DIY Wooden Tray

Now that summer is almost over… I finally got around to making a wooden tray that I plan to use to bring food and dinnerware out to our patio! Better late than never I guess ha! In this post I give you my detailed tutorial on how to make this beauty! It’s easier than it looks 🙂

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Supplies

Large piece of plywood (mine is 12″x24″)
Strips of pine wood (mine are 2″x3′
Gorilla Wood Glue
Clamps
Miter Saw
Table Saw
Stain (I used Minwax Provincial)
Paint (semi gloss is probably best)
Polyurethane
Hardware pulls
Drill & Drill Bits

Step 1: Determine the size of your tray

I wanted my utensil carrier to fit on the tray so I needed my tray to be 12″x24″. You can really choose any size you want!

Step 2: Sand all of your wood

Make sure to sand the base of the tray along with the strips of pine. Prep work makes the dream work 😉

Step 3: Start assembly

With the design I chose I needed to start with the five long strips down the middle of the tray. When cutting the pine pieces with your miter saw to fit on the base, make sure you leave room so that the entire base is covered. Leave some of the pine pieces sticking out over the base (we will cut these off later!)

Glue each piece in place and secure with clamps. Allow for 24 hours to dry!

Step 4: Finish assembly

Using the same technique you did in step 3, start adding the side designs to the base. Glue the side pieces in place, clamp them and let dry for 24 hours.

Step 5: Cut the off the extras

Using a table saw to (or if you have a really steady hand a jig or circular saw) rip the little extra edge pieces off of the base. Thank dad 🙂

Step 6: The fun part! Staining and painting!

I decided to stain the entire tray except the give long middle strips. So sanded the entire tray down, wiped the dust of and taped off the pieces I did not want to stain.

I then taped off the stained sections and painted the five strips with 2 coats of paint.

Step 7: Cut outside edge pieces

Measuring the outside edges of the tray, cut four edge pieces to frame the tray with your miter saw. Stain them!

Step 8: Secure edges to base

Use your nail gun and glue to secure the outside edges to the base of the tray.

Step 9: Seal the Tray

Sealing the entire tray with polyurethane will preserve the tray and protect it from water spills.

Step 10: Add the handles

Find the center of end edges of the tray and then determine where to drill the holes for the hardware pulls. Using a drill and drill bits secure the pulls onto the tray