What’s Old Is New Again: Decoupage TV Trays Are Back!!!

The wooden TV tray.  A functional piece of furniture.  Although I think we can all agree these tables are useful, but they lack the design qualities seen in other pieces of furniture.

TV Tray before

Way back in 2013, I came up with an idea to turn these boring tables into something fun.  My first tutorial Decoupage Team Sports Trays explored the option of decoupaging these trays with Mod Podge.  It was a huge success and since then, It remains one of my most requested items.

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They also make wonderful gifts for the sports fan in your life! Recently I made two new tables. Both were gifts, one for a friend’s birthday, and the other was presented as a Christmas present.   Nothing new here, but thought I would share the new additions so you know what I have been up too!

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Philadelphia Flyers TV Tray

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New York Giants TV Tray

Want to See more?  Check out these past blog entries on Decoupage TV Trays!

Have a special someone on your gift list that is a sports fan?  Then this is the table for you…

Sports Trays…Revisited!

Yankees Decoupage Sports TV Tray

Washington Redskins Decoupage TV Tray

Want to show off your school pride?  TV trays are great for doing homework too!

Smells Like Team Spirit! 

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Not a sports fan? No school spirit?  No Problem!  There are many other themes you can use to create a personalized tray table.  LP liner notes make great decoupage and are unique!

Rescued Vinyl TV Tray Decoupage

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Sports Team TV Trays made with Mod Podge

My husband and I were sitting down last Sunday after our little one had finally gone to bed.  We were watching our favorite show, Game of Thrones.    It has become our Sunday night ritual and is easily one of my favorite top five shows of all time!

Most of our house is now toddler proof, so we are lacking a coffee table in our living room as well as side tables.  We pulled out the old TV trays we had up in the attic and they were perfect to put our popcorn and drinks down on, but that’s about all the good I could say about them.  To me, they were just plain and ugly! I said to my husband that I should give the tables a makeover.  We have three total.  The original plan was to re-create the baseball card decoupage table I had seen on Pinterest, but the hubby didn’t want to part with any of his old baseball cards and I can’t say that I blame him.  So, we decided I would make a TV tray dedicated to my husband’s favorite sports team-The Philadelphia Phillies.  There are a lot of great, free graphics on the web. If you have a good printer at home and some larger paper you can find just about anything online to decoupage. (Ink jet printers not recommended as the ink will often times run)   The limits are endless on what can be used so keep that in mind.  Old sports linens, place mats, wrapping paper, sports decals-just about ANYTHING can be used to decoupage, so let your imagination run wild and always think outside the box. First I cleaned the table, removing any dirt or dust.  I used a latex primer to prime the entire TV tray.  Once dry,  I used Acrylic paint and painted the legs and underneath as well as the table top edges.  I used Mod Podge to glue the print to the table top carefully smoothing out any air bubbles.  Once dry I used three coats of Mod Podge Matte to seal the piece letting the table dry completely between coats.  I was actually shocked as to how well it turned out!  I was so pleased I decided to do the other two TV trays as well in the hopes of selling them. We plan on purchasing our flea market space one weekend this summer in the hopes of raising some money to take a much needed family vacation. Sesame Place or bust!

Materials used for this project:

Mod Podge Matte Finish

(I also used the Modge Podge Roller Tool to help smooth out the air bubbles)

X Acto knife

An item to decoupage (poster, print, linens, decals, place mat or anything you can dream up!

Acrylic Paint

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Decoupage Sports Team TV Trays