Square Ottoman Tray with Behr Chalk Paint

What started as a quick tray update that shouldn't have taken more than a couple of hours ended up being a three-day ordeal with a lot of hair-pulling. Instead of just sharing the pretty tray all finished, I decided to come clean and share what really happened for two reasons. 1) it's a testament that sometimes just a fresh coat of white paint is enough to beautify a piece and 2) if you are someone who is afraid to put paint to a piece of furniture or home decor for fear of ruining it, then my tray makeover is proof that you won't.


But before we get into all of that, this is what the serving tray looked like before.


I paid a whopping 50¢ for it at Goodwill, reduced from $1. Despite the wood chipped in some places and water ring stains, it was the perfect candidate for a makeover with a fresh coat of crisp white paint. Perfect for a summer vignette on a coffee table or ottoman.


And here it is after the final makeover. Big difference, right?


I could have saved myself a lot of time and trouble had I stenciled the inside of the tray in the first place. More about that bad decision later.

Here's how I did it...

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Decorative feet

I had these wooden ball knobs in my stash and glued them with E6000 to the bottom of the tray.

Dealing with paint bleed and water ring stains

To prep the tray for paint, first I cleaned it with a solution of warm water, Dawn dish soap, vinegar, and borax.


I planned on painting the tray white and knew the grey stained wood would bleed through the paint. If I were painting the tray a darker color it wouldn't have been an issue. I applied one coat of stain blocker to stop the bleed and cover the water rings on the base of the tray. Once the stain blocker was dry I was ready to give Behr chalk paint a try.

First time using Behr chalk paint

Behr chalk paint is the consistency of heavy cream and dries to a lovely matte finish that you can expect from chalk paint. It has nice self-leveling qualities with no brush strokes. Behr is a low VOC paint and I did notice a slight paint odor akin to painting with latex.



The paint dries quickly but there is a two-hour recommended recoat time. Patience is not one of my virtues and so that part kind of sucks. A lot of chalk paints that I use have a one hour window for recoats. The paint cleans up easily on brushes and your skin with soap and water.

Another thing I like about this paint is that it comes in 45 color choices but can also be tinted to over 500 colors. That's a lot of color potential! My color choice for the ottoman tray is Tin White. Like other chalk paints, it is better to apply several thin coats than fewer thick coats of paint. It took four coats to completely cover my grey stained tray. I'm looking forward to trying the paint in a darker color to see if it requires fewer coats.

How my tray went to hell in a handbasket

Now, this is where my tray went to hell in a handbasket. After I finished painting the tray white I decided it needed a little something-something. Why can't I be satisfied with the beauty and simplicity of white paint?

I decided to try another new to me product by highlighting the raised lattice detail and edges of the tray with Rose Gold Wax. The wax is beautiful but on top of white paint, it looked like I had major paint bleed (when the tannins in the wood turn white paint pink). Not the look I was going for.

So then I had the great idea of making the pink look less paint bleed-esque by decoupaging some pretty pink scrapbook paper onto the bottom of the tray. Unfortunately, I didn't have scrapbook paper large enough to fit the entire base and so I attempted to decoupage the paper in three pieces. Unlike wallpaper, scrapbook paper doesn't have a pattern repeat and it looked absolutely terrible.

Sorry, I deleted those photos from my phone in total frustration and didn't intend on sharing the mishap on the blog at the time. Beyond frustrated at this point, I ripped the paper off and removed the remaining bits of paper with a spray bottle and rubbing it off with my fingers. Then I called it a night and off to bed I went.

Sometimes before throwing in the towel on a project, you just need to walk away. 

What I did to fix the mess and make it tray chic again

Unfortunately, some of the paint went along with the paper and the tray was one hot mess. Back to square one, priming and painting the interior of the tray white again but first I had to remove that rose gold wax.

Wax Tip - Clear wax removes colored wax.

I simply dipped a lint-free rag into clear wax and rubbed off the rose gold wax. Worked like a charm!

First time using Behr Decorative Finish Wax 

Behr also has a Decorative Finish Wax line with clear and color waxes recommended for their chalk paint. Wanting to give it a try I applied the clear wax with a wax brush onto the exterior ONLY of my tray.


I can honestly say that I was pleased with their wax, a little goes a long way. It goes on like butter and buffs to a nice satin sheen with little effort.

Silver highlights

Normally I would distress the tray but because there wasn't enough of a contrast with the original finish, I only distressed the metallic lattice detail on the sides. I replaced the rose gold highlights with silver gilding wax instead. A little goes a long way with this stuff so I put just a dab on the tip of my finger and lightly rubbed it on.


I like how it ties in with the metallic silver on the distressed lattice and the gray paint color of the stencil.

French stencil

Speaking of the stencil, instead of scrapbook paper I gave the tray that extra something-something with this French stencil and graphite color craft paint.

Water resistant clear coat 

Considering the tray may have water filled flower vases set on it or used as a serving tray, I protected the interior ONLY of the tray with two coats of water repellent clear coat.

Would I use Behr chalk paint and wax again?

Absolutely! I was happy with the product, it has a competitive price point, and I like the convenience of picking it up at my local Home Depot store while shopping for other project supplies.

The project takeaway

I could have thrown my hands in the air and given up on this tray after my mishap. But after walking away for several hours and calming myself down, I was able to come back to it with fresh new eyes and salvage the hot mess. Like I always say, it's just paint! If you don't like the results, sand it back a little with 150-grit sandpaper to give the new paint color some bite and start again.

No worries if you've already waxed the piece. Denatured mineral spirits will remove the wax and not the paint. Even though the wax on my tray hadn't cured yet, I was able to paint right over it because it had been buffed and no longer tacky.


I loved the final results of my square ottoman tray so much that when I placed it on the living room ottoman to take photos, I decided it's a keeper. So you'll be seeing more of this tray staged on future furniture makeover posts.

More tray ideas

Rustic Homestead Blend Coffee Tray

Large Thrift Store Tray Makeover

Photo Tray Turned Farmhouse Coffee Serving Tray

Plastic Tray Updated With Chalk Paint

If you have any questions about this makeover, please leave them in the comment section below or press the Contact Me button at the top of the blog to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!