If we’ve learned one thing from LONNY it’s that trays are in!
You can use them as a catch all on your vanity:
You can use them to tend bar.
You can use them for flowers and to show off some accessories:
This bar display was large enough to add glasses into the mix as well. Great when hosting a party.
Once you display your trinkets on a tray then end up looking like treasures!
Here are some of my favorites out in the market:
Lucite + nice size +$34.99 : happiness!
Apparently IKEA has a long and skinny lucite version for only $6.99. I love for it every single time I’m there and never find it!
West Elm always carries a great variety of trays ranging from $29-$55.
Lacquer: check, hot pink: check, caning: check! $14.99 you are coming home with me! Available here.
One of my favorite stores in the city has a great variety for $45!
Pier 1 Imports always has a wide variety of finishes, sizes and price ranges.
My favorite at the moment is this $5 find:
Another $5 find was my latest DIY project.
While at Christmas Tree Shoppe a couple of weeks ago I found some trays for $4.99 .
I needed something in blue so after searching my craft closet I found the perfect supplies to customize it.
Supplies:
-Tray
-Leftover grass-cloth wallpaper
-Scissors
-Tape Measure
-Spray-Paint
-Wallpaper glue and applicator
After a couple of coats of paint we had the perfect color and coverage:
Then with your tape measure get the measurements of the tray and cut your grass-cloth to size.
Now just apply some wallpaper paste to the back of your paper:
Apply to tray and let it dry. Then to fix any fraying add some decorative ribbon to the seams with a glue gun:
Then enjoy!
This tray is heading out to a client home tomorrow where it will enjoy some time on this ottoman:
So how do you feel about trays used throughout a home?
I love them. They help my mess look nice and neat. I know some think they are a bit overused in magazine layouts and over-styled.
Where do you stand with them?
I LOVE trays! I need about a ton of them around the house to hold all my junk! Thanks for letting me know about the Ikea one. You can't go wrong with that price! I will be heading out to Ikea asap!
ReplyDeleteLove trays! Small obsession of mine. I just did a post on one tray I'm coveting right now - cute gingham ones I spotted in Lonny (ellie sommerville's apt.)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea to decoupage your own! I'm thinking I'll do one for me with Lilly wrapping paper and a manlier one for the hubs.
ReplyDeleteLove trays!! I love customizing them for gifts, yours looks great!! Janell
ReplyDeleteI love how these trays look! And you're right they turn trinkets into treasure! I am thinking about finding a metallic tray where I can put all of my perfumes. Thanks for the tips!
ReplyDeleteI love them too. I recently bought 6 of etsy looking for the perfect one for under my coffee maker and ended up buying the lucite one in your post from CB2.
ReplyDeleteBut I do hate a tray at the foot of the bed in a photo. Lame.
Love these trays! I am going to look for that ikea one. We used a great mirrored tray to create a nightstand on a radiator in our Show House room.
ReplyDeletehttp://vintagescoutinteriors.blogspot.com/2010/06/sneak-peek-our-designer-showhouse-room.html
There are 12 of those long, lucite trays at the Ikea by my mother. I'm calling her to have her pick one up for me over the weekend and ship it to me in Virginia.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you live? Do you know where I'm going with this. :) :) :)
I buy trays all the time. I think I'm obsessed. One of my favorites is a Tarjay find. It's entirely mirrored. And right in my bedroom. love it!
ReplyDeleteI've been hunting for one and thanks for this post I think I will probably find the perfect one!
ReplyDeleteWe are using it to set up a bar out of an old shelf!
Thanks for all the inspiration!!!
I have the python tray on my coffee table and I LOVE it!
ReplyDeleteBTW, thank you so much for the awesome fixed shade tutorial. you may have actually inspired me to try something like that in the future .... you made it look easy!
I also have the faux python tray on my coffee table and love it! HB last month had a great quote from a designer, the best coffee table you'll ever have is an ottoman with a tray on top...
ReplyDeleteI love them! I found a great one at HomeGoods that I use on our coffee table to catch all of our magazines. I have another one on top of a toilet to hold tissues and a jar of cotton balls. You DIY project is great!
ReplyDeleteI love a good tray...picked a few up from the ZGall yesterday for a client...and oh how you put me to shame with your DIY magic
ReplyDeleteI love trays & have one in almost every room of my house. My most recent purchase was the West Elm tray is gray - it's so handy!
ReplyDeleteI love Trays! I may need to slow down though because its starting to look like everything is being shoved on a tray at my house :)
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love them...makes my junk look so much more polished. And thanks...now I'll be scouring the aisles of Ikea looking for the lucite tray too!
ReplyDeleteI love love love trays. I have that square Lucite tray, and use it to set up wine for a party with glasses and bottles. I also keep a small one by my sink, where my toothbrush and paste sit, and a small dish for earrings, etc.
ReplyDeleteThey can be overstyled, certainly, but why not corral the junk and make it look beautiful?!!
I'm a hige fan of trays, we have them in the dining room, bedroom and livingroom
ReplyDeleteI repainted the one in my living room and added fabric to the bottom under glass, it turned out pretty.
I like the one you did too!
Yes, trays are so great for keeping a mess under control. It definitely comes in handy on top of my husband's dresser...amazing how much neater all his stuff looked when I put a tray there!
ReplyDeletelove them, I bought some vintage fiberglass for my vanity table that look really cute!!
ReplyDeletegorgeous post — i love your picks!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful slection of trays! We have a pathetic choice here.......very jeaous! Love them - all over the house! KG
ReplyDeleteI really LOVED this post. Beautiful and well done, Camila!
ReplyDeleteLove this idea- such a great DIY project!!
ReplyDeleteYour DIY tray looks incredible! I'm loving that python print tray in the first two photos!
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much that Hermes tray is? I love it!
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Jessica
I have been on the search for the perfect tray for our home. Maybe I just have not found it because I do not know what I am looking for :(
ReplyDeleteI'm a big tray fan too. I bought the lucite one from Ikea- love it! I found it it the bathroom section. Hope that helps you find it!
ReplyDeleteThe Ikea trays are in the kitchen section probably in the same space as the cutlery trays and in- cabinet slide out organizers. I totally agree with you on the trays from Ikea, they rock! So much so that I bought six about year ago. They are actually a really nice weight and very sturdy. Good luck finging them!
ReplyDeleteAny suggestions for where to get a python tray???
ReplyDeleteThat tray looks great! You did a lovely job!
ReplyDeletei love everything about that first coffee table set up! i got a tray for my living area a few weeks ago. love it!
ReplyDeleteLove that tray makeover! I've been lusting over the west elm white lacquer tray - I really love that other source you posted with the bright colored trays! I just bought a little guy in turquoise with gold trim and white polka dots - I'm obsessed with it!
ReplyDelete