We love a good upcycle project. We challenged ourselves to come up with a fun way to upcycle a large wooden tray that we thrifted. We decided to turn it into an ottoman tray that could help with keeping TV remotes organized and a checkers game that would always be available for a quick challenge.

The tray was an awesome find. It’s rustic, large, and heavy duty. And have you perused the game aisle at DI? We knew we would be able to easily find the checkers pieces without much trouble. We also thrifted a decorative jar with a lid to hold the checkers pieces.

A checkerboard has eight rows and eight columns, making 64 alternating light and dark squares. We measured the tray to find the center points and to figure out what size to make the squares.

It turned out that the width of our painter’s tape was the exact width we needed—lucky us! This allowed us to use the tape to mark the columns and rows, rather than using a pencil to mark our lines then masking with tape to ensure perfectly painted squares.

Before painting, we placed one strip of tape for each row needed. We then removed every other row of tape.

Then we placed tape going the other way to make the columns and again removed every other one to reveal the first set of squares to be painted.

We used acrylic paint and did 2 coats to make sure the color was as vibrant as we wanted it to be.

Once the paint was dry, we removed the tape.

So far, so good, but we were still missing about half the painted squares we needed.

Next, we added tape again, covering the squares we’d already painted. This exposed the squares that still needed paint while protecting the squares we’d already done. We painted these squares with another two coats.

Once the paint was dry were able to remove all of the tape and reveal the checkerboard pattern underneath.

We were able to find some checker pieces secondhand at our local Deseret Industries.

To keep things neat, we also added a cute, thrifted jar. It provided a great decorative touch and made the whole project the perfect addition to the TV room.

This was an easy project that didn’t require much time, and we love how it turned out and the fun it provides.

Eager to try this project for yourself? Tag us in your photos (Instagram: @deseret_industries, Facebook: @deseretindustriesthrift)—we’d love to see your finished product!