Making a Live Edge Bathtub Tray

When we finished the basement a few years back, we took our time to find the things we wanted to outfit it with. That included going to an auction and getting this dresser which we turned into a vanity. Since this bathroom doesn’t get high use, we left the original mirror even though it is a little wavy.

We also knew we wanted a clawfoot tub. Not disappointed with that either. Love a good clawfoot tub.

If you will notice in that last picture, we had bought a bathtub tray. Some people call them bathtub caddies too. Now that we have a larger planer, we decided to replace the chrome one with a live edge tray.

We headed out to the shipping container and picked a wide pine board about 1 1/2 inches thick. We label all of the wood so we know where it came from, this one we choose came from when we cut down the pine trees at my Aunts house.

First thing we did was run the board through the new planer.

Planning to keep the bark on the two sides, we measured the bathtub and cut the board to length leaving about an inch overhang on either end. Then we gave the ends and sides a good sanding.

We added two pieces of wood to the underside that will sit just inside the bathtub so there will be no chance of it falling into the tub.

I asked Jim if there were any way we could carve out a spot for a soap dish. I’ve seen them with cutouts for wine glasses but A. I don’t like wine and B. Well, I don’t like wine. So, I just happened to have a soap dish not being used and we turned it upside down to trace the shape onto the wood. We placed it at a slight angle. Figured with the live edge it would be hard to make it look straight anyways.

Then Jim set up the router and got to work removing the material within the lines.

After a few minutes here was the result.

Now it was on to finishing. I applied three coats of poly with a light hand sanding between coats.

Here it is in place.

And a little closer look…

Excuse me while I go have a cold glass of wine milk!

Later