Mix and Match: A Bedside Tray

Yesterday, Matt and I spent the day at home, watching movies, working on projects, and enjoying a cold January day off in our cozy apartment. When we watch tv and movies, we spend most of our time watching in our room. We only have makeshift side tables, right now, so we could use a bed tray of some sort. However, it's a luxury to purchase, so enter the creativity. As a gift a few years ago, Matt was given an art set full of colored pencils and pastels, inside a wooden case. Since we have plenty of space for our art supplies, I wanted to take the plastic cases from the wooden case and turn it into a bed tray.
(Picture: the wooden case, closed.)

Here is what I did:

1. I removed the plastic trays that were only barely held in place.
2. I covered the bottom of the case with mod podge (any decoupage paste will do).
3. I arranged the pictures and postcards, then applied another layer of mod podge to seal it.
4. Since, I want it to hold drinks, I covered the entire collage with a plastic covering, when the sealer was still wet, so it stuck.
5. Then, simply let it dry.
6. Then, enjoy!

You could do a theme or color scheme, or make individual tray specialized for each person, or do an eclectic design, like I did. The possibilities are endless. I already love it, and use it to hold magazines, my coffee, and books. If you do this, send me photos, I'd love to see what you can do.

Note: You could seal the two sides together to make it one large tray, but I chose to keep it like a case, that way it's easier to store and will stay in better shape.

(Picture: Finished Product and the tray in use)