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Kitchen Island Tray

I love using a tray on my kitchen islands to corral things and create fun vignettes with. Using a tray to makes what would be a cluttered-looking counter seem much more neat and tidy. Trays also allow you group together an assortment of objects you might not normally consider clustering together. (Clothes pins, snow balls, candles, and buckets? Why not?!) Utilizing trays also makes cleaning easier, which is always a win in my book.

Swapping things around in my trays is my idea of fun. I realize that may sound sad, but I find it oddly relaxing yet energizing. I love shopping my house to come up wth a new mix of objects to include in my trays. This is what my island tray has looked like since the Christmas decor came down:

sources:  tray (was yellow, but I painted it grey)  large pail    small pail     candle      similar glass candle holder

I purchased the plant at the grocery store in mid-Decemebrr and I’ve actually kept it alive! This is Kind of a Big Deal for me! I slid it into a pail from At Home and added some snowballs my daughter and I made using ping-pong balls, cotton balls, and Epsom salt. Another pail holds clothes pins, which I use a LOT in the kitchen. They come in handy for:

– keeping the bags of chips closed

– keeping cereal bags closed

– replacing annoying twist ties on bread products

– keeping bags of veggies in the refrigerator and freezer closed

– keeping bags of baking supplies closed

– keeping cracker and cookie sleeves closed

….. I think y’all get the point- they’re a must have for me in the kitchen.

We really love the smell of coffee around here. The taste? Not so much. So I bought some coffee beans and partially filled this seeded glass candle holder with them. After wedging a candle into the coffee beans, I glued a piece of burlap around it and was quite pleased with myself. I absolutely love catching a whif of coffee when I’m standing at the island. It’s been a couple months since I did this and it still smells delightful! Lighting the candle seems to enhance the smell- my guess is because the candle heats up the coffee beans.

To add a little more height to balance it all out, I added a white ceramic candle holder from the Dollar General and topped it with a candle from Hobby Lobby. All said and done, this little set up cost me VERY little.