Hello, I hope everyone had a good weekend!  My husband and I had a great night out with some friends on Friday and on Sunday I went to see my daughter at college.

My daughter recently moved into a new dorm apartment.  When I went to see it two weeks ago I couldn’t believe how bare the place was.  She asked me if I would help make it over and brighten it up.  Of course, I was SO happy to help with this!  Today I’m sharing one project with you that I made for the dorm, using only items I already had.

One thing I knew I would need was something to put on the coffee table.  I remembered I had this serving tray on my bar cart that I really wasn’t using.  It was kind of ugly as is.  My first thought was spray paint, because the room really needs some color and some pattern.  But then I remembered I had some fabric samples in my closet.  You might remember them from this post.

My goal was to line the inside of the tray with the fabric.  First I centered the fabric where I wanted it, then traced with a pencil where it needed to be cut.

After cutting it to size I used Mod Podge to attach it to the tray.  This was my first time ever using Mod Podge.  I just painted the bottom of the tray with it and then set the fabric on top.   I used a credit card to smooth out any bubbles.

I painted several more layers of the Mod Podge over the fabric, letting it dry between coats.  It probably needs a coat of acrylic sealer to protect it but I didn’t have time to go get that before the dorm makeover.  Then to cover up my not-perfect edges I added some jute trim.  I had this jute I bought from Pottery Barn for another project I had planned, but the jute was much smaller in person than it looked online so I ended up not using it.  I attached this around the edges with hot glue.

Here is the finished tray.

Here it is in my family room.  It looks good in there, I really wanted to keep it!

The fabric lined serving tray is now in it’s new home in the dorm apartment.   I spent all of Sunday afternoon there, giving it a much needed makeover.  You can see the reveal here.

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