Wood to Gold DIY

So if you read about my miraculous makeover of a belt into two chunky and awesome gold bracelets you already know about the evil garage sale holder. Well, not evil but she did rip me off of $0.50 which had me absolutely seething. But let’s not rehash the past… instead let’s go forward with one awesome wooden tray makeover!

I snagged this tray for a cool buck. It’s large (as you can tell by my cat Marla  laying next to it) and it’s some sort of wood. Being no real expert on the subject I will just state that it is brown. This brown wood tray has five totally groovy and curvy shaped areas that I just knew would be perfect for storing some of my crafty stuff on my desk. You know, functional yet stylish…

What I didn’t factor in was that some of my crafty stuff is just too darn irresistible to cats…

Jerk.

But I boldly moved forward turning this brown piece into a brown and gold piece and guess what? Yep, I love it and it only took about 5 minutes. Shazam!

For this post you will need:

• Rub ‘n Buff (mine is Grecian Gold)
• Wooden bowl or tray
• Old English for Dark Woods

Seriously, that’s it. Freaking awesome, eh?

This stuff is Rub ‘n Buff and it’s a godsend. It comes in lots and lots of colors and is so easy to use.

Simply rub stuff onto anywhere you want to be gold. Be careful though… this stuff is waxy or sticky or something and getting it in the wrong place can be a pain in the neck to clean up.

You can either apply directly to your finger and rub in or to a cloth. I prefer a cloth after someone at a store said I looked like a huffer with my gold fingers and now I’m crazy paranoid about ever having gold stuck to my skin. So silly but, yeah.

After you rub it in, buff it out. Now places where the wood is really rough the color won’t take as well. If you sand those down and smooth them out you’ll have really even coverage. BUT if you want an antique-like gold appearance just slather this junk on and get on with it.

With my new gold compartments the rest of the tray looked pretty darn shabby. Enter one of my most favorite things I’ve ever known about as an adult… Old English. When you have cats that can accidentally scrape the crap out of your foot-board, you get to know Old English really well. But if you’re not as well versed the OE is a scratch cover that looks like soy sauce. All you do is rub it onto a cloth and over the entire piece, paying special attention to the scratches.

Behold, before!

And after! Oooh, aaah, that’s amazing!

Doesn’t this look like a high end piece rather than a garage store scavenge?

Get it filled with whatever and you’re all set!

Until the cat comes along!

Keep your eyes peeled for wooden bowls, vases, trays and all sorts of goodies in decent shape. Even with some serious scratches you can turn them into a gorgeous piece for next to nothing!