Trays: Essentials of Interior Design

Trays are one of the essentials in Interior Design. In fact, I can’t think of a more useful item to have in your design back pocket than a selection of trays – plastic trays, metal trays, glass trays – they can all work wonders for you! Trays not only serve a function, like carrying the wine, chips and salsa out to the patio, but trays can be used in a variety of ways to up the style of your interior design. They are also easy to switch out, based on the occasion; they come in so many patterns and styles that they are easily matched to your décor. For some great ideas on how trays can work for you, please read on…

Trays Are Essentials In Interior Design Because They Contain The Mess

We all have it – that messy stuff of life that we use every day. We use these things so often that we don’t really want to keep putting them away. That “messy stuff” doesn’t have to make your house look like a mess, however, when you use a tray to contain it. In our primary bathroom, for example, we have a vintage, round, silverplated tray with a tile center. Atop this tray we have a jar for toothpaste and manual toothbrushes, a bottle for mouthwash (decanted, of course) and our electric toothbrushes as well. It’s all things we need, in one place. It looks neat and makes cleaning off the sink a breeze.

Use Trays To Center Décor Items: It’s Another Design Essential

The coffee table, the dresser-top in the primary bedroom – they are design opportunities waiting to happen. It’s a chance for you to show off your personal style – to curate a small collection of treasured objects. On my dresser top I have a round, modern, brass tray and it houses my collection of vintage perfume bottles. In the living room, it’s a rectangular tray that is centered on the coffee table. It has a stack of three books on poetry, an aromatherapy candle, a succulent in a beautiful cache pot, and a piece of coral I found in Hawaii. It’s style and personality in one-fell-swoop.

Use Trays As Wall Art

Some trays are stunning, especially the antique, hand-painted ones. They deserve to be treated as art, because that’s just what they are. A single tray can make a real statement when hung on your wall. And an odd number of trays, grouped together, can deliver a punch of color or a style wow. Using trays as wall art can also be a chance to highlight a collection that you have curated over time – from your travels, perhaps or ,on a theme that you love – turtles… angels. Another plus for using trays as wall art is that, with mounted trays, you can fill a rather large wall space for a relatively modest budget. It’s a design trick worth it’s weight in gold.

Insider Tip: Looking for trays? Shops like Consignments Ltd. are great resources for these design essentials. And if you’re still up for some reading, check out some of my previous blogs, like: The Triptych in Interior Design and Brown is Back in Interior Design.

And Now For A Little Music Before We Go…

Have a lovely day, my friends. Marianne