Welcome to my Dollar Tree DIY wood tray tutorial!
Do you want to see how I created this Dollar Tree DIY wood tray to contain my eyeglasses and everyday jewelry? Check out the video above as I share a DIY organizer which is my collaboration with Diana from Puzzle Organizing Projects. We share a passion for organizing and decided to do an affordable DIY organizer collaboration. Diana is kind and fun and just so chill as she shares her real life organizing tips. Here is her YouTube channel and her Instagram. I can’t wait to see what you make, Diana!
So, I needed a small tray to hold my eyeglasses and everyday jewelry because I am always knocking my earrings off my nightstand and scared that I will scratch up my glasses when I take a drink of water in the dark at night. Obviously, I need to place my eyeglasses on my nightstand so that I can see when I get up but I needed to contain my jewelry with it because, otherwise, if they aren’t together, I won’t remember to put my jewelry on and I will be on the rode and realize my hand and ears are naked. So, I have been intrigued by the DIY crafts on YouTube using these Tumbling Tower Game blocks and thought they would be perfect to create a Dollar Tree diy wood tray.
SOME TIPS SO YOU CAN LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES
I really want to get into wood-working someday. I don’t have the proper tools to do so but I thought this would be a good first try. This was my first time using Gorilla wood glue. And you will see with some fails that this is true. First mistake: I wish I did this on top of a Dollar Tree chopping mat. I actually keep these on hand just for projects but just didn’t use it. So, to compensate for everything sticking to the newspaper, I stood the blocks up to dry in between gluing certain sections together. Second mistake: I needed wood clamps. They would have made things a lot easier … and straighter. I struggled A LOT to keep the wood straight and flat. After the biggest part of the base dried, I peeled off and sanded any excess glue.
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MY JOURNEY FOR PAINT
I had some white spray paint on hand, so I took the tray out onto the patio and placed it in a box to limit paint from getting everywhere. Then, I ran out of paint and the tray definitely was not covered. So, I took that as an opportunity to paint it a different color. As I was ordering groceries through Walmart, I ordered the color I felt was closest to an emerald green to see how that would turn out. As I was painting, I was not liking the shade of green. However, I decided to give it a try because sometimes paint dries darker than it looks when it is wet. I let it dry and still didn’t like it. I realized my daughter had some black acrylic paint and thought I would give that a try. I barely had enough to cover a small portion of the tray!
It was time to pick up my daughter and I needed to pick up a rotisserie chicken (yep, a rotisserie chicken) so, after I picked up my daughter, we grabbed a chicken and some black satin-finish paint from Walmart, and I got to painting before the storm came. I was satisfied with the paint color. And, yes, I had to kill my perfectionism sharing a wonky tray as the pieces did not dry straight. But, I still love it! It does just what I need and I think it will look fine when I repaint my bedroom furniture. Don’t forget to check out Diana’s YouTube channel here. And don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel and click to notification bell so you never miss another organizing video.
Happy Organizing!
Author of “How to Organize Any Space in 7 Simplified Steps“