8 Practical (and Stylish) Uses for Trays Around the House

There are so many beautiful trays out there in stores and DIY tray ideas in the land of Pinterest, but there’s only so many ways you can use a tray, right? Well, here are 8 uses for trays around the house, some of which you might not have thought of! Read on to see just how useful a tray can be and you might want to immediately buy or DIY a new tray for your home!

1. Put a tray on your nightstand.

A chic tray will be right at home on top of a nightstand. In it, you can put your nighttime reads, your jewelry, and any lotions you like to put on before bedtime. Even if you load up your nightstand tray with random items like vitamins and cups, it’ll all look organized when contained in one tray that partially hides the mess.

If you need a temporary nightstand until you find the perfect one or for your guest room, you could put a tray on top of a luggage rack!

2. Hold all of your remotes in one tray.

If you have several remotes for the various entertainment devices, such as your TV, your Roku device, your DVD player, and a game player, you might misplace one or two of your remotes on a daily basis. If that’s happening to you, try designating a tray to hold all of your remotes in one place.

The obvious place to put a tray for your remotes is on (or in) your coffee table, but you could also put the tray in a TV set or on a side table.

Or you could even put your remote tray under your sofa!

3. Organize your bathroom clutter in a tray.

Do you often find that your bathroom vanity and sinks are covered with your makeup, perfumes, lotions, toothbrushes, and other bathroom items? Try putting a tray on your bathroom vanity to hold your most used items. It will look less messy while still keeping everything you need available at your fingertips.

Here’s another example of how a tray can organize the space on your bathroom vanity. If you love makeup, you could put all of your makeup supplies in one pretty tray. Add small bowls on the tray to organize your supplies even more.

Don’t have enough countertop space on your bathroom vanity for a tray? You could put a tray on the toilet tank!

4. Reduce visual clutter in your kitchen with a tray or two.

Look around your kitchen. Are there several small items that are all over the kitchen countertop? Things like salt and pepper shakes, wooden utensils, measuring tools, spices, and other things that you use daily can all be corralled in a tray.

See how three separate and different utensil containers instantly look grouped together and organized when they’re simply put in the same tray?

Here’s another great example of a tray in a kitchen. If you cook with a lot of different oils and spices, put them all in one tray (or basket) next to your stove.

5. Toss your paper clutter into a tray.

One of the secrets to controlling paper clutter is to go through your mail as soon as you bring it into your home. Have a tray ready in your entryway, your kitchen, or your office to hold the documents that you need to follow through with.

Even if you just can’t manage to go through your mail right away, simply having a mail tray will help reduce your paper clutter. Just drop your mail into the tray and open them all in one place when you have time. It’ll still look much better than piles and piles of mail all over your kitchen countertop.

6. Put your most-used office supplies in a tray.

Office supplies, from staples to paper clips, can overtake a small desk if you don’t have that many drawers to organize all the stuff. Find a stylish tray and put it on your desk to hold all of your office supplies and you’ll instantly feel much more organized and productive.

7. Place a tray on your entryway table to hold keys, sunglasses, phones, and other miscellaneous items.

If you or other people living with you like to empty their pockets when they come into your home, having a tray available for all of the stuff will keep everything looking organized and neat.

You could also charge all of your household’s phones and devices on a tray in your entryway. Keep it all in one spot and nobody will forget their phone as they’re rushing out of the door in the morning!

8. Use a tray to set up a bar.

A bar cart is a very trendy home decor item, but you don’t have to have a fancy bar cart to display your liquor or to host a fun cocktail party. Put a tray on a table and put all of your favorite liquors in one spot — it’ll look like a party is about to begin!

An acrylic tray is the perfect choice to show off your favorite liquors!

You could have a tray for every room in your home and easily find a use for each of your trays! What other ways do you like to decorate or/and organize with trays?

 

For more organizing ideas, check out 11 Ways to Organize the Little Things.

 

Title and feature image via Better Homes and Gardens.

 

“I’m Elisa and I live in Austin, Texas with my husband and our two little girls. I used to teach reading and writing, but now I stay at home with my two kiddos and read and write in my spare time. I also love to undertake DIY projects, find new recipes on Pinterest, and dream about someday finally completing our home. Above all, I love to learn about new things and sharing my new-found knowledge with others.”