Check out how to make your own personalized DIY Lazy Susan Tray or Plate!
How cute, right? What if I told you that “metal band” is actually wood?? I mean, you could definitely make it from metal, but I’m trying to keep it simple here *wink wink*
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This DIY lazy Susan is a great gift idea, and a great additional to a table or countertop as part of a centerpiece or to use as a little mini cocoa bar or something similar.
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So if you’re ready to see how it’s made, let’s get to it.
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What You’ll Need to Make a DIY Lazy Susan:
- Wood round (you can buy these precut or make your own–See Step 1)
- Lazy Susan Hardware
- Decorative nail heads (optional)
- Oil rubbed bronze spray paint (optional)
- Adhesive back stencil (optional)
- Wood glue
- 1 ¼” wood screws
- Drill
- Table saw (optional)
- Router or jig saw (optional)
- Sander
- Staple gun (optional)
Step 1: Make a Round Wooden Plate
Projects like this are a little hard to explain. You can do this a million ways. They have premade wood rounds (usually used for stool tops) at the big box store.
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BUT, the edges are usually rounded, so you couldn’t add the decorative band to it. So that’s one way to do it…no band, but minimal tools required.
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Or you can make your own round—which is what I did. I took some knotty looking 2x scraps in the shop and cut them down into 2x2s on my table saw and glued them together so that as many knots as possible showed.
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Here’s a tutorial for how to cut your own 2x2s! Or, if you didn’t have scraps to cut down, you can buy your own 2x2s as well.
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And actually, they don’t have to be 2x2s at all. You can glue up 2x10s, 2x6s, or even 1x material as well. You just need to be able to glue up a panel large enough to cut a circle from.
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By the way, here’s how to glue up a panel 🙂
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Then, just like on my clock coffee table, I used a router and a circle jig to cut out the circles. I made mine about 14″ diameter. You could also use a jig saw or band saw, but for perfect circles, a router works well.
Once I had all my rounds cut, I sanded them well.
Step 2: Stain/Paint the Lazy Susan
I was making this for my sister and she wanted the Kentucky design on it. I am not quite as proud of my Kentucky roots as she is, so I did without it…
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For the stencil, it works best if it sticks to the wood or else the stain will “seep” under the stencil and you won’t have sharp lines.
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You could use vinyl for this, but we used some rubber backed adhesive stencil. My dad makes tombstones (I know…pretty interesting), so he cut us a Kentucky stencil from the adhesive he uses when he sandblasts because neither of us have a vinyl cutter.
We stuck the template on the center of the round and stained around it, then peeled it back off. Perfect.
I used Minwax Provincial for my stain color.
Step 3: Add Faux Metal Edge
I ripped a ⅛” wide strip off some scrap 2x that I had around the shop that was long enough to wrap around the edge of the round. I sanded it smooth and spray painted it with oil rubbed bronze paint.
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NOTE ALSO–if you don’t have a table saw, you can purchase ⅛″ x 1 ½″ wood lattice trim instead.
As a side note, this strip was a little difficult to bend smoothly. I recommend soaking the strip in water (I literally soaked it in my bathtub) overnight, then take it out and bend it into a circle and clamp until it’s dry. Then, spray paint and continue.
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If you’re still having trouble with it, you could also use a metal band instead–or skip the band altogether. I’ve got a tutorial here for how I bent a metal band in a circle if you want to try this with metal.
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If trying metal for this smaller project, aluminum is a softer metal that would work well and bend easily. Just purchase a piece of flat aluminum 1 ½″ wide and long enough to wrap around your wooden plate.
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Once the paint was dry, I added some glue to the back and used a staple gun to staple it around the edge of the round. I tried to space the staples evenly around the edge. (NOTE: If using metal, you’ll need to drill holes and use screws instead of staples here.)
Then, I used a hammer and some decorative nail heads to cover the staples. Hobby Lobby has tons of nail head options in the upholstery department.
Step 4: Add Lazy Susan Hardware
I flipped the round over and centered the hardware. Using 1 ¼” screws, I attached the hardware to the round.
Step 5: Finish Lazy Susan
I added a couple coats of Minwax Polycrylic to the rounds to seal everything before I started putting food on it.
Step 6: Make a Pie to Stage It With
Of course, this step is optional…but it’s pie. Who wants to skip pie??
