Today’s Farmhouse French Friday tip is to use trays. And the thing is, there are so many trays that look gorgeous with Farmhouse French style.
Today we are talking about trays. Like many other elements of farmhouse French style there are so many different types that will work. This simple wood tray with metal handles is one of my favorites. It works well with the rustic style of the candlesticks.
Below I stenciled a tray with the words ‘milk and cream.’ I love this tray, and now I’m trying to remember where I put it.
Below I used a large bread board as a tray. That works too.
Another type of tray you can use is a metal tray like below on a stand.
How about these French wood trays?
I love the hand carved details and the oval shape.
Here’s another white tray on my back porch.
I love using silver trays so much. They work so well, and make me feel so pampered.
These rustic trays are very simple, and it’s their simplicity that I adore.
A simple stained wood tray is also very elegant.
Isn’t this pink and gold Florentine tray pretty?
Next I’ve got a silver tray over the stove and a large industrial tray on my island.
These 3 trays below are similar to the industrial tray, but they are smaller and stained wood.
Below I used a simple porcelain tray for soap. It’s made in France.
This tray is wood with a tile inset, although you can’t see the tile in the shot.
Here we have a small Florentine tray in yellow.
Next is a gold tray with hand-painted pears on it.
Or how about this chintz tray?
Well I hope I have convinced you that trays add loads of style and work well with Farmhouse French style. I think there are so many different trays that would work.
I love to use trays to decorate and organize items. Your trays are beautiful!
Love using trays❤️Great ideas will be making some for holiday gifts. Thanks for including such beautiful trays with pics.
I really love the different styles and varieties of trays. I really like the wood look for the “farmhouse” feel. I also love your hard work that has been put in your blog. Be blessed abundantly today and always.
I love silver trays! I don’t mind some tarnishing, actually like a little, but mine seem to turn dark within minutes of polishing them. May be it’s living in florida?
Hi Nicole….I have the same problem, humidity I think. I started cleaning my old silver trays with WD40 and it really worked. They have stayed clean now for a couple of months. I don’t rub all the black off as I quite like the look too. I cleaned one tray with silver polish to compare, after a week it was tarnished really badly again. Will continue to use WD40 as it worked brilliantly ??
This is brilliant – I’ve never heard of using WD40 before. I live in humid Savannah, so I’ll give this a go – thanks!
Never heard of using WD40. Will have to try that trick! Thank you!
I love trays…and have them throughout my own home. The trays you have posted here are very nice indeed! Thank you!
Love trays and have several, also.
I have such a collection of trays and you have given me such great ideas. Thanks, Anita.
Thanks for the great inspiration!! Love the trays…my favorite are the wood carved ones. <3
I like the use of trays as well. I use a large oval wicker one on my coffee table and change out items seasonally. They keep items corralled.
I love using trays in every room to corral smaller decorative pieces. My favorite is a silver tray I use on my bed to hold my latest reads, phone, remotes and Kleenex. The most mundane items look better placed on a tray!
I guess it’s time to drag out the 3 trays I ” inherited” and give them a purpose. Thanks for the tips!
I enjoy browsing your pictures of trays. I have been trying to incorporate trays with my decor. You gave me many ideals!!
Thank you!!
I use trays all over my home!!!!! Mostly silver….and I don’t clean them….love a little tarnish on them… love the look!!!! I use mine for almost everything….from vignettes to some that have lamps on top, large bowls etc. Your trays are beautiful….so many wonderful ideas! ♡
Congrats to Betty! So many pretty pictures to get me inspired. I took the day off from work to play in the house. This inspired me to get started. Have a great day!
I love using trays too. You have some wonderful inspiration here!
Love your tray displays. You have given me lots of inspiration and I have purchased several.
Your tray are soooo lovely! You’ve given me so many great ideas, especially the WD-40 one! I get a lot of tarnish very quickly, also.
Love the linens with pretty pillows and trays. Trays can be useful and decorative accents at the same time!
Thanks for the great ideas for using trays!!
