping filaments inside.

The bookends themselves I whitewashed and then stained a dark walnut to give them that old, weathered driftwood look. All-in-all I LOVE how they turned out.

Edison Lamp Bookends - by What's On My Porch

CLOCK

Alarm Clock Makeover - What's On My Porch

I purchased this sweet little alarm clock at Walmart. It was plain and silver, but I knew it had potential. I've been wanting to start a vintage clock collection, but I couldn't find a cool, rusted clock in my price range. So, I made one.

Alarm Clock Makeover - What's On My Porch

I started by disassembling the clock with a small screwdriver. Then I spray-painted the silver pieces black. I forgot about one of the hands (which was red) so I had to go back and do that one. I've probably disassembled and reassembled this thing twenty times. (And now I have to do it again because I didn't get the second hand on tight
enough and it's not moving--sigh.)

Alarm Clock Makeover - What's On My Porch

I also found a cute clock face online (I like roman numerals). I manipulated the size in Photoshop and printed it on some script scrapbook paper, although regular would do. Then I coffee stained it. I was bummed because my printer is left-brained, and I am not, so I accidentally printed it upside down... this means my script is upside down while my clock face is right side up. Sigh again. but I decided to just go with it.

After the silver parts were spray painted, I gave the whole thing a coat of acrylic flat brown (not glossy). Then I faux rusted it using burnt sienna (an orangey brown), gray, and just a little copper. I dabbed these on randomly with a sponge brush until I got the look I wanted.

I glued the clock face over the old one and put the clock back together. I LOVE it! It does still work, but the alarm hand got messed up during the re-assemble, and now I have no idea how to set the alarm to the right time. But that wasn't really the point, so I'm still happy. :)

Family & Adventurer Wood SIGNS

Today I finally finished two excellent wood signs I've been working on for AGES! They are made from reclaimed pallet wood: sanded, stained, hand-painted and sealed with LOVE. 

 

Garden Gate Doors

Garden Gate Doors by What's On My Porch

I am a junk-junkie. So when I saw a stack of vintage wood on the curbside I thought, "I can do something with that!"

"Welcome" Garden Gate Door by What's On My Porch - Find me on Etsy.

A couple months later, the wood was still on my porch. I knew it had potential, I just didn't know what. So, I began using the individual boards to make cute little Welcome signs. But I still didn't know what to do with the larger pieces of tongue-and-groove board. Then I found a beautiful garden gate that someone had painted words on and I KNEW!

I put Hubby to work cutting the boards into gate shapes while I scoured the known world for cool, old hardware. Then I chose a background color, a design and got painting! These Garden Gate Doors are the result. I am addicted to making these cute wooden doors!

If you like them, check out my ETSY SHOP or FACEBOOK PAGE and get one for yourself! 

Garden Gate Doors by What's On My Porch - Find me on Etsy.