Maryd tray table hack | Gin mini bar
Hands up, who is loving a tasty Gin this Summer? I was not always a lover of Gin, however, the past few months I have acquired a taste. It has also become really popular lately with lots of tasty recipes and different flavours on offer. I love seeing peoples Ikea bar cart hacks and I wanted to make a little Gin mini bar for myself. I decided to use the Maryd tray table as I do not have space in my home for a permanent bar cart. So, I decided to go with a piece of furniture that I could fold away when I wasn’t using it and that it was easy to pull out and set up when I wanted to use it. The great thing about the tray table it that I can easily bring it to different places in the house. So, whether it is a Mojito in the living room, a cocktail in the kitchen or a Gin in the garden I can easily fold out my table and set it up.
The paint
The first thing I did was re paint my table. This table comes in grey, pink and green. I, however, wanted to add a little personality to mine and painted it to match my house. I bought the grey colour and I sprayed the legs gold and the tray in pink. I used some left over paint from when I painted my fridge.
The gold legs
I used the surface primer from Rust-oleum to prime my legs and tray. I used one can and gave the whole piece one coat. I primed and painted my pieces before assembling them together. When painting Ikea furniture I always recommend priming. Ikea furniture has a shiny finish so you need to prime it so your paint has something to grip on to.
For the legs and base of my tray table, I used the Rust-oleum spray paint in the shade gold. You might remember my gold legs from my other Ikea hack where I re done my desk. This is the same spray paint but just in a different shade. I purchased my paint in my local Woodies DIY in Blanchardstown.
You can have a look on the Rust-oleum website for your local stockist.
Always follow the instructions on the back of the can and always use spray paints outside. Thankfully the weather was good today so I was able to spray outside in the back garden. Also, make sure you allow enough time between coats and use thin even layers to avoid drips. I find the paint dries quick enough so this is perfect to paint in an afternoon.
The pink tray
I wanted to have a nice contrast with the gold. I decided to use some left over paint that I had from painting my fridge. I used the Satin finish paint from Rust-oleum in the shade Champagne pink. I had to give this three thin coats to get the coverage I wanted. I used a smooth art brush to avoid getting brush strokes. This dried smooth and you do not need to seal with the Satin paint as it dries sealed. It is then wipeable and easy to clean.
The styling
My favourite part of any project is putting it all together and styling it. For this post, I am dressing it up as a little Gin mini bar. You could use this as an afternoon tea table, it would also be perfect as a sweet cart for a birthday party or even as a bedside table. The list of uses is endless for the Maryd table.
For my Ice bucket, I am using a giant golden pineapple that I picked up in the TK Maxx in Blanchardstown. I wanted something fun to add to the table. The smaller glass pineapple is from Tiger and it is a steal at €3 and it is the perfect size for holding any cucumber or berries for your cocktails. I was on the hunt for a nice cocktail shaker and I was struggling to find a nice one. I went into HomeSense and I picked up this one for €9.99.
To add a bit of my personality I added a little tea cup to my table. I am using the tea cup to hold some Strawberries and lemon. I also have some chopped lime in my small pineapple too. Adding some chopped fruit to the table gives it some colour. My tea cup is an older style from Carolyn Donnelly for Dunnes Stores. It is about three years old. I had it sitting in my china cabinet and the colours match it perfectly.
When it came to glasses, I really wanted the large goblet style glasses you see in the fancy bars. I struggled to find them, however, I did get some large burgundy wine glasses from TK Maxx which kind of do the trick. If you have gotten some fancy Gin glasses please do link them below in the comments section.
I also picked up a rose gold cocktail shaker from Homesense. I really struggled to find a nice cocktail shaker and this was the nicest I had seen. It was also only €9.99 which I think is good value as it is a metal type of lid and not a plastic one.
The Gin
I love trying new brands of Gin. There are so many distilleries in Ireland and UK that are making really tasty Gins. One of the popular ones at the moment is Hendrick’s gin. I picked up a bottle in duty-free when I travelled home from New York. I picked up an Irish gin called Shepards Purse for today’s DIY. When I was recently at The Taste of Dublin festival I tried loads of Gins. They are just so popular at the moment and there are so many cocktails and recipes to make your perfect Gin.
Although I am not fussy about trying new Gins, I am a bit fussy when it comes to the tonic. I really like the Fevertree tonics. I picked mine up in Dunnes Stores and I stumbled across an Elderflower flavour tonic from them. This is delicious! When in Dunnes Stores I also picked up two of their cordials. I got an Apple, Cucumber and Elderflower cordial and a Raspberry and Wexford Rhubard one too.
Cheers to today’s DIY! I hope you enjoyed this DIY. Please let me know if you try it yourself or if you have another Ikea Hack to share. Don’t forget to check out my Youtube Channel where I have a video of the cart and tag me in your pics over on Instagram.
If you have a minute I would love if you could share the below image to your Pinterest boards.
Chat soon,
Catherine.
This is not a sponsored post, however, The banner links in the blog post are reward style affiliate links. You will not pay any more for your purchase however, I will receive a small commission (€1-€5) if you decide to purchase. I rely on affiliate links as a source of income to keep my blog running. Thank you so much for your continued support.
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Thanks so much for reading Caroline x I hope you have a lovely weekend x
Love this Catherine, it looks so inviting! Pink and gold is such a pretty colour combination, beautiful photos too. Caroline x http://www.girlabouttownhouse.com
Thanks so much Beth! Thanks for popping by x
Agh thanks Bridie! x x x x You gotta come over for a gin!
You did such an awesome job creating this mini bar, it can have so many uses. The idea of the tea cup for fruit was wonderful. Have a wonderful weekend. Beth
Aw bridie I absolutely love this post and as always, your photos are the business! I want to paint something. Anything! Keep up the deadly work!