After moving I decided to use my large ottoman as a coffee table so I needed a good size ottoman tray to put on it. I about went into cardiac arrest when I started finding large ones on-line for $80+. No way that was happening so I decided to make my own. This is a great beginner project due to its simplicity.

A friend had loaned me a Kreg jig to try so I thought a DIY ottoman tray project might be the perfect test. The gray stain was also a test since I would like to use that on a few pieces of furniture.

When looking at the total cost below I wouldn’t really include the cost of the stain in this project since I had to buy a quart and barely used a smidgen on the tray. The boards were knotty pine common boards.

Cost

Cutting List

I measured the ottoman and wanted a tray 28″ x 18″. The 1″ x 4″ is actually 3/4″ x 3 1/2″ so that changed the 18″ to 17 1/2″ which I was fine with. I cut:

• 5 boards to 28″
• 2 boards to 17 1/2″.

Assembling

I used the Kreg jig, but you could just as easily glue the edges and clamp the 5 boards together until the glue dries since the ends would hold the tray together. I drilled 2 pocket holes in the bottom side of 4 boards, glued the edges and then screwed all five boards together one at a time using clamps to hold everything in place while I put in the screws. This gave me a 28″ x 17 1/2″ solid board made from the 5 boards. Since the pocket screws are on the bottom of the tray I didn’t both to fill them with plugs. I did have to clean up the drill holes however.

To minimize screw holes I positioned the end pieces, glued them, clamped them tightly in place, flipped the tray over and used my nail gun to put small nails into each end board from the bottom. In retrospect I wonder if I should have screwed it from the bottom because after staining and finishing one corner of one end piece has lifted slightly from warping. It’s not bad though.

At this point I picked out the hardware since I wanted to drill the screw holes for the handles before staining and finishing.

Finishing

I am switching to a coastal decor and wanted a weathered gray finish on the pine boards and black hardware. See my post on testing weathered gray wood stains — I used Minwax Wood Finish Classic Gray 271 and love the color. See the brown knots and grain that still show through the gray stain? This is exactly the look I was going for so I’m very happy with the stain.

This is an oil based stain, but I wanted to use the water based poly finish that I already had. See my post on how to apply a water based poly over oil based stain.

I wiped on 3 very thin coats of poly to protect it and added the handles when that was dry. Sorry — no pics of it in place since I haven’t recovered the ottoman yet. Right now my living room is a blend of how I want it to be (coastal cottage) and how it used to be and the mismatch isn’t good.

I love this DIY ottoman tray, along with how much it cost, and that I now have a solid surface on the ottoman I’m using for a coffee table. But I thinks it’s clear I need some mentoring on the use of a Keg jig.