Since this has a Kentucky on it, I made a derby pie (get it? Kentucky Derby??) to stage it with.
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But any pie will do…or cake…or literally whatever you want to use these for haha. It’s such a simple project and you could use it for SO MANY THINGS!
My sister uses hers as a centerpiece on her kitchen table. I use mine on my countertop for a utensil holder.
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The possibilities are endless!
If you loved this project, don’t forget to pin for later!!
Until next time, happy DIYing!! 🙂
Shara,
If you were to sell these, what would you charge for one? I don’t have any wood working skills and want to learn and when I make one of these, I know that I will get asked if I could make one for someone else. Found you through Sawdust Girl and love your site.
Maureen
Hi Maureen, my pricing would depend on what they wanted on the top and whether they wanted the band around the sides. My pricing may not match your pricing, though. It’s best that you determine your own cost (my lumber cost may differ from yours depending on your location), and the time, tools and materials it would require of you to make it (for example, did you have to buy a router for this project? If so, you may consider adding a small amount to the price to help pay for that tool, etc), then how much time it takes you and charge based on that so that it’s worth your time to make them. Hope that helps!
This is amazing! I would put my state on it, but probably burn it on there then stain over. I love the band around the outside, it’s my favorite part. I don’t have a table saw, do you have any other suggestions for getting this look without it?!
Thanks!
Hi Sharon!! Thanks so much! The band on the outside is just a thin strip of wood. I used my table saw to cut one, but if you don’t have a table saw, you might try a couple things: If you know anyone that has a table saw, it would take about 2 seconds to cut one if you can talk them into it :), you could check around for some flat wood shims (or even paint sticks) and soak them in water to bend them easier, you could check your local metal place and see if they would be willing to shape you an actual piece of metal to fit around it, or you could get some plywood edge banding and try it (you may have to double it, though if you want it that thick, normally it comes in 3/4″ wide, not 1 1/2″). Hopefully one of those options will do the trick 🙂
Wait! Where’s the recipe for the pie?! You can’t show such a gorgeous and yummy looking pie without a link to the recipe. That’s just plain mean. Seriously, I would love to see the recipe that you use. 🙂
HAHA sorry!!! I didn’t even think to post the recipe!! Here’s the link to the recipe I used 🙂 http://cupcakesandkalechips.com/kentucky-derby-pie/
I would put our state of Washington on a lazy susan like yours! It is such a great idea and also useful! I like the edge you put on it, to give them a rustic look. Thanks for making the Derby Pie–I have never heard of it but it sounds wonderful! I know my family will love it so I am going to make one.
Thank you!! Derby Pie is so good!! Totally give it a try 🙂
Simply put, this is gorgeous, and I love it!
Thanks so much!! 🙂
Shara, as a DIYer I know how to make a round using a router but you didn’t go into details on making your rounds. Can you share some information about the jig you were using to hold the router?
Hi Tom, the jig is homemade (obviously haha). It’s just a box that fits around the router so it stays in place as it spins. I drilled a hole in the 1×4 attached to the box and drill into the wood I’m cutting and let it pivot around to make the circle. Do you use a circle jig to cut your rounds?
Shara, no I have never cut a round but has seen just one way to do it by mounting a router on a piece of thin stock and using a centering screw.
Hey Tom, yes, that’s basically what I did, the router was just “in the box” vs mounted directly to the thin stock 🙂
Shara: What is that boxy looking thing around your router? Does it have a purpose or just come with it? LOVE the Industrious Susan you put together – the faux metal band makes it!
Thank you!! The boxy thing is just a homemade jig to make it cut a perfect circle. It holds the router in place while it pivots around 🙂 (they make nice ones for this, but I’m cheap, so I made one haha)
I absolutely love these!! I am a little baffled however with the wood strip that you wrapped around it. I can’t see it bending that easily, even at only 1/8 inch cut. Did you help it along somehow, maybe soaking it to loosen? If you didn’t do this, don’t you think it will eventually break from stress? Just curious…thanks! Oh and you am a huge fan of your blog!
Thank you!! I ripped a really thin piece of wood (it may have been slightly less than 1/8″). When I stapled it, it bent fairly easily around the edge. I don’t think it will break from stress. The staples held it pretty good and I added a little glue as well 🙂