How to Use Trays for an Easy Summer Decor Refresh

How to bring that summertime feeling inside with the most underrated decorating tool in your home – a tray.

Styled 2 Ways #20

It’s time for another monthly collaboration with my blogging buddy MaryJo of Master”pieces” of my Life. Once a month we select a theme and then we each share our own take on it. This month, the theme is summer decor. I’ll be sharing ways to use trays throughout your home to add a summery feel to your spaces. MaryJo will be sharing inspiration for summer mantel decor with a vintage twist. Two posts, two views, and double the inspiration! Be sure to visit MaryJo’s blog today too! You can also follow Masterpieces of my Life on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Why a Tray?

I’ve come to think of the tray as one of the most underrated styling tools in a home. I have a tray in our Bay Area home that I rearrange more than anything else in the house. It sits on the coffee table in the living room. It takes five minutes to style, yet it makes a big impact on the overall feel of the room. In fact, I believe that every room in your can benefit from having a tray vignette or two. They help keep a space organized and are easy to redecorate for each season.

Types of Trays

You almost certainly have some kind of tray laying around your home that works already. Maybe several. And if you don’t, you don’t need to buy a designated “styling tray” — you just need to look at what you already own with slightly different eyes. A tray doesn’t have to be a tray. Some of my favorite “trays” are technically other things entirely:

• A wooden cutting board — especially a beautiful end-grain or olive wood one — works beautifully on a coffee table or kitchen counter
• A woven charger (the kind meant to go under a dinner plate) becomes a perfectly sized tray for a nightstand or bathroom counter
• A shallow basket, especially in natural seagrass or rattan, is ideal for a more relaxed, layered look
• A ceramic or laquer tray adds a bit of polish and works especially well in a bathroom or bedroom
• A marble or stone slab is simple, elegant, and grounding, perfect for a bathroom or kitchen counter.

Tip: Before you buy anything, walk through your kitchen, linen closet, and even the garage. You might be surprised what turns up!

When in Doubt, Size Up

A quick note on tray size: bigger is usually better than you think. A tray that feels almost too large for a surface often ends up looking the most intentional and it gives the eye somewhere to land and keeps the styling from looking scattered. For a coffee table or ottoman, go wide and low. For a console or entry table, a longer rectangular tray can anchor the whole surface. For a bathroom counter or dresser, choose something smaller and more refined to keep everything organized and save space.

Elements of a Well-Styled Summer Tray

This is the formula I come back to every time. You don’t necessarily need all of them, but when a tray feels like something is missing, it’s usually one of these.

Height Variation

Every good tray needs something tall to give it dimension. A taper candle in a simple holder, a slender bud vase with a single stem, or a small potted plant can all do the job. Without height, a tray feels flat, literally and visually.

A Natural Element

This is the piece that makes a tray feel alive rather than staged. In California, we’re fortunate to have beautiful natural elements everywhere. I almost always have something from outside making its way onto my trays. I like to include some kind of greenery in almost every tray I style.

Something Functional

A tray that looks beautiful but has nothing useful on it feels a little precious. Grounding it with something purposeful like a stack of coasters, a small dish for rings or keys, or a place to store your glasses makes the whole arrangement feel like it actually belongs to someone who lives there.

The Final Detail – A Personal Touch

Think of this as the final layer that makes the arrangement feel complete. It can be anything from a special stone you collected on a trip, a matchbook from your favorite restaurant, or a candle in your favorite scent. Things that reflect your taste and preferences make a tray display interesting and more personal.

The California Coastal Formula

If your home leans toward California coastal style, there are a few principles worth following when you’re styling a tray.

Stick to a natural, neutral palette

Whites, creams, warm linens, driftwood tones, soft greens, faded terracotta. Nothing too bright, nothing too matchy. Think of the colors you’d find on a beach – sandy, silvery, muted, calm.

Incorporate Texture

The California coastal aesthetic doesn’t rely on color contrast the way other styles do, it relies on texture. Try to have a mixture of smooth and rough, woven and organic, matte and slightly shiny. For example, try combining a smooth marble sculpture in a rough woven basket next to a soft linen napkin for contrast.