I LOVE trays! Starting to collect some to use in this house. Have a few silver ones and a wood one. Just love how you accessorize them! You are awesome! Come to my house please! <3
Great ideas to get my trays out of storage! Thanks
Love this tip! Your photos are just wonderful! Thank you for sharing! Leticia
Love all the trays! One of each please! Lol!!
Thank you for the wonderful post and the chance to win some wonderful things. I am a long time follower and find your blog such a place of inspiration and to savor slowly with a cup of coffee. I recently saw your article in French Country magazine and giggled in the checkout line with excitement. Of course, I had to buy it. It was like finding an old friend! Thank you for taking the time to share your beautiful spirit and world.
Love all of your trays that are all beautiful.
im with you….love any kind of tray….so many ways to use…but I love your two blue buffalo check chairs!!!! ha!
When you say trays, you are speaking my language! My husband thinks I have way too many, but I just smile and say that each one has a purpose at some point. ‘-)
This is a fabulous selection, Anita. I especially like the carved wooden trays.
I have a few trays, after seeing all the options you have posted on how they can be used, I will definitely be on the hunt for more of them. Thanks for the inspiration!
My mother just gave me her silver serving set, love it ,just need a little polish to make it shine.
I love the way trays really pull things together. What a pretty selection you have – love the carved ones! Enjoy your weekend. We are bracing for the storm coming up the east coast!
Shelley
HI Anita, I too have a thing for trays, and if it’s a new one I can’t resist beating it up to look old and rustic French, I love the vignettes you layered on and in your trays.
I don’t think readers really stop to realize all the wonderful pieces in a home or garage that can act as a surface for a tray.? One of my favorite uses for a tray is a old top off of a buffet that I place on a surface as a tray, even old strips of wood, and salvaged tops off old worthless end tables, and desk lids, and book case shelving along with shallow drawers have acted as a tray for me!
Love your tray post it got me thinking about all kinds of tray use!
A beautiful holiday weekend to you and yours.
Xx
Dore
Thanks for the tip! My next outing to Good Will I will be searching out trays to add to my collection.
I love trays and almost always get them from yard sales or the Good will. I use them for holiday parties. When I have to take a platter of something, I leave the tray for the next person. They never seem to get around to returning them back to me and I see them again at the next gathering.
Trays are a great way to make a statement with accessories. I
I love the silver tray over the stove. Adds a little elegance. You have give me some great ideas and I’m anxious to get started. Thanks for all you share.
I LOVE trays and the Pre De Provance soap is fabulous! I sell it in my gift shop and cannot keep it in stock! The only problem is deciding which ones to carry! Love your blog!
I often use platters as trays. So many pretty ones.
A fab way to organize every room, trays can be put into service or serve as the place for go to items. Love your selections…from wood to silver to porcelain! Beautiful!
So glad I found your blog! I’m in the process of doing over my Living Room in Country French. I’ll definitely be using some trays, such a wonderful addition.
Love your ideas!!
You can never have too many trays. So versatile for everything and every room in your home. I love the trays you posted on your blog – you’ve given me even more ideas. Look out flea markets, here I come!
Trays have always been some of my favorite things to use in decorating. They are wonderful for pulling a grouping all together. I love all the different styles that you have.
The tray are an inspiration and I think I will fix up some of my ols worn out tray this way. thanks for your ideas Susan
I love trays to decorate with…..I have quite a few in my home and decor…
Great tips..
Just love trays! Use a lot of them corral all my “stuff!” These are some really good ideas. Thanks for sharing them.
Will be looking for a tray for my large ottoman.
What an inspiration! Now I can get my trays off the shelf and use them in vignettes! Thank you!
I love trays of all kinds, but the carved wooden ones are especially pretty! Thank you so much for your inspiring blog!!
WD 40! I will give it try,and thanks for the tip!
Your blog is so inspiring…….I will be adding some trays to my home….it’s just the right touch for French country decorating,,thanks!
I love the lime tray – it reminds me of the pear tole tray I have hanging in my kitchen ~ great post!
