Silver Mirrored Vanity Tray Tutorial

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I really like to keep some of my current favorite pieces easily accessible on my vanity when I'm getting dressed. While wandering antiques malls, I've always admired the silver mirrored vanity trays, but I am clumsy and would probably break one before I could get it home (which I can only assume would be 7 years of bad beauty luck). So I decided to try making my own. This one cost less than $5. 

For this project I used: a wood tray (I used a square 8x8 inch tray); a mirror that fits in your tray (also an 8x8 inch square--I found this one back in the floral department); acrylic metallic paint in a dark silver and light silver (I used FolkArt Metallic Paint in Silver Sterling and Gun Metal); paint brushes or a sponge brush; and glue (optional). I picked all of this up at A.C. Moore.

Start by painting the inside and outside of the tray sides with gun metal to create a base. This will make the silver paint show up better and create dimension in the finish of the final product. Don't worry about painting the bottom since the mirror will cover this area. I used one coat in the picture below.

After the gun metal coat dries, paint over it using silver paint. I used two coats to brighten up the piece. You can use as many or as few coats as you like to get your desired shade. Less paint will create a more pewter look, more coats will leave you with an antique silver look like mine.

Next remove any bumpers from the bottom of your mirror so you have a flat surface. Then use glue to to adhere the mirror to the bottom of the wood tray.

Once the glue dries, wipe off any finger prints and start curating your favorite things to display. 

(Optional step: add stick on bumpers to the bottom of the tray to prevent it from scratching surfaces.)

Here's the final product. How easy was that? If you make one let me know, I'd love to see it!