One of my favorite childhood memories was taco night. Almost every Friday, my family and another family would alternate homes and host a taco dinner. Looking back now, I realize that it was an easy (and yummy!) way to have dinner and feed lots of people. Of course, I also realize it was a good excuse for my parents to have some margaritas. 🙂
As my monthly challenge with Lowes, I built a serving tray for hosting just such an evening.
It was seriously an easy and inexpensive project, and now I want to make about twelve more. The supply list is fairly simple. I picked up a 2x12x8 foot piece of lumber. You could cut it to any length needed, but I chose 33 inches. 30 was too short and 36 was too long? I don’t know. I’m random.
I used Rustoleum’s dark walnut stain on the entire piece. Once that was dry, I framed off an area to spray with Valspar’s chalkboard paint.
After the paint was dry, I used my chalkboard treatment to get it ready. I used a little bit of Mustard Seed’s wax to seal the wood edges. It kept the chalk residue from getting in the grain of the wood that wasn’t painted. Sorry–no pictures.
I wanted the industrial handles to blend in better, so I simply sprayed them with oil rubbed bronze spray paint.
A white chalkboard marker, some alabaster bowls from Pier One, and some yummy taco fixings make for a perfect taco night serving!
As you can imagine, my family dove into this as soon as I was finished photographing.
The possibilities are certainly numerous when it comes to a tray like this. Fondue night? Wine and cheese spread? Chocolate tasting party? Let’s just say I plan on making a couple more of these for gifts. Chalkboard trays are quite the rage right now! For other versions of this, visit Shayna, Ashley, Lindsey, and Allyson–all awesome versions of it!
Once again, my love for Lowes pays off. It’s so fun walking the aisles to figure out what I’m going to make with allll those goodies!
Disclosure: Lowes provided me with a gift card to showcase this project as part of their Lowes Creative Ideas Bloggers’ team. All the thoughts and opinions are certainly my own. I don’t get gift cards for those. 
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Cute idea. I was just at a Quilt Retreat last weekend. For our evening snack one night they had a build a cookie bar. When we walked in we were given a cereal bowl with an ice cream scoop of oatmeal cookie dough. They had cereal bowls full of assorted goodies to mix in. Raisins, chocolate chips (dark, milk, white and mint), toasted coconut, peanut butter (you stirred it into the batter), various nuts, granola, M&M’s and toffee bits. We mixed up our cookie, patted it onto cookie sheets covered with parchment and wrote our name next to it. The camp cooks baked them while we had a crazy craft gift exchange. When we were done, our cookies were done along with glasses of milk or fresh apple cider. This would be perfect! Thanks for sharing.
Love this, Chris! And Christmas is coming and I gotta ask, how much did this project cost? Making my list ;o)
Thanks for the inspiration!
Love how yours turned out! Thanks for linking to my chalkboard tray as well, I seriously use it all the time (it makes a good photo prop too!)! Allyson@Domestic Superhero
you are so fancy!!! I’m coming over for taco night…but I need you to carry the tray to me and present the toppings. k, thanks
I LOVE this! Saw it on Google Plus. Definitely Pinning and Sharing. Thanks!