Love the kitchen island arrangement with the Spode pitcher!
Thank you so much for the great ideas for using trays! I have quiet a few and only used them entertaining then I would have to put them away. How sad I have kept those beauties stuffed away!! Well not any more I’m putting them out today! Thank you for sharing g your ideas and tips for decorating with us. I love my house to be beautiful but never sure where to go with it but you have inspired me!! Thank you many blessings to you…
Anita,
I absolutely love trays, so this post was candy for my eyes! I think I may have a tray addiction as I can’t seem to resist “just one more!” Love your blog!
Loving the variety of trays used. Everything you do is absolutely beautiful!
I love all your tray displays. One of my favorite rooms is your kitchen/livingroom at the Ranch. It is so cheery with the white & pink flower pictures on the wall.
Love the Rustic/Industrial tray with the China & Silver Candles…especially the large Silver Tray on the back counter.
I love trays and have a tray fetish. They really come in handy.
Love your French Farmhouse style and all of the great ideas and inspiration you’ve shared! Thank you…..
What great ideas…so happy to have found your site.
Thank you for validating my love and use of trays! I have them everywhere and can’t resist buying more. I have the same silver one that you have over your stove. Love your style.
Can’t wait to try some of these fabulous ideas! Thanks!
Love all the different ideas on how to use various trays…especially the lavender soap on the porcelain tray.
I love your use of trays!! I use them everywhere too, and I also love using framed mirrors as trays.
Thanks for sharing your ideas!!
I love to use trays around my home for decor. I have one on my kitchen counter to do little seasonal items (or special occasions). I also have one on my coffee table and dining room table. They are so versatile!
Love your site!!!!
I love the bedspread with the last big skirt any idea where I could one??? Thank you very much!!
Billie, click on the photo for more information.
I am busy cari g for my nhusband who is on hospice care at home, so I don’t comment, but rarely, but I just had to tell how it has touched my heart to jear the story of your daugjter. Thank yoi for sharing. Just wanted you to know that those of us lurking in the shadows are being blessed. God Bless. Jean
I’m so delighted to have discovered your blog. Thank you for a chance to win your giveaway. I love trays of every kind!
I love trays as well and have several….just never thought to use them in so many different ways! Thanks for sharing.
Trays make lovely home accessories and are very useful in various ways. You showed some wonderful examples. I especially like old trays that have seen a lot of use. An assortment of beautiful old trays mounted on the wall (similar to plates and pictures) can make a stunning wall arrangement. Converting a tray into a small bulletin board, either as a magnetic board or adding cork, works well in many rooms as well.
I love the French Country bedroom so relaxing . Also love the use of trays so inspired
I love using trays around the house and outside. Love the ideas here – now to go hunt down all those beautiful trays from my grandmother 🙂
Love the botanicals in your bedroom. You gave me some great ideas for my many trays. Love your blog. Thanks.
I LOVE, LOVE trays. I have several vintage from my grandmothers and mother. They are alway out. My favorite use is using a tray in the rest room for face towels for cleaning your hands. Lovely touch.
Your tray photos are beautiful and inspiring. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your talents I get so many ideas. I too like french style an have incorporated some in my home.
There’s nothing better. Then, to have a tray on your bed. It makes me feel like
I have a day off. Coffee & a good book …. I love old trays….. Who doesn’t ??
Love the pics of your trays you’ve used. I too love to use trays to decorate. They’re perfect for corralling various items or a collection of something you have and bringing it together. Absolutely love all of your blue & white!
You howed some beautiful trays Anita. I uv to use trays to corral vignettes. Plus should i decide to move one from one room to another, it’s all together.
I have several trays on most tables.
With boys, things tend to stay in place. lol
Grat blog.
I love the florentine trays. I had one or two that I sold earlier on and now want to collect a few again.
I live to use trays in just about every room. They are as handy as pockets in your slacks. It seems like I can always find items to carry room to room. You have some beautiful trays.
