Burlap Lined Tray

I love trays! They are so useful and attractive just about anywhere in your home. Over the years I've accumulated (you might even say hoarded) a number of different types of trays. I have quite a stash of them in our storage building as well as around the house.  

I love seeing how other people use trays and when I saw the burlap lined tray that Yvonne made I knew I had to have one for myself! I recently came across a rustic divided tray at a local flea market for a whopping $17.50! I couldn't get to the register quick enough to pay for it! Shortly thereafter I bought some typewriter inspired burlap and made my own version of Yvonne's.

 

Here are the quick and easy steps I did to make my lined tray

Instead of gluing down the fabric to the inside of my tray, I decided to cover a form that would fit snugly into the tray but that I could remove when I wanted and/or change up from time to time.   I had a piece of  foam board that I had my husband cut to fit inside the two sections of the tray.      It wasn't precise but no one was going to see that foam board but me.   He cut the pieces just slightly smaller than the measurements taking into consideration the slight bulk of the fabric so it would be a nice, snug fit.

 I found the burlap at Joanne's Fabrics...the only place I could find the typewriter burlap

 

After that I used my foam board pieces as my pattern to cut two identical pieces of burlap.    Then while my husband pulled the fabric tight around all four sides of the foam board, I used heavy duty tape to tape it to the back....real technical I know!   When all four sides were taped down, I did a test run to see how it would fit and it was perfect!

This was my kind of project...quick and easy with big results!   

I put it on my "new" wicker trunk (more on that on another post) in the sun room but ultimately decided to put it on the coffee table in the den.

So here's where it ended up....on the coffee table in our den

(You can see the base of a fan in the left corner of this photo....we're in Alabama here and it's hot as all get out...even with the ceiling fan)

I love, love, love how it turned out!   Do you love trays as much as I do?