DIY: Dresser Organizing Tray

For the life of me, I could NOT figure out where this orange smut was coming from on some of our bakeware.  It would occasionally show up in the dishwasher but more often I would find spots of it on our cookie sheets/baking pans/etc.  It always wiped off easily, but it would keep reappearing.  What was it??

Oh.  It was rust.

Two of our cookie sheets were starting to rust underneath the handles.  *Sigh...* they were presents at my wedding shower and we are, after all, approaching old-married-couple status (almost TWO WHOLE YEARS).  I didn’t want to just throw them out, though.  They were too good an opportunity to pass up.  So I made a snazzy tray/organizer for my dresser.

First I went to the thrift store to look for some nice fabric I might want to use.  I like to buy clothes and deconstruct them for projects like this.  It just feels thriftier and more earth friendly.  I bought a summer weight suit...thing.  The fabric was nice, but the cut of the...thing...was ugly.  I rather feel like I saved some unfortunate person from a fashion disaster by using it for my tray.  

I deconstructed the top and as a bonus got these sweet buttons to use in a future project!

Then I used spray adhesive to stick it to my cookie sheet.  I’d never used spray adhesive before, so it was kind of a learning experience.  Basically, I just wrapped the tray like I would wrap a present and used the adhesive instead of tape.

Voila!  It’s really amazing how much more organized my dresser stays with this thing.  Maybe it just feels more organized because, instead of laying on top of the dresser, all my stuff is laying in a tray.  Much prettier.  I also snagged some little dishes (I actually think the “crystal” one is an ashtray) and a votive candle holder for $.25 a pop at the thrift store to help organize my stuff, too.


Learn from my mistakes:
-  I really needed some chalk for this project.  You would think as a teacher I would have some lying around but nope.  The chalk really would have helped to mark how big my tray was.  As it was I ended up with A LOT of extra fabric that I had to cut off later.
-  I learned to let the spray adhesive dry slightly before sticking the fabric to it.  There is a place in one corner where the fabric got all gross from the adhesive.  My jewelry box is currently sitting on top of that corner.



P.S.  The ugly brown carpet is our living room.  I HATE it....but I can’t do anything about it as we are renting.  

What do you think about putting a large area rug in the living room?  Would a rug on top of carpet look weird?  Thoughts?