Pottery Barn Wooden Tray Dupe

What’s the perfect project to kick off this year’s fall blog season? This cute Pottery Barn-inspired DIY tray. With its subtle pumpkin detailing, it’s the ideal decor piece to ease into fall.

I’ve wanted to create something using some of the fantastic peel-and-stick fall and Halloween wallpaper for years. There are dozens of fun, creepy, and moody options to choose from. I’m still toying with one day covering a closet or panty wall with one of these wallpapers. So, this project was a fun way to try out the idea.

Originally, I wanted to use the wallpaper to embellish the bottom and sides of a wooden tray. Then I found the Ashton Mango Wood Tray at Pottery Barn (PB). I loved this tray as a chic way to corral keys, coasters and TV remotes. I especially liked the subtle aluminum detail around the top and the handles. So, this tray became my inspiration piece.

To get started, I needed to find a similar-style tray. I picked up the tray below at the Dollar Tree.  While it is much smaller in size than the Pottery Barn tray, the color, shape and handle-style were a perfect match. Also, the compact size would fit much better on my end table. Not to mention, the PB tray was originally $149, and my finished tray was a fraction of the cost – at under $5.

Next, I had to select the wallpaper design.  To make this tray, I opted for the Pumpkins on White tone-on-tone design by My Wall Images from Etsy. Check out their page, I also love the Colorful Watercolor Spots wallpaper.

Since the tray I selected was small, I only needed to purchase a sample print of the wallpaper for this project.  However, I purchased two extra pieces just in case.

The first step was assembling the materials for the project. I already had most of the materials I needed left over from other projects.  It was super simple, so here goes.  

Supplies Needed:

• Wood tray
• Wallpaper sample
• Brown craft paint
• Painter’s tape
• Small paint brush
• Paint holder
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Xacto knife
• Scissors
• Squeegee
• Sanding block
• Clear matte polyurethane spray

Instructions:

1. Lightly sand the tray with a sanding block.
2. Use the ruler to make small pencil marks about ½ inch from the top of the tray on all four sides.
3. Use a ruler and a pencil to lightly connect the dots to form a straight line on each side of the tray.

4. Use painters’ tape to tape directly under each vertical pencil line on the tray. The tape should align on all four sides of the tray.

5. Place four strips of painter’s tape inside the tray. You want them along, but not covering the top edge of the tray.  This will leave the portion you are painting uncovered and prevent the paint from bleeding into the inside of the tray.
6. Firmly press all edges of the painter’s tape to the tray. 
7. Pour a small amount of brown paint into a paint tray or on a small paper plate.
8. Use a small paint brush to paint the untapped top edge of the tray. Use thin coats of paint. Repeat this process until none of the wood shows through.
9. Once thoroughly dry, remove the tape. 

10.  Use painter’s tape to protect the inside and outside of the tray to carefully paint the openings for the tray handles. Again, make sure to firmly press the edges of the tape down to prevent the paint from bleeding. 
11. To keep the paint from chipping and protect the unstained wood finish, you could coat the entire box in a coat of polyurethane and set aside to dry.  
12. Flip the box over. Align the wallpaper with at least two edges of the tray.   Lightly fold over any overlap.  This will make it easy to trim off any excess wallpaper.

13. Place the wallpaper in the tray. Lining up the top and left edges.  Again, carefully crease and fold the bottom and right edges snuggly into the corners.    
14. Use the Xacto knife to score and cut the excess paper on the bottom and right-hand side.

15.  Beginning in one corner begin removing the wallpaper backing. Use the squeegee to carefully press out any air bubbles and push the paper snuggly against the tray’s edges.
16. Continue to remove the paper backing and smooth the paper into place.
17. For the corners, you may have to cut a small “v” into the paper to get a snug fit.

 

Finished Project

And that’s it. This is a great project to do with kiddos (although parental help is needed for the cutting and trimming). I currently have a table runner under my tray. As an additional step, you may want to glue a few felt dots on the bottom of the tray to protect your furniture.  

I love how Pottery Barn dupe turned out. It’s simple, refined and a subtle enough nod to fall that I can set it out early in the season. For me, that means July – LOL. Let me know if you give this project a try – I’d love to see how it turns out for you.