House in the Heights: Hacked: Gold Geometric Tray

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Hacked: Gold Geometric Tray

You guys know all about my love for Nate Berkus and his fabulous line at Target. Well...even though Nate's items are affordable, they're not so affordable that I can buy every single piece that I fall in love with.

Because that's basically all of them.

Case in point: this cool gold, geometic shape tray that caught my eye in the Nate section of Target a few weeks ago.

Nate and I are SO on a first name basis.

Want to buy the $35 version? Find it here.

I loved it, but I did not need to buy another tray. And even if I did...I definitely didn't need to spend $35 on it.

So I snapped a picture of it, because the moment I saw it, I knew I could DIY one of my own. I had a turquoise, lacquered tray that I picked up at Koh'ls after-Christmas clearance sale for less than 10 buck that was begging for a little added-interest. I'd give you a link, but unfortunately it's no longer available.

Using my inspiration pic as a guide, I used painter's tape to mimic the design on my tray. I expected it to be difficult to achieve perfect corners and angles, but it was actually quite easy. Taping the tray took approximately 20 minutes, and I was able to accomplish it while I knocked out a show on my DVR. Once I was finished taping, I took extra care to go back and make sure every inch of tape was applied smoothly and securely, in the interest of crisp lines once I removed the tape.

Even though Nate's tray has gold on the inside rim, I didn't think I could pull that off without making a mistake. So I skipped it.

Then, I applied 4 coats of Martha Steward Liquid Gilding to the areas not covered by tape. I was a little nervous that it wasn't going to take at first, because the liquid gilding beaded after the first coat. But three additional, very thin coats was all that was needed to smooth out the finish and achieve even coverage.

I had to tap my paintbrush into the areas next to the painter's tape, in order to cover them adequately. I was a bit concerned that this would lead to leakage under the tape, but when I pulled the tape....the lines were perfectly crisp!

I just love the result!! So did my mom...in fact she has the exact same tray in red, and handed it right over to me for the same treatment as soon as she saw my results.