Mmm...Leftovers

After Thanksgiving, I always have leftovers on my mind. I enjoy hosting at our house, not only because my wife is an incredible cook, but also because I get the leftovers to myself. The favorites this year have been: turkey dinner II, Who Hash, potato soup, and - of course- the longed for post-Thanksgiving gobbler.

So, in the spirit of Thanksgiving (Well, at least in the spirit of leftovers), I sought to tackle a project using excess materials from our bedroom makeover.


And, as you can see from my basement, there are a lot of them.

I wanted to create a serving tray that we could on top of the ottoman in our livingroom. I recently saw one while at dinner at a friend's house and thought it was a good idea. Full disclosure: I'm a spiller. If you can fill it, I can spill it. So, anything that puts a barrier between my pint glass and the new furniture set gets the green light from me.Prices online for wood serving trays run $30-$100.

First, I found the three best pieces of scrap beadboard for the bottom of the tray. All our scraps were 2 feet in length.

I measured the ottoman and determined that the best size serving tray wuold be 20x26. This would give me the widest space possible without hanging over the furniture.

I then cut the beadboard to fit.

For the side of the tray I used leftover battens from the bedroom wall woodwork.

After cutting the sides, I nailed to the beadboard using finish nails.

Three sides done.

For handles, I wanted to keep it simple. I decided to use rope I found in the basement. I have no clue what it is leftover from, something isn't flailing in the wind somewhere. I then found a drill bit that was about the same width of the rope.

I cut two 3 inch pieces of wood and clamped them together. The plan was to drill right down the seem to make sure the distance would be even on both sides.

And it worked.

I then centered the wooden handle support on the side of the tray. I made sure to put two finish nails through the rope on the handles. The final step clip the excess rope from the bottom of the handle. After this, it's all paint.

Two coats of high-gloss white paint later and we're done. Pretty good for leftovers.