Turn a Serving Cart into a Tray

We all have it – this piece of furniture that you do not like and want to get rid of in good conscience – because the landfill is already big enough. So why not upcycle it? For the cheap stuff from particle board that might not be the best option, but for furniture made from good wood, the options are limitless. Here I turn an old serving cart into a rustic tray. Enjoy, and remember to be Inspired!

Go with the Flow

With projects like these, it is a recipe for desaster when you set out to make something specific. If whatever you are working does not conform to your needs, you might end up having to invest money, be it for lumber or fixtures or for professional stress management.

In this case, it was the plywood that gave me the nudge towards making a tray. I had the general idea in mind, since trays are “one step down” from carts, but like I said in the video, it was the bottom that gave me the measurements, and only then was I able to determine how the slats would fit together, simply by checking the lengths I had avaliable.

I encourage you to try upcycling something, and let yourself be surprised by what you end up with. Maybe you get lucky and get what you wanted, but you might just as well get what you never thought of before – or a pile of firewood, which frees up space when you look at it like that.

Tool Variations

This project uses a number of tools, and in the spirit of going with the flow it should be easier to use those you have at hand since you can easily factor them into your flow. You do not plan to use tools you do not have.

Quite frankly, I do not think it would serve any purpose for me to tell you which alternatives there are for certain parts of this build. The idea here is to take something old and make something new, and I believe that these projects automatically and organically conform to what you have and what you can do.

Thanks for reading/watching, and remember to be Inspired!