How to make a customizable pet food tray that can withstand water and mess!
I used scrap wood and paint I had on hand to make a cute, washable feeding station. It’s become so cute.
This is the second time I’ve made a custom DIY pet food tray. I’ll show you my first version at the end of this post!
So we decided to put them back in the pantry at the end of the room, but I wanted to make a new pet food tray to ease their mess a bit.
Our dogs seem to drip more water than they actually drink, and our cats drop food around their bowls. I needed it.
Thankfully, I had most of the materials needed for this cute tray, so this was a very inexpensive project.
I started using scrap wood for the bottom of the tray and mitered the 1×2 edges to create a “frame” around the bottom.
This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience.
May earn a small commission Buy from the link.
This tray is a great beginner project for those just getting started with tools and DIY.
I measured a pet bowl to see what size I needed, and the base of the tray is 30 inches.
To attach the trim, I added a bead of wood glue before nailing it to the side of the base with a nail gun.
If you don’t have a nail gun, wood glue will suffice. It’s enough to let the wood glue dry before moving on.
And I wanted this to be watertight, so I caulked the gap between the base and the trim. This is very important to keep water out of the crevices.
I had this wood primer from Sherwin-Williams on hand and it was perfect for this project as it is made to protect exterior surfaces where it rains.
Any primer will work, but this version offers a little more protection.
Wood surfaces can withstand a lot of moisture with caulk and paint!
Even MDF will stop absorbing water after a few coats of good paint.
After two coats of primer, a quick coat of white paint just on the base of the tray and let it dry for a day before moving on to this adorable part of DIY. 🙂
I got some pet wall vinyl for another project last year and thought this tray would be a cute use too. I put some on the bottom over the white paint:
I left the vinyl on and applied several coats of light gray all over.
I matched the pantry cabinet color to get this color. Here are the formulas you can take to the paint store:
It is a very nice gray color – no weird shades at all!
Next, I wanted to add feet to lift the tray off the floor.
I found these cute little wooden toy wheels at a craft store and painted 4 of them with the same gray paint.
I attached these to each bottom corner of the tray with screws.
Once the paint was completely dry, I used tweezers to pull up the dog and cat vinyl designs.
Let everything dry for a full day before placing the food bowl on the tray.
Adorable As my Nice says! 🙂
I walked around with it and showed my family how cute it was. 😂
Made to fit at the end of your pantry.
The cabinet at that end opens towards us, so we don’t walk that far, so it’s out of the way.
I like to put their food back here so they can eat in more calm. That’s it.
Animals seem to like it. Ha! very cute:
Provides plenty of space without getting in the way. This tray also lifts the food bowl. It is suitable for digesting food.
I put off this simple project forever, but finally finished it for about $10 in materials!:
Many years ago I made a very similar tray in my old house.I used painters tape to create a simple striped design on it.
I believe they were the same size! I don’t know what happened to this – I don’t remember what I did.
It was super cute too – you can customize these so many ways when making your own pet food tray:
I made quite a few decorative trays today, including this tray with leather handles and this Lego hideout tray.
You can’t find the perfect size tray at the pet store, so you can modify this in so many ways – add some handles, use a stencil for the base, or whatever you like! You can – the possibilities are endless! 🙂
