Personally, I like things to look neat. No, I am not a neat freak. I just prefer things to be neat enough that it doesn’t clutter my counter spaces or ruin the appearance of my home interior. The entry way of your home will more than likely be the first area you or your guest will see. So, this area I really try to keep neat. One issue I came about was that my daily used items (keys, wallet, watch and spare change) were always scattered on my counter. This is where the idea of making a valet tray came into play.
The thought process for the design was to keep it crisp and simple. I wanted the wood species used to be the highlight of the piece. Sapele mahogany was perfect for the job. Sapele has a gorgeous copper tone to it that naturally shines which gives a classy touch to the tray. I opted for a cork board inlay to keep close to a natural wood color and reduce the noise when placing items inside of the tray. I love chamfers in my designs so I went with a 45 degree angle chamfer. The chamfer gives the piece more depth and a more sleek design overall.
How it went down
I took advantage of this project to try out another method for making a valet tray. The easiest way would be to make a template out of plywood and then use a router and trace the pattern. Instead of doing that I first removed most of the waste with my bench drill press (can be done with a regular drill). The biggest problem with this method is all of the interior walls need to be squared up. The best tool for the job was a chisel. After chiseling away the rest of the waste, I pulled out a file for rounding out the interior border. Now this step isn’t really needed since you can do this with sand paper. To me the files gives me better control and visual on how much material I’ve shaped vice sandpaper.
After satisfied with the overall look, I began the sanding process. I started off at 100 grit and worked my way up to 220 grit. For sealer and finish I went with a clear shellac. 4 coats later and a full day of dry time, the valet tray was finished!
