I am not known for my skills as a handyman. However, the wife insisted on bringing home some ratty looking pallets recently and on a recent antiquing venture brought home an old bread crate from Benson Bakery. Benson Bakery is located less than a mile from our house and has been around for a long time so when she saw this ratty old crate she had to have it for a project (same as the pallets). Benson is mostly known for their fruitcakes. The smells that come from the bakery are pretty amazing. They waft all the way to our house at times. ( www.bensonsbakery.com ) The issue is the wife is even less creative and less handy than I am. She has ideas but they are the kind that sound good until you actually start figuring out how to actually make the idea a tangible thing. Then it all falls flat. What we eventually settled on was a rustic serving tray to use on the new screened in porch build that kicks off this week. We are decorating it in a rustic style so this will fit in quite well. This weekend we picked up a cool marble top bar. The base is made from rustic beams and reclaimed shutters. We also picked up a small rustic two chair table we can use for meals on the porch. She also picked up a couple of grain/feed scoops that have been drilled out so you can hang them vertically to use as candle holders as well as a few other decorator pieces. Anyway, here's what I threw together today. Nothing special but I kind of like it. I used some slats from the better of the two pallets and cut them to size (about 26" in length). I sanded the tops and exposed sides and took off all the sharp edges. I used 1/2" pieces underneath as footers and to add hold it all together. I screwed upwards through the 1x2" into the slats so there are no holes in the top. I then took the two best looking ends of the crates and sanded the exposed edges. Again, I used screws coming upward through the pallet slats into the crate so there are no holes in the top. Last I added a couple of drawer pulls to use as handles. The other two ends of the bread crate were pretty roached out so I made a sign to hang on my garage wall.
The crate wasn't square so one of the ends was longer than the other. I really didn't want to cut down the longer piece. I thought it would look fine with one end longer than the other. In hindsight, I should have cut down the Benson side to match the size of the Athens side. It looks less awkward in person than in the pics but it would probably have looked better had I made them the same size.
This looks quite interesting. I am quite interested to know how it looks and feels while using them. Did you polish or paint it?
It's actually not in use yet. We plan to use it on our newly built screened porch. We are still waiting for the deck to be stained and the rest of the porch to be painted before we move all the furniture out there and really start using it. I didn't stain or paint it. I did run a sander over all the edges of the boards that came from the old pallet so it wouldn't be rough and give splinters. I think it looks pretty cool but to be completely honest I don't really see the need for serving trays. I have never carried things to a table on a serving tray. I just wanted to make something and the wife said serving tray so I went with it. Couple things I'd do differently if I were doing it again - I'd make the whole thing smaller. It's ginormous. I'd also use something a little more sturdy than these drawer pulls for the handles. The tray as it sits is heavy enough. Once we put whatever is being served on it it will really be heavy. Not sure these drawer pulls will hold up long term. To be honest though I don't expect it will get much use. It will mostly be a conversation piece leaned in the corner or something.
[QUOTE=" I'd also use something a little more sturdy than these drawer pulls for the handles. The tray as it sits is heavy enough. Once we put whatever is being served on it it will really be heavy. Not sure these drawer pulls will hold up long term. [/QUOTE] That's what i thought for the weight. Nonetheless, it looks cool.
Thanks. I honestly just see us standing against a wall in the corner or something for decoration more than using it.
very cool. I'd put it in the middle of the dining table and put the salt/pepper shakers and some decorative stuff on it. Like a few wine bottles (full) and a antique corkscrew
