Making Wooden Tub Trays

Vintage Art Deco China Cabinet Restore

This Art Deco waterfall china cabinet, circa 1940, had seen better days. Tucked away in a shop and used as a storage shelf, it was in rough shape. A family member, inspired by a photo featuring rich navy tones and warm wood, wanted to see it brought back to life. With that vision in mind, I gave the piece the repairs and makeover it deserved — blending classic navy with warm wood to honor both its history and a fresh new style.

I LOVE my tub tray and use it at every bath. It is the perfect place to set my iPad safely as well as a drink and snack 'cause why not enjoy some while you relax?

Mother's Day was the perfect time to do a couple custom ordered ones.

For these two orders I used precut solid pine boards I purchased from Rona. After unwrapping the boards, they were lightly sanded to smooth the edges and surfaces and wiped well.

In my workshop they were added to the paint line along with this soon to be navy sideboard and custom ordered growth ruler (see others I have done HERE).

I chose Homestead House's cappuccino stain and oil for the tub trays and ruler. Each piece had two coats on the fronts and back for a nicely sealed rich stained piece. I lightly sand after each coat to give it a satin smooth feel. This amazing stain finishing oil has a built in top coat which saves steps doing it all at once. It is so easy to use and such a fabulous product.

The well chosen words for each tub tray were stenciled after the first coat of stain finishing oil was dried well. Usually I hand paint mine (the top featured photo shows RELAX in a pretty script font that was hand painted) but had this stencil out for another project so went with it for these two.