My Current Obsession: Trays and Styling

Back when little man was still a baby, the forward-thinking mom in me took a look at our wooden coffee table with sharp corners and declared to the Mr. that we should replace it with something soft.  Seeing how babies who are learning to walk love to pull themselves up against furniture to walk around them, you can never be too cautious (especially with us being first time parents)!  For practical reasons, we decided to get an upholstered ottoman with ample storage inside for little man's toys (and our issues of unread magazines).  

Problem was, we needed a hard surface on which to place our TV snacks/ drinks.  That was what prompted us to make our first tray purchase, and the start of an obsession...

This was the large tray we got from Pottery Barn for our coffee table / ottoman in the family room.  We love keeping copies of the Restoration Hardware catalogue on the tray (we're always in awe and inspired by how they style the rooms).  Just in time to switch to the most recent copies we got in the mail!  

Ever since getting that first tray, we loved using trays to keep a large surface clutter free.  The tray is like a clutter boundary - keep your clutter in it, and makes the rest of the surface much neater...  or at least I try to keep it that way!

The tray in our office keeps our stationeries easily accessible, while keeping our workspace bright with that wooden lamp.  

Creating a tray vignette is a great way to add a little personality to a room.  Here in our home office, it makes working less dull with something pretty on the desk.

In addition to personalizing a space, trays also make cleaning much easier.  We have a long counter in our bathroom, and I found cleaning the counter much easier than my pre-tray days.  I just need to haul away the whole tray and give the counter an easy wipe-down.   No more moving individual canisters while I clean up.  

A sparkly mirror tray in the dressing room helps gather up bottles... 

... and free up some space for another mirror tray for some knick knacks - my ring holder, clock and oil diffuser.

Our tray obsession continued on our last trip and we brought home this faux shagreen tray from Z Gallerie.  We loved its color, and the stylish gold handles make it a perfect piece for entertaining.  It now sits nice and proud on our dining room console table.

I'm not sure why we've only been getting four-sided trays.  But we're now eyeing these beauties!

Sources:  1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Maybe one day, I'll ask the Mr. to attempt this DIY project also!  I love me a marble tray!

via Almost Makes Perfect

Now go on to get organized and beautify your space with trays!

Our Recent Trip to Chicago - Home Decor Edition

We were on a much needed R&R trip (read Rest and Retail therapy ha!) to Chicago last week.  Of course, we just couldn't help but also checked out some decor and home accessories along the way.  Here are some snippets of our trip, home decor edition.

With the Mr. being a beer lover, where else would be a better place to go on our first night in town than Hofbrauhaus!   It's a German micro brewery/ beer hall - the place to be for a guys' night out!  Aside from the beers and sausages, I was impressed with the hall's great ambiance, high ceilings, casual air mixed with traditional architecture and large windows.  I wasn't even bothered when the guys around us were paddled in their butts as they ordered rounds of shots (a tradition, as we were told by our server).  Our friends pointed out this remarkable wall of locked beer mugs.  All of them have beautifully crafted distinctive details.

We always love wandering into Z Galleries - we can easily get lost in the store for hours if we didn't have little man with us.  The furniture pieces, home accessories, and artwork are all curated to our liking!

I always love single seat cushion sofas, like this one below.  No one would need to sit on the crack between seat cushions.  Also loving the curved legs and detailing on the sides of the chrome coffee table.  We're on a hunt for a bar cart as well, and this one is a mix of classic contemporary.

Love this dining table vignette, and that thick giant silver mirror tray.  It looked stunning in person, and the thickness of the rims screamed elegance.

The Mr. said, the office would rock this trunk style architect desk.  It has a darkened mirror top is an intelligent touch, such that it doesn't compete with its chrome sides.  This is such a cool piece!

Speaking of the home office, a group of these deer and moose antlers in gold and silver would definitely make a statement for our nook area.

This bench was placed with the dining table at the store, but I think it's just the perfect piece for our foot-of-the-bed bench.

During our raid at Neiman Marcus, we also stopped on the home accessories floor.  I finally got to see in person this jaw-droppingly gorgeous Cheval bar cart by Jonathan Adler.  Loving the regality of the sculpted horse head finials at the corners and the lucite detail on the handle bar.

