DIY: Catch-All Tray

There is nothing more frustrating than fumbling around trying to find my keys when I'm already running late. I desperately needed one place to corral all of our important items such as keys, wallets, watches, spare change, glasses, phones and outgoing mail. I thought about buying one of those personalized lucite trays that you see on all of the organizing blogs, but they are pricey and I was worried about them scratching. Thrift store shopping it was!

After finding an unfinished wood tray at Goodwill, I had to decide how I was going to turn it into a cute catch-all tray. I could have stenciled a design or covered it with fabric, wallpaper or even washi tape. In the end I decided to paint it white and take a rattan placemat that I already had and cut it to fit the bottom of the tray. Since I didn't need to attach the placemat with glue, I can swap it out with a new one whenever I feel like a change.

Now when my husband gets home from work he has a place to quickly empty all of his pocket litter, best of all everything stays together so his keys, ID badge and safety glasses are no longer cluttering the dining table. I'm one happy wife! Now if I could just get him to hang his coat and put his boots away. :)

Total time: around 3 hours
Total cost: $6