Make your own painting tray with built-in rack! Part 3

We are finally going to finish the basic tray and rack. You can go about this in several ways, but we will first cover the way I did it.

Now that we have the basic pieces put together, we need to drill some holes to put the paint brushes into. Along the back, I experimented with different drill bit sizes until I found one that accommodated the majority of my brushes. I then drilled holes at regular intervals along the whole back of the rack. Drill these all the way through.

Next, I had to dig out a heavy duty electric drill to use with my holesaw bit. I used a 4" holesaw, the kind they include with doorknob installation kits. Keep a good grip on the drill, because it will really buck when the bit gets a good bite of the wood. Be sure to follow all the recommended safety precautions when using power tools! (I.e. eye protection, hearing protection, etc.) Drill these all the way through.

Now I chose this time to affix a wood block measuring 2x3x3 onto the tray, and drilled some more holes for paint brushes. This time, since the block was large, I drilled a pilot hole from the underside of the board and used a regular drywall screw. In retrospect, I should have done this instead of nailing the top rack to the tray, but sometimes you just want to hammer on something, you know?

Now, to keep the nail and screws on the underside from scratching up the wife's kitchen table, I used a stapler to attach pieces of soft craft foam (brand name "Foamies", 38 cents a sheet at Wal-Mart) to the underside. This also helped keep it from slipping on the table.

We'll continue to add details later. For now, your tray is functional as a brush rack and painting area! By this point you can probably customize it to suit your own needs anyway.

For those who were wondering, I got the black plastic piece from the interior of an old junk car. It was the part of the dash that had knobs for the AC/heater and stuff. I don't really know for sure where it is from, but I imagine you can find something similar in an old car or even a car organizer from a department store might work.

Other options to customize your rack: (the one for painting, you sicko)
Add a border to the board
Drill in holes to accomodate paint pots
Add cubby for unusual pot types
Affix a tray to put hobby tools
Seal the project with varnish or paint

Hope this gives you some ideas!