Last Christmas I made a fun Christmas tree from vintage folding rulers. I’m not sure I ever blogged about it but it left me with quite a few pieces of vintage rulers to play with. I thought a little tray would be a good use of some of the pieces. There are always bunches of keys and receipts lying around so I thought a tray would be useful to tidy up our hall.
Upcycled folding ruler tray materials:
Hardboard
Vintage folding ruler
PVA wood glue
Sand paper
How to make an upcycled folding ruler tray:
I re-used a folding ruler by cutting off the metal ends, this left me with approximately 25cm lengths.
I decided on the size of my box and cut the wood accordingly. I purchased a piece of hardboard from my local DIY shop which they cut to size and used PVA woodglue to glue the ruler to the hardboard. Then I clamped the pieces together and left it overnight so the glue would dry.
The next day I removed the clamps and gave the edges a very light sand to remove any rough edges.
My tray has one divider so I lined each side with some pretty paper as the hardboard looked quite dull. I think the paper came from Tiger and I used a Blu Stick to glue it in place.
I’ve used small blobs of Sugru on the base to stop it scratching any wooden surfaces.
I think the tray looks great and I may be making a few more as they would make lovely gifts.





What a gorgeous project, I love it!
This looks so good! Well done x
I love it. I never see wooden rulers anywhere. I also love SUGRU too
Oh my goodness I love it!! What a great idea!
Oh wow it turned out great. Fantastic idea.
What a fantastic project! I would be thrilled to receive one.
I really like this and this would be ideal for school children I think x
This is perfect – I only just found my stash of wooden rulers! I’m going to adapt it slightly to make a drawer tidy 😉 Thanks for the tip!
great idea!!! love those vintage rulers
I love new things from old and these trays look really nice.
Oh my that would make an excellent teacher gift.
That looks fabulous
Oh that is a lovely idea…and looks great!
That’s great – I love those old rulers, my other half has one, I bet he wouldn’t give it up for me to make something out of though, ha!
That is just neat. I would love one of those for my study. I may look for some old rulers in the charity shops and see what I can make!
What a clever idea. You can never have too many little trays to store things in, and I love those vintage rulers.
I really like this. I love upcycling. So much better than binning things.
That looks fantastic! Love the wooden rulers, need to hunt some out for myself 🙂
What a lovely idea and it looks so cute and has a vintage type feel! x
Jess
http://owlcrazymummy.blogspot.co.uk
Love the use of the folding ruler, I also love trays / drawer tidy. I know what I will be keeping my eyes peeled for next time I am in the antiques/junk shop.
Angela
I would buy one I adore it! #magpiemonday
That is genius! What a gorgeous thing.
Thank you for linking up with #MagpieMonday
What an amazing idea! And I love the yellow flowery print too!
That looks fantastic. What a great idea! That would fit nicely in my vintage/industrial kitchen that I’m trying to create. 🙂