A tray table becomes a fun decorative accent when it's turned into a game table. DIY Decorating & Design host Nancy Golden converts a butler's tray table to a unique backgammon table by hand-painting a game board inside the tray. Materials:
Butler's tray table
Old backgammon set
Kraft paper
Pencil
Measuring tape
Scissors
Piece of cardboard
Painter's tape
Spoon for burnishing
Automotive paint in gold, bone and brown
Small paintbrush
Stencil brush
- Make a kraft-paper template of the inside of the butler's tray. Using an old backgammon board as a guide, draw a pattern of the game board on the paper template (figure A). Remember that each triangle on the game board must be long enough to hold five game pieces.
- Make a cardboard template of one of the game-board triangles, and use it to mark off the triangle pattern on the board.
- Backgammon boards have two rows of contrasting-colored triangles. Use painter's tape to mask off the area around every other triangle in each row (figure B). Burnish the edges of the painter's tape with a spoon so paint won't seep under it.
- Paint the masked-off triangles with bone-colored automotive paint. When dry, stipple gold paint over the bone with a stencil brush (figure C).
- When the gold-stippled bone triangles are dry, remove the masking tape. Mask off the alternate triangles and apply a base coat of gold. When dry, stipple brown paint on them with the stencil brush (figure D). When all the painted surfaces are dry, remove the painter's tape, and set up the game.
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