And this crystal decanter set with simple lines would go nicely on any barcart!

For my love of all things agate and geodes!  That huge gold-rimmed geode platter glams up any dinner parties!

This collection of crystal vases and giant obelisk (at least 2.5' high!) will for sure create a statement on a console table.

Knowing that we're foodies, our friends brought us to Eataly.  The interiors were nice and bright, desserts were delicious, walls of cheeses and cured meats were impressive, and the espressos...  to die for!

The eatery on the second floor of Eataly has industrial style standing height tables.  The marble tops of the tables elevate their utilitarian look.  A lower version of it may work as our powder room vanity, with a bowl sink on the marble counter.  Those slots under the marble top can be storage for hand towels or bathroom tissues.  Funny, the inspirations I got even at eateries!

It sure was nice to reminisce about our Chicago trip...  the fun little boat cruise on the Chicago river, the food and drinks, the shopping, and of course having great hosts during our trip!  The trip sure did serve its R&R purpose!  Now back to the grind....  and daydream about our next vacation!

Contemplating Furniture Layouts for Our Family Room

With our family room mood board in hand, the Mr. and I have been contemplating several furniture placement ideas.  Our family room is at a direct sightline from the entrance foyer, with the fireplace as a forced focal point.  (You can check out what I mean by this direct sightline from our Entryway gallery.)  Nowadays, a fireplace not only has to be functional (think back to this past LONG winter...  were you lucky enough to have a working fireplace when we had a power outage?), but also be esthetically pleasing as an architectural feature in the room.  Being the focal point of the family room, interior decorators would furnish the room around the fireplace to create conversation areas.

As our group's kids slowly grow up to be more independent, our gatherings with friends have finally gone back to be more conversational from kids-focused playdates.  We noticed that we now tend to gather around to chat (and munch), rather than being scattered and running after the kids at each other's houses. 

The Mr. and I would love to have a seating arrangement conducive to conversation for our family room, and these inspiration photos from my Family Room Pinterest board are truly gorgeous. (Click to view source)

These photos have a similar fireplace and room layout as ours, where the fireplace is in the middle of the room.  Our fireplace have tall windows flanking either side of it, and we love the natural light that they bring into the open ground floor.

But do you notice one thing that's missing in these photos that most families can't live without?

Yes, the TV.

Where's the TV in these rooms?  Perhaps these are not TV rooms.  How should we work with the fireplace and be able to watch TV?  Of course, we can hang the TV above the fireplace.  So I showed the Mr. the photos below (click to view source), where the couch faces the fireplace.  For us, this would be the couch facing the TV also.  We could place a console table behind the sofa so that it's less bare.  I definitely don't want the TV above the fireplace to be a focal point, since it is clearly visible once you enter the house.  A nice console table vignette would take the presence away from the fireplace (and TV) and act as the focal point.  

Giuliana & Bill Rancic's house

The decorated console behind the sofa may seem to be a good idea to distract attention from a hung TV.  However, we don't want to stop the sightline at the console table, and seemingly block off the open concept of the ground floor, appearing to be smaller.  We would much rather have a continuous sightline all the way back to the fireplace, and have a furniture grouping around it to make the space flow better and feel more welcoming.  

Not to mention, I'm just not a fan of having a TV above the fireplace.  I can imagine how stiff my already-bad neck would get from looking up at the TV.  I definitely won't be able to sit through a movie night!  The biggest problem to the Mr. with having a TV above the fireplace?  Why would he want to limit the size of the TV by the width of the fireplace?  With his every-growing size preference of a TV, this is just not workable.  

Just for the heck of it, we arranged our furniture with seating opposite to each other to mimic the photos with the fireplace as focal point.  

All we added in the room were the two armchairs.  We also moved the sofa away from the wall for a closer grouping.  The TV was still there, behind the armchairs.  I just cropped it away for visual effect.  There's enough room behind the sofa and armchairs for a small console table or writing desk, above which we can hang a piece of artwork.  The symmetrical setup of the family room is calming, yet sophisticated.  This is how we have always envisioned this room will be...  once we finish the basement and have a TV room down there.  

Following this furniture placement plan, we'll slowly incorporate the pieces from my mood board into our family room.  

What's the focal point in your family room?  How do you work with the furniture placement around your fireplace?