Wow! I’m buying some WD40 right away! And thanks for inspiring me to use trays in my decor!
Thank you for reposting this article. One of the many things I’ve learned from your blog is that everything looks better on a tray or in a basket. So true! Tomorrow morning, I’m going to pull out an old silver tray and prop it against my backsplash to see if it looks even half as lovely as yours. Please, keep up the good work!
All the trays are gorgeous. You have definitely inspired me to be more creative with my use of trays!
I love the use of the trays in any setting. I am learning just about anything unique can be used, even small platters. Love all the pictures
I love your beautiful trays, especially the silver ones and the lone chintz 🙂
Anita, you do a really good job of illustrating how beautiful and useful trays can be. I have an old silver one on our inherited square grand piano, supporting a glass vase of fern fronds and several small silver cups and bowls – makes me happy to look at it. And one corralling a few smaller items on our chest in the foyer. I’ve heard that the presence of gas in the house (even a pilot light) causes silver to tarnish quickly, but I’ve found that rubbing the cleaned silver with a lemon oil furniture polish such as Formby’s, will definitely retard the tarnishing much longer.
Oh thanks for the tip Carol.
What great ideas! I have a silver tray in a box in the closet and didn’t know what to do with it. Now I’ve got lots of options. Thanks for the inspiration.
Trays have become a great part on my decorating…thanks for this tip.
So many Posts!!!! The Trays are a HIT!!! Of Course, they are… They are a plethora of beauty. A collection to be proud of. Somehow, one never has enough, “Trays that is”!!!
Love the beautiful French tray. Wonderful ideas. B
I really enjoyed today’s blog about trays. I have several and have used them for years.
You have given me new inspiration! Thanks!
I dug out my old wedding silver. Found a beautiful silver water pitcher that now is filled with my hydrangeas. Even the hubs commented on it. Thanks for the extra push to celebrate what’s hidden away.
That is wonderful news Sherry!! Wow, your husband noticed? You get a gold star!
Your lovely post reminds me to hunt down the trays that I have had packed away for years–now I have lots more ideas from you of how I can use them. Thanks! Also china platters make interesting trays also. Which reminds me to also gather those up and get busy decorating with all these trays–what fun!! I was actually feeling pretty low and dejected cause my home has so far to go to look like yours and other bloggers and I have no money to do much ~ but I just need to shop my own closets and garage to use beauties I have hidden to spark renewed interest and beauty in my surroundings…yes, it’s a little God reminder to me and maybe others….Blessings to you……
Yes Cynthia, you probably have gold in your closets and under your bed!!
Ended up in a biding war on an online auction. I bought a lovey toile tray. Now I am down sizing and it is as big as my coffee table. Decor constantly changing. Never a dull moment
Oh my beautiful and and thank you for all the great inspirations for using trays
Lovely and amazing trays, Anita! Thanks for sharing!
Love all your ideas on how to use truss, I really like your oval wood one and using the round cutting board as a try,
So many gorgeous tray ideas! I would love if you would come over and share this post and any of your other swoonworthy ideas at Thursday Favorite Things! The party is live Thursday at 9:00 a.m. EST- Saturday at midnight.
Happy fall!
https://followtheyellowbrickhome.com/beautiful-ideas-for-september-at-thursday-favorite-things/
Hi Anita…Lovely post and thrilled that I’ve found a “tray-lovers-support-group”! ha ha!! My favs are Italian florentine, patina’d silver (shows the design better!), and vintage floral tinware (Daher, TinBox, Nevco, etc), and, oh yes, toleware. I carry my lunch from kitchen to sunroom each day on a vintage tin tray from my vast collection. Makes me feel special…even if it’s just a paper plate lunch. =) Even my little Eskie’s food and water bowls sit on a beautiful footed silver tray on the floor! Trays trays trays…everywhere in both conventional and nonconventional uses. Thanks for the post…enjoy the trays ladies! Blessings, Allison
Wow, that Eskie is one lucky pet!!! I think I want to come for lunch at your house!