Rustic Pallet Serving Tray
It’s amazing how serving food on a rustic tray can elevate your standard meal or dessert into an elegant occasion. This simple decorative rustic pallet serving tray is a simple project anyone can do!
Rustic Pallet Serving Tray
When I worked on a deck makeover with my sister, Caitlin (of Symmetry Designs), we shopped for a lot of the accessories ahead of time. She wanted me to find the perfect Bali-esque tray. Unfortunately I was coming up empty-handed. But, sometimes, you just have to DIY it! This Rustic Pallet Serving Tray was the brainchild of my sister, but I took her idea and ran with it.
Here’s how to make one for yourself.
Materials:
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- Pallet wood or rustic boards
- Thin Birch Plywood
- Piece of paper the diameter of your tray
- Pencil
- Metal ruler
- Scissors
- Gorilla Glue
- Hand weights
- jigsaw (or Band Saw)
- Dremel Multi-Max or Sandpaper
- Drill
- Drill bits
- 2 Drawer Pulls
Instructions:
Fold a piece of paper into eights. Cut a design along the edge. (I used a simple scallop shape like this “}”.)
When you unfold the paper, you should have a paper template to use for tracing.
Trace the template onto a piece of thin plywood.
Use a jigsaw or band saw to cut out the shape. You might find this tutorial helpful for cutting out intricate shapes.
Lay your plywood shape on top of the rustic boards. Move the boards around until you like the sections that will make up the tray. Mark a square around the shape with a ruler.
Cut the boards down to size using the pencil mark as a guide.
Dry fit the boards together on the plywood shape.
Wet both the plywood shape and the boards with a damp rag.
Apply Gorilla Glue to the plywood shape.
Set the rustic boards into the glue on the plywood shape.
Weigh the boards down with weights or heavy books.
Allow to dry for at least an hour. Remove the weights and clamp the boards onto a work surface (with the area needing to be cut hanging over the edge. Make sure there is clearance for the jig saw blade. You’ll need to cut half the boards and then turn and re-clamp to cut the entire circumference. The Rockwell JawStand works beautifully for this task.
Draw a pencil line 1 inch out from the plywood shape. Cut around the pencil line with a jig saw.
Sand edges and grooves with sandpaper or Dremel Multi-Max.
Measure and mark the location of the handles on the tray.
Pre-drill holes using a bit that is the same size as the handle screws.
Flip the tray over and drill countersink holes with a larger drill bit.
Attach the handles with the screws. The screw heads should sink into the plywood.
If you want a truly rustic look, lightly sand your handles.
If you are going to use your tray for food, use a plate or doily under the food.
What do you think? Do you like this beautiful rustic tray? Think you could make one? I bet you could!
You can see this tray and our Bali-inspired deck makeover here.
Now that is absolutely genius! I love the use of old handles, I actually have a few that would be perfect for this and my grandma would love being able to use one of these as her tea serving tray when guests come over!
Thank you so much for sharing this you’ve inspired an old dad looking for something to do with a pile of pallets!
Love this artistic tray, you sure have a magical hand Brittany. 🙂 Keep it up!
This is GORGEOUS! And I love that we have the same idea of using our dumbbells;)
I love it! Anything to do with pallets makes my heart pitter patter! I’m going to be posting my DIY Pallet Frames that remind me of this tray very soon! Come swing by when you get a chance 🙂
http://www.mommystoolbelt.com
This turned out amazing!! Love the detail and craftsmanship! The design is so unique! You are super handy 🙂
Love the combination of the lovely Moroccan shape with the pallet wood! Great job- wish I had just half the tools you have, girl!!! 🙂
Oh my, this I Love Brittany. You could also make it as a lazy Susan tray. This is a keeper for me, Thanks!
I’m totally stealing this idea. Thanks!
Love the tray, very nice!