A recent visit to the Randolph Street Market left me with bags of vintage jewelry, unique vases (to come next week) and a wooden tray. I almost passed the tray over as it’s a seemingly standard piece of wood, but when I saw “Clarence” written hurriedly on the side, I had to inquire.
As soon as I heard its story, the once dull tray became a unique gem. Turns out, it’s from the 1920s and was used for baking bread in New York City. Though the shop name is unknown, one can presume that “Clarence” was a loyal employee. What a stud, eh?
While baking bread wouldn’t be in this piece’s foreseeable future, I knew it’d make a really interesting coffee table tray. I sought out weathered music sheets (also from the market) to give it a distinctive spin and turned it into my own. Clarence’s handwriting and other innate markings were kept on the sides – the history, after all, is what makes pieces like this oh-so charming.
Care to dance? Follow my lead.
26 comments
So creative – i’d never think to do that!
x Kelsey
You are the queen of crafting and DIY-ing Emily!
I LOVE this for so many reasons. It’s a DIY and you found it all at a street market, gotta love it!
You did such an amazing job, Em! I love old pieces that have stories like this–I really want to know who Clarence was!
I love finding great vintage treasures like these. Makes me wonder what their previous life was like. Love the way this looks.
You did a great job on this project! If only I had some “surfaces” in my apartment, on which I could place cool things like this!
xox
Bailey
http://akabailey.blogspot.com
LOVELY! Love antique finds, and wood always has so much character!
Simona
http://www.lakenmoon.blogspot.com
Turned out great!
Love the story behind it. 🙂
http://happinessiscreating.com/
Wow, what an amazing piece! Love what you did with it. 🙂
-Ashley
http://lestylorouge.com
This is great! I love the sheet music and I’m a sucker for a back story-thanks for sharing Clarence with us!
Love how you revamped the tray, it looks like a beautiful and decorative piece now!
beautiful! what a great find. you’ve styled it perfectly too.
thanks for visiting my blog 🙂
So cute!
http://www.Fashioncontainer.com
Fashioncontainer Facebook page
What a thrifty find! I love that it has a bit of history behind it. PS – love the blog and the fun little illustration of you on the right! Can’t wait to follow along.
Beautiful and crafty!
http://www.rsrue.blogspot.com
thats so cool! you are so artsy. thanks so much for sharing 🙂
-terry
terrydunakim.blogspot.com
Love Me to Pieces
I love that you were drawn to this piece because of the history. That’s the reason I have for a few of my more random finds!
Lori
Wow. Well done!! This is upcycling gone right. You gave a breath of fresh air to this beautiful piece of mundane history that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. I love projects like this. 🙂
xo,
-Nathy
Earnestyle
This is beautiful, I love pieces with a story to them.
This is beautiful, I love pieces with a story to them.
Great styling! I love a tray! Caroline
Oh wow! Lovely makeover! It looks gorgeous!
-liv
http://chocolivlovelaugh.blogspot.kr
Oh wao!!! This is great! It looks beautiful. I love the idea of adding music sheets. Its very romantic.
This is so pretty!!! Love love love!
This is such a great idea!! On the hunt for a similar tray now- thanks Emily!! xx
what a cute little table!