DIY rock boot tray

One of the things I did when I was on holidays was make a boot tray for our front entrance. And here it is:

Do you love my elaborate styling (please note my new Kate Spade pom-pom toque that Dave bought me for my b-day!)? We don't use the front entrance but guests do, so we needed a tray for snowy winter boots. I used to have a black plastic one but it always looked dirty and was just plain ugly. I'd seen ideas where you put loose rocks in a tray (like here at marthastewart.com) but I thought it might be messy and hard to clean. So I had the idea of grouting the rocks so it would be wipeable. Here's how it turned out:

I had to have a tray that was low because the door swings to the wall. Turns out it's tricky to find rectangular trays that are an inch high. Then one day I was at Indigo and saw a picture frame and thought it could work. A bit of discussion with Dave (to see if he thought it would actually work or if I was completely off my rocker!) and some measuring and I went back and bought it. 

Since I didn't take any pictures during the process (oops!), here are the steps involved in making my little DIY boot tray:

1) Buy the supplies - white picture frame from Indigo; LePage Extreme Repair adhesive glue from Rona; stone tiles, pre-mixed grout, a float tool, and a grouting sponge from Home Depot

2) Have your husband sand down the backing of the picture frame so it fits perfectly

3) Glue each rock individually because you don't like how the pre-made tiles looked ( I ripped the rocks off the netting stuff they were attached to)

4) Glue the frame backing in place because you forgot to do it before gluing all of the rocks on

5) Wait for all glue to dry (24 hours+), then put on the pre-mixed sanded grout following the directions on container (basically push it between rocks and smooth over with the float tool then use a wet sponge to clean the rocks off - having your husband do this part for you is a bonus)

6) Look at it somewhat grudgingly as you wish the light grey grout was a bit darker but be overall happy with the finished result

7) Put it in place and put your new boots on it to 'test' it out

8) Take pictures and share them on your little blog while writing a how-to that shows that I am not a professional DIYer