Tray Chic

Corny title? Check.

Pictures of marginal photographic quality? Check.

The author reveling in yet more chugly thrift store finds? Check!

A veritable Raising Camelot trifecta. And it’s not even your birthday.

BEFORE:

Today’s contestant is this salute to “hunter chic” decor, a drabulous metal tray depicting a pair of pheasants. All for the rock-bottom price of $1.00 plus tax.

[Please excuse my roll of painter’s tape. A photo stylist could probably teach me a thing or ten, but the truth is, I just didn’t want to walk back upstairs to get an easel. I’m not incompetent. Just lazy. NOTE: This will be a recurring theme of my blog.]

AFTER:

A little chalkboard spray paint and calendared vinyl later. Soon to be hung in my kitchen for menus, shopping lists, etc.

TOTAL COST: $5.70

• Pheasant Tray: $1.00
• Chalkboard Paint: $6.99 – 40% coupon = $4.20
• Vinyl: Hard to figure, but I’m guessing about 50 cents.

I forgot to chalk something or put cute magnets on this before I photographed it, so you’ll have to take me at my word: it’s magnetic and chalkboardic.

“Piano con calma” is Italian for “slowly, with calm,” a quote I stole from The Hills of Tuscany. (By the way, one of my all-time favorite books. It’s strange to read a book you didn’t write and discover the author’s voice sounds an awful lot like the one in your head. Strange in like a really cool, “I’m not alone in my craziness,” kind of way.)

I chose the quote because it is a good reminder, especially when I’m in the kitchen. These days, it seems more like wishful thinking, but I try.

Speaking of trying…

…I’ll be posting more about these props later.

I’m in love.

Yes, “again.”

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