Decorative Tray from a Wooden Toy Box

I like to think that I’m a mom of moderation and intention. Now is when you’re probably thinking: Oh dear, she’s talking about parenting philosophy and sounding a bit touchy-feely. Hold on!

Let’s talk toys. How many and what type to buy is something I’ve thought about quite a bit as a parent. There’s some middle ground to be had between “just let them play with the tupperware drawer – they don’t need toys” and “let’s buy them everything under the sun.” I try to be intentional about buying toys that are both fun and educational. I’m a big fan of Melissa and Doug toys, and recently added to Robert’s collection at Christmas.

One of the perks of buying fun, high-quality wooden toys, is that they often come in fun, high-quality wooden boxes. These boxes are always begging for an upcycle, am I right?

Last year, I upcycled two small wooden toy boxes into Sea Urchin Specimen Art for a gallery wall in my Cape Cod Bedroom. Now, I’m back at it with a larger wooden box that’s getting a makeover into a decorative serving tray.

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Decorative Tray – Supplies

wooden toy box – like the one from this toy set
wood stain – I used minwax Golden Oak (3 parts) combined with Classic Gray (1 part)
word template or stencil
pencil & pen
paint brushes
white chalk paint – I use FolkArt brand for small craft projects

Decorative Tray – Instructions

Lightly sand off the “Melissa & Doug” logo from the wooden box (not pictured).

Then, stain the box using your favorite wood stain. I used a combo of 3 parts Golden Oak and 1 part Classic Gray that I had leftover from another project.

Pick the word or decoration you want to paint onto the tray. I just made this template using free fonts in PicMonkey.

Using my ultimate “lazy crafter transfer method” you can transfer the words onto the tray. What is this method? Super simple. Color the back of the template with pencil. Then flip the template over and trace it onto your surface. Simple!