Decorative Trays
One accessory we reach for over and over again in designing dreamy, functional homes is the humble tray.
With its practicality unmatched in corralling everyday objects into manageable, easy-to-reach assemblies, and its ability to add beauty and personality to daily routines, the decorative tray is a workhorse for your home and your sanity.
The best part? Decorative trays come in a wide style and price range, making it easy to customize based on your family’s budget and rhythms. Here are some of our favorite styles to source:
- Vintage: Hands-down the easiest way to add interest to your space. Antique dealers, consignment shops, estate sales, FB Marketplace, and relatives’ homes (with their consent, of course!) are great places to start your search.
- Fabric-Wrapped: If you’re up for a little DIY, you can wrap a plain tray with a coordinating fabric in your space for a custom look.
- Round: Think outside the [square] box! Not all trays have to – or need to be – rectangular.
- Bold Print: Pair neutral objects with a bold print to make a statement.
- Lacquered: A classic for a reason, a high-gloss lacquer finish can make any objects look sophisticated.
- Woven: For a more organic look, go for a woven material.
- Natural Fiber: Reeds, grasses, bamboo and willow bring your trays (and your home) back to nature.
When deciding where to utilize a decorative tray in your home, ask yourself these questions:
- Function: Are there multiple objects that serve the same purpose? TV remotes scattered about? Reading glasses that routinely go missing? Arranging items of the same function in one tray can make them easy to find.
- Ritual: What are your daily routines? Morning coffee? Nighttime skincare regime? If they work together, they can go on a tray together.
- Zone: What areas of the home have specific items tied to them? A drop zone near the entry where wallets and keys stashed? A dry bar with cocktail mixing tools? Organizing items on a tray by space helps define the activities of that room and keep what you need within easy reach.
We’ve yet to find a place in the home that can’t benefit from a tray. Here are some of our favorite places to use them:
Dining Table
Just because your dining table or breakfast nook is a utilitarian worker in your home doesn’t mean it can’t have its own time to shine! Arrange a vase of flowers, a stack of coaster, and a bowl of fruit on a decorative tray and start and end your day with a moment of beauty.
Fox Interiors Project: MCM Meets 2020
Kitchen
Reach for the olive oil, salt, pepper, and your favorite specialty vinegar when cooking? Create a corralled set up for them on an easy-to-wash tray within hands reach.
Fox Interiors Project: North Oaks Modern Prairie
Coffee Bar
A great example of using trays to define the space you use for daily rituals, a tray where you make your first cup of coffee every morning keeps cups, utensils, and all your coffee accoutrement neat and contained.
Living Room
Want to use your favorite candle, have the photo album from your latest trip within viewing distance, and display the vintage vase from your grandmother without your living room feeling cluttered? A tray can make meaning out of disparate items by creating a personalized vignette.
Fox Interiors Project: Bass Lake Retreat
Plants
Show your house plants some love by letting a tray frame its natural beauty. Bonus? It will serve as a first line of defense against any water spillage.
Fox Interiors Project: MCM Meets 2020
Bathroom
Have a perfume collection? A multi-step beauty routine? Or just want to minimize the products spread on your bathroom countertop? A tray can do all that and add additional texture to your space.
Fox Interiors Project: Serene Ensuite
Bedroom
A tray is an easy way to keep your nightstand (and bedroom) peaceful. It keeps items you need within easy reach, without making the first thing you see in the morning or the last thing you see at night cluttered chaos. Yes, please!
Did we miss any? Let us know how you use trays for sorting, organizing, and displaying in your home!
