Dumping Dish Upgrade with DIY Monogramming

Hello all! How have you been surviving the chilly weather? I hope everyone is staying nice and warm! I've gotten a lot of feedback from my slow cooker post, I'm so glad you liked it! Unfortunately, cooking/preparing meals is not my forte, so back to organization and creativity we go!

So, Brit and I have this bar... and other than the 70s decor{household To-Do #632, update the bar} we love it, and use it constantly when entertaining or just hanging out with friends. The bar is the first thing you see when entering our humble abode, so it's where everything is tossed, dumped and shed {mail, keys, sunglasses, and anything else found in our hands or pockets}. This causes quite a source of clutter. We purchased a "Welcome Tray" {as we call it} to contain a few items that easily are thrown and easily get lost. While the tray has served its purpose, it has become more of a dumping dish than welcoming anything. It's been overflowing with junk and things we definitely do not need to keep in plain view. Nothing like a little creativity and DIY to spawn an organizing project!

I had an old serving tray that wasn't getting any use and was perfect for a replacement, it just needed a little color and love. Sometimes when I start projects, I get so excited to dive in, that I forget to take a before picture to show you all the progress. So here is the before picture, with the sides taped off for painting, not exactly a before picture, but hopefully it will suffice. As you can see, it's a black tray with a very, very faux-leather base...?? {Who would buy such a thing?}. I'm going to claim that I knew that I would need it years later for this specific project and that's why I purchased it. Yup, I'm going with that.

I spray painted the base of the tray white, and the sides gold, using gold and white Rust-Oleum spray paint {the same paints I used for many projects here}.

I placed several sheets of paper down to protect the newly painted white base before painting the gold, I was too nervous to tape it down for fear that the paint wasn't quite dry yet.

After letting it dry for a day {one can never been too careful about drying time}, I added a little "j" monogram to the mix. I know, I know, I can't officially take the "j" yet, since it won't be part of my name until May {eeek!!!}, but I just couldn't resist.

I used gold leaf paint for the "j", circle, and dots. I am so stinking excited with how cute it turned out. And it was so simple. Using a stencil, I was able to get the adorable small "j", {as if I could ever write a "j" that well}. Then I just traced the roll of painter's tape to get the circle. I added the dots by using the base of the paintbrush and just dipping it lightly into the golf leaf.

After letting it dry, I added all of our dumping items. Well, not all of them. I forced myself to go through all of that junk and only put back the essentials. Who needs 16 pens and 7 lip balms once you walk in the door? I added a small, glass dish and clear, plastic tray to help keep easily tossed items a bit more organized.  The glass dish still holds an obscene amount of lip balm, but we use it so it's there. The clear, plastic tray holds our keys and prevents them from scratching up the tray. Other than that, we have our notepad for love notes ;) and a pocketknife for opening packages. Having the monogram there also helps keeps items clear because I want it to be visible.

The new tray has made it very easy to keep our dumping dish clear of clutter and keep the space bright. Another little perk, the color matches our bar so much better than the old one! Even though we hope to one day update the bar, it's still so pleasing when things match nicely like that.

Ok, review time...
Cost: Free, of course. The tray was old and I had the spray paint on hand.
Time: I want to say this took me a total of one hour... I think. Because it was over the course of several days with paint drying time, I truly can't remember... Sorry!!!

What do you do to prevent clutter in your entryway? Was any DIY involved?

Thanks for visiting!