I’m pretty excited to share this post.  This was a really great thrift find.  Granted it was ugly, but I only paid $1.42 for this wooden tray at my local Salvation Army.  Now that’s a deal!  But, what I’m really excited about is the transformation.  Using paint I already had, I hand painted on this Ikat design in grays and green.  Now it’s a tray I would happily pay much, much more for.

See, it was ugly.  The yellow was awful and chipped and scratched.  And it had some faux cork looking vinyl stuff stuck to it.  I scraped all that off and then gave the whole thing a coat of white paint.

Then I drew out my design and painted on my custom ikat pattern.  It was a lot of fun to do.  I tried to take good DIY pictures along the way, and I hope to have instructions and my technique posted on how to create your own Ikat on the blog tomorrow (maybe I’ll even do a short DIY YouTube Video).  Wouldn’t this be fantastic on the front of a dresser or along on a wide frame?

I plan to have a piece of glass cut for the top on the tray.  Then I don’t have to worry about water rings or scratches.  But, I was just too excited to share this, so the glass will come later.

The color combinations are endless.  I chose my usuals, two tones of gray and little green.
Is this something you would like to attempt?

Just for interest, here’s what the items on the tray are:
A brass camel shaped lock that I bought in the souq in Sanaa, Yemen.
A couple hand painted green bowls that I bought in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey.
And the little green vase has a few sprigs of vintage mercury glass Christmas ornaments that I bought at the Pasadena Flea Market.