Edit, edit, edit

More is rarely better with a tray. The instinct is to fill it up, but the trays I find myself most drawn to are the ones with breathing room. If you’ve added a bunch of things and it feels cluttered, take one away. Then take another one away. You’ll know when you’ve found it.

One thing I’ve noticed: my San Diego trays tend to feel lighter and airier — more whites and creams, more organic shapes, more of a beach-cottage looseness to them. My Bay Area trays lean slightly warmer and more layered — a little more texture, deeper tones, something that feels cozier. Both are California, just different expressions of it. Let your space guide you.

Room-by-Room Tray Ideas

Coffee Table

This is the most forgiving surface for tray styling because it’s meant to be lived in, so a little layering is not just acceptable, it’s expected. A wide, low tray works best here so as not to block your view.

This round woven tray holds the essentials on our coffee table: a set of coasters, a plant book, a faux hydrangea and some weathered wooden beads. The loosely woven texture of the tray gives it a summery, casual feel. It’s also a good spot to corral our remotes.

Entryway Console

The entry tray is the one that greets people, so it earns a little more intention. In some homes, the entry table is a catchall spot for keys, phones, mail, etc. In our home, the console is place for seasonal decor. It is a long narrow table, so a long gold metal tray is the perfect spot to corral a faux fern, a summer read and my daughter’s fish teapot that she found while studying abroad. The display feels light and airy, which is just the feel I want for summer.

Bathroom Counter

The bathroom tray should be as useful as it is beautiful. Resist the urge to include too many things. An attractive bathroom tray is one of the fastest ways to make a bathroom feel more elevated. This small tray is a pretty place to hold perfume, some jewelry or makeup brushes. Although it’s not technically on the tray, the wicker vase containing eucalyptus stems is the perfect nod to summer.

Bedroom Dresser or Nightstand

This tray should feel personal and quiet. You may want to include a small dish for jewelry, a candle, a small bud vase, or a small floral arrangement.

My nightstand has just enough room for a small scalloped tray that holds a dish for my rings and a small bud vase that looks pretty with or without flowers in it. A faux hydrangea arrangement in shades of blue adds to the summery feel.

Kitchen Island or Counter

The kitchen tray is the hardest one to get right, because the temptation to let it become a catch-all is very real. Keep it edited: salt and pepper shakers, a beautiful salt cellar, and a small plant. Tie it together visually with a wooden tray or board or a marble slab underneath, and make a habit of clearing things off it that don’t belong. The goal here is a kitchen tray that is functional above all else.

The round wooden tray in our kitchen sits next to the stove and holds our utensil crock, some salt and pepper grinder, and a small olive wood dish that holds flakey sea salt. Adding a faux lavender gives it a summery twist.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overcrowding

The tray becomes a junk collector the moment you stop editing it. If it looks cluttered, remove something. Then remove something else.

Matching everything too perfectly

When every object on a tray is the same material, the same color, the same height, it looks like a display at a home store rather than a home. A little contrast, such as one rough thing among smooth things, or one warm tone among cool ones, is what makes it feel curated rather than purchased.

Ignoring scale

Tiny objects on a large tray get lost. If your tray is wide and generous, the objects on it should be generous too. Scale them up, or group smaller items together so they read as a unit. Too many tiny items on a tray ends up looking more cluttered than collected.

Forgetting to edit seasonally

A tray that hasn’t been touched in eight months starts to feel invisible. You stop seeing it, and so do your guests. Make sure to swap in something seasonal. It takes two minutes and it makes the whole room feel current.

A Five-Minute Summer Decor Hack

Styling a tray is one of the fastest ways I know to make a room feel more like a place someone thought about, rather than a place where things accumulated. It doesn’t require a shopping trip or a design degree or even a lot of time. All you need are a tray, a few objects you already love, and a willingness to edit.

Start with one tray in the room where you spend the most time. For us, that’s our living room. Use the elements listed above as a loose guide and have fun. Don’t be afraid to edit too.

I’d love to see what you come up with! If you style a tray this week, share it on Instagram and tag me. I’m always looking for more inspiration.

Pin It

This article includes affiliate links; if you click on a shopping link and make a purchase I may receive a commission. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.