My interior style is, for the most part, modern eclectic airing on the side of gender neutral. Around my house we like clean lines, cool, neutral tones and a few textural elements mixed in here and there to break things up a bit. Every now and again however I love to throw in a touch of glamour. Hey, I have to get my fix of femininity somewhere, especially in our masculine-leaning main living space.
When I came across this agate acrylic tray it was love at first sight. I had wanted to get a little drink tray for our living room and the stunning find would have made for the perfect one. The price tag however brought forth some very different feelings; $420 for a medium sized tray?!
Upon further review of the piece I became even more perplexed. The tray is made from photographs of agate stones, acrylic and drawer pulls for handles. It was practically begging to be recreated as a budget friendly DIY acrylic tray.
Inspiration in hand, I set out in search of the required materials for my DIY. My vision was to place a sheet of marbled paper between two pieces of acrylic and attach drawer pulls to either side to serve as handles.
I knew that I wanted to include subtle color and metallic in my tray so I began my hunt for the perfect marbled paper. This step was surprisingly more challenging than I imagined it would be. There are a plethora of options available for classic gray marbled paper but notably fewer if you’re looking for variations. Since I had previously made a gray marble tray I was adamant that I did not want to duplicate the look.
I eventually found this gorgeous paper at Mulberry Paper and More. It is thick, high quality wrapping paper, comes in numerous colors and ended up being absolutely perfect for this project.
A quick trip to Home Depot later for styrene sheets, a similar material to acrylic that costs a fraction of the price, and drawer pulls and I was ready to create my DIY tray.
MATERIALS
two drawer pulls
two sheets of 11″ x 14″ non-glare styrene
hand drill with various sizes of drill heads
INSTRUCTIONS
Step 1: Measure out where you want to place your handles. Using a permanent pen, mark where you need to drill holes for the drawer pulls on both sheets of styrene.
Step 2: Trace the size and shape of your tray on the back of your paper and cut with an Exacto knife.
Step 3: Drill eight holes, four on each sheet of styrene, large enough for your drawer pull’s screws to fit through.
Step 4: Place paper under one sheet of styrene and measure where the holes for the screws need to be made. Poke small holes through the paper in the corresponding spots with a nail, screw, pencil, etc.
Step 5: Clean sheets of styrene thoroughly with soap and water and dry carefully ensuring there aren’t any bits of drilled material, streaks or smudges on the surfaces.
Step 6: Lay your paper between the two sheets of styrene and attach the drawer pulls. The pulls act as both handles and anchors, keeping the two pieces of styrene together.
Step 7: Put your new DIY acrylic tray to use!
I am so pleased with how this DIY turned out. Not only is the tray incredibly sturdy and functional, it turned out even more beautifully than I could have hoped! The best part about this DIY? The grand total for materials came in under $30. That’s a far cry from the $420 price tag attached to the tray it was inspired by, proving once again that big style doesn’t have to cost big money.
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