The way to Make a DIY Washable Pet Meals Tray | Thrifty Decor Chick

The way to make a customizable pet meals tray that may maintain as much as water and messes!

I made an lovely, washable feeding station utilizing scrap wooden and paint we had readily available and we LOVE it! It turned out so cute. 

That is the second time I’ve made a customized DIY pet meals tray. I will present you my first model on the finish of this put up! 

I believe determining the most effective spot for pet meals bowls is difficult — you need it out of the best way, however nonetheless simply accessible. I shared a few of my favourite pet meals station concepts for animals years in the past — there are such a lot of nice concepts! Though I don’t have something that cool, we did want one thing to corral the canine and cat meals bowls.
We stored them in our pantry earlier than I did the massive makeover final 12 months. When that was completed, we tried retaining them within the mud room for awhile, however it felt like we had been at all times bugging the animals once they had been consuming because it was close to a walkway. 

So we determined to maneuver them again into the pantry on the finish of the room, however I needed to construct a brand new pet meals tray to coral their messes a bit. 

Our canine appears to drip extra out of their water bowl than truly drink it, and our cats drop their meals throughout their bowls. We wanted one thing that might be washed and maintain as much as standing water over time. 

Fortunately I had many of the supplies wanted for this cute tray already, so this was a brilliant cheap undertaking!

I began with a chunk of scrap wooden for the underside of the tray, after which mitered the ends of a 1×2 to make a “body” across the backside:

mitered corner on trim

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This tray is a good newbie undertaking in the event you’re simply beginning out with instruments and DIYing!

I measured the pet bowls to see what measurement I wanted and I ended up with 30 inches for the bottom of the tray. I minimize down my 1x2s for the lip on my miter noticed. 

To connect the trim, I added a bead of wooden glue earlier than nailing them into the perimeters of the bottom with my nail gun: 

wood glue on side of wood

If you do not have a nail gun, wooden glue can be enough — you will simply must let it dry earlier than transferring on. 

After which as a result of I needed this to be water tight I caulked the gaps between the bottom and the trim. That is tremendous necessary to maintain any water from stepping into the crevices!

I had this wooden primer from Sherwin-Williams readily available and it was good for this undertaking because it’s made to guard exterior surfaces that get rain: 

DIY wood cat food tray

Any primer will work, however this model simply offers a bit extra safety. 

Wooden surfaces can maintain as much as a variety of moisture with caulk and paint! 

A couple of coats of fine paint will stop even MDF from absorbing water. 

After two coats of primer, I put a fast coat of white paint on simply the bottom of the tray after which let that dry for day earlier than transferring on to the lovely a part of this DIY. 🙂 

I obtained some pet wall vinyls final 12 months for an additional undertaking, and thought this tray can be one other cute approach to make use of them! I put just a few on the underside over the white paint:

cat face vinyl

Protecting the vinyls on, I painted a pair coats a light-weight grey over your complete factor: 

painting with foam roller

I shade matched our pantry cupboards to get this shade, here is the formulation you possibly can take to the paint retailer:

perfect gray paint color formula

It is such a stunning grey shade — no bizarre undertones in any respect!

Subsequent, I needed so as to add some ft to get the tray up off the ground. I needed it to be open a bit beneath in case water spilled out. 

I discovered these cute little wooden toy wheels on the craft retailer and painted 4 in that very same grey paint: 

wood toy wheels

I connected these into every nook beneath the tray with screws. 

After the paint was absolutely dry, I used some tweezers to tug up the canine and cat vinyl designs:

peeling up vinyl

The final step was so as to add a protecting coating utilizing this Krylon clear coat spray I already had. You’ll be able to end it off with a pair coats of polyurethane as effectively. 

I let the whole lot dry for a full day earlier than placing the meals bowls on the tray. It turned out SO cute!!: 

DIY dog and cat pet food tray

Adoyable as my neice would say! 🙂 

I stored strolling round with it, exhibiting my household how stinking cute it was. 😂

I made it to suit on the finish of our pantry: 

gray vertical shiplap on walls

We do not stroll down that far since that finish cupboard opens out in direction of us, so it is a lot out of the best way. 

I like having their meals again in right here in order that they have extra of a relaxed house to eat. It is also nice as a result of we maintain the cat and pet food in that cupboard and it is simply accessible. 

The animals appear to love it. Ha! SO cute: 

It is out of the best way and provides them loads of room. This tray additionally elevates their meals bowls, which is healthier for meals digestion. 

The pantry door is never closed, and now we have additional meals and water out in our basement kitchenette if wanted. 

I put this easy undertaking off eternally, and eventually obtained it performed for round $10 in supplies!:

gray pantry with pet food station

Years in the past I made a really related tray at our outdated home. I used some painter’s tape to create a easy striped design on that one: 

painting stripes on tray

I believe the dimensions was the very same! I do not know what occurred to this one — I can not keep in mind what we did with it. We had SO many issues go lacking in our transfer, perhaps it was a kind of. 

It turned out actually cute as effectively — you possibly can customise these so some ways once you make your individual pet meals tray:

DIY striped pet food tray

I’ve made fairly just a few ornamental trays in my day, together with this tray with leather-based handles, and this Lego hideaway tray. 

I can by no means discover the right sized tray at pet shops, so it is a You’ll be able to change these up so some ways — add some handles, use a stencil on the bottom, no matter you need – the chances are infinite! 🙂