A Beautiful DIY Footed Wood Tray with Handles

Interested in a unique way to display a centerpiece, vignette, or even a charcuterie? Use a beautiful DIY-footed wood tray with handles! We’re so excited to show you how we made this gorgeous and functional decor piece!

When we were living in Kentucky, we decided to remove the carpet from our stairs and replace it with hardwood treads.

Rich used red oak to make the treads and he had several scrap pieces leftover from each.

He said they would be perfect to make a cutting board.

I was thrilled about the idea, but then we decided to move to Florida, and the project was put on hold.

When we packed up, the scrap wood came with us.

It sat in the garage for several months and then, I asked Rich if he could make a footed tray with handles instead of a cutting board.

That way I could use it to decorate and display decor items rather than use it as a true cutting board.

However, I still wanted to finish it like a cutting board, so it would be food safe for charcuterie.

He said sure, I’ll figure it out!

So, I went shopping for handles and feet, and here’s how we made this gorgeous DIY wood tray!

Steps to make a DIY wood tray

Gather

Gather or purchase the following items to complete this project:

• Strips of wood at least as long as you want your tray to be. Usually various widths (a couple of inches wide). I would suggest 1″-1 1/2″ thick. (Common woods are cherry, acacia, beech, teak, maple, oak, and walnut) – Use your leftovers or purchase from Home Depot
• Gorilla Wood Glue
• Several Bar clamps
• Level
• Orbital Sander/Sandpaper
• Tried and True Original Wood Finish -Amazon linked below
• Tack Cloth
• Lint Free Cloth
• Steel Wool
• Planer (optional)

Adhere boards together

1. First, decide how many wood strips you will use.
2. Layout all your wood strips like you want them on a flat surface. I laid out several 2X4s to elevate my strips above the floor. It is good to have a mixture of grain patterns. You could also have strips of different types of wood to mix.
3. Start with the leftmost piece of wood and coat the inside of each strip with Gorilla glue.
4. Use a small piece of wood or scraper to even out the glue and remove excess.
5. Do not put glue on the outside of the rightmost strip.
6. Now slide the strips together as evenly as possible.
7. Use several bar clamps along the length of your strips to compress them together. I used one across the top, middle, and bottom. Tighten until snug. You might take a level to help line up the surface of the strips.
8. Let them dry per the glue instructions, if not longer.

Sand OR Plane

• Our strips were much longer than needed, so first we sawed off one end to get our desired length of 32 inches.
• Since our strips were leftovers from a prior project and not cut specifically for this it was more difficult to get the horizontal surface smooth and level.
• If you are fortunate enough to own a planer, it is very easy to pass your glued-together wood strips through the planer until things are nice and level, and smooth
• If you do not own a planer then you must use a level, sander, and sandpaper to go over your wood strips and smooth out the surface that way. We do not own a planer so we went over and over them with an orbital sander and sandpaper until we got things smooth.

Seal

• Now that your strips are glued together and sanded level, now you need to protect them and apply a sealer.
• You need to use a sealer safe for contact with food. We chose Tried and True Original Wood Sealer. It is made of all-natural ingredients like linseed oil and beeswax. 100% safe for food contact surfaces.
• Read the Tried and True wood sealer instructions thoroughly and follow them exactly. This will require a tack cloth, a lint-free cloth, and steel wool. We applied 3 coats of sealer which is the maximum they recommend.

steps to prepare the handles and feet

Gather

Gather or purchase the following items to complete this project:

• Handles- Hobby Lobby
• Feet- Wood candlesticks from Hobby Lobby
• Chalk paint- Annie Sloan Pure White
• Wax- Annie Sloan Clear
• Wax- Annie Sloan Dark Wax
• Wax-Valspar Antiquing Wax
• Paintbrushes
• Lint-free paper towels
• Small stencil brush

Paint

The goal is to make the metal handles and wood feet look the same! We’ll do this with a combination of paint and wax!

Paint the handles white and immediately wipe them with a wet paper towel, to remove some of the paint.

Next, paint the candlesticks white, let them dry, and sand them so a little of the wood shows through.

wax

First, coat the wood candlesticks with clear wax. This makes it easier to remove the dark wax!

Then, cover them with Valspar Antiquing wax and wipe the excess away with a lint-free paper towel. This darkened them up and helped show off the details.

Now it’s time to make them look a bit more rustic!

Dab the dark wax (Annie Sloan) onto the candlestick with a stencil brush, to make it look more like the handles.

To make the handles and feet match better, dab both waxes on the handles. The Annie Sloan dark wax looks black, and the Valspar wax looks brown, so they add a nice contrast.

And this is the result!

Keep playing around with the wax until you get the look you want!

How to attach the handles and feet

• Position each handle on your tray.
• Measure to determine the desired distance from the end and each side of the tray. Make note of the measurement, so you can position the handle on the opposite end in the same place.

• Mark the screw holes with a pencil.
• Use a drill and appropriate-sized drill bit to make pilot holes.

• Flip your board over before attaching the handles and measure to determine where you want your tray feet.
• Take a pencil and mark the screw hole. We noticed the holes were not consistent on our legs so we labeled each leg with a number and then, put the number by our marked hole on the tray.
• Take a drill and appropriate-sized drill bit to make pilot holes.

• Use a screwdriver and attach our tray feet matching the numbers with screws .
• Then flip over the tray and attach your handles with screws

Here’s our one-of-a-kind footed wood tray with handles!

Isn’t it the best?

I just love it!!

How to style a DIY Footed tray with handles

Here are a few other ways I’ve used my wood tray!

Centerpiece

It made the perfect base for a Thanksgiving centerpiece. See it here in Our Best of Autumn Home Tour!

Vignette

Look at this gorgeous vignette on our kitchen counter. See more during this Fall Home Tour!

Breakfast board

Can you say charcuterie? Look how our tray made the perfect Breakfast Board to celebrate Mother’s Day!

The possibilities are endless!

Does this make you want to build a DIY wood tray?

Let us know how would you use this board if you had it.

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Blessings, Donna and Rich

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