How you can Make a DIY Washable Pet Meals Tray | Thrifty Decor Chick

How you can make a customizable pet meals tray that can 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 feel determining one of the best spot for pet meals bowls is tough — you need it out of the way in which, 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 yr. When that was completed, we tried holding them within the mud room for awhile, however it felt like we have been at all times bugging the animals after they have 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 really 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 mission!

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 superb newbie mission 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 lower 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 adequate — you may simply have to 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 vital to maintain any water from entering into the crevices!

I had this wooden primer from Sherwin-Williams readily available and it was good for this mission 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 quite a lot of moisture with caulk and paint! 

Just a few coats of fine paint will forestall 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 acquired some pet wall vinyls final yr for one more mission, and thought this tray can be one other cute method to make use of them! I put a couple of on the underside over the white paint:

cat face vinyl

Preserving the vinyls on, I painted a pair coats a lightweight grey over your complete factor: 

painting with foam roller

I colour matched our pantry cupboards to get this colour, here is the method you may take to the paint retailer:

perfect gray paint color formula

It is such a beautiful grey colour — 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 hooked up these into every nook beneath the tray with screws. 

After the paint was totally 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 may end it off with a pair coats of polyurethane as properly. 

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 the direction of us, so it is lots out of the way in which. 

I like having their meals again in right here in order that they have extra of a peaceful area 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 way in which 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 mission off endlessly, and at last acquired it accomplished for round $10 in supplies!:

gray pantry with pet food station

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

painting stripes on tray

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

It turned out actually cute as properly — you may customise these so some ways if you make your personal pet meals tray:

DIY striped pet food tray

I’ve made fairly a couple of 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 this can be a You may change these up so some ways — add some handles, use a stencil on the bottom, no matter you need – the probabilities are countless! 🙂