On the hunt - Tray

We have an island in our kitchen.  I love the extra work space on one side and the eating on the other side.  (Sometimes that dining room feels so far away)  I have never lived in a house with an island and am having the hardest time keeping it cleared off and organized.  It is a junk drawer for everyone to see.  I don't know if this is just a problem with how we live but I have faith that I can find SOMETHING to help me keep it looking nice.  It doesn't have to be perfect...it just can't be awful most of the time.

Attempt #1:  Fruit Platter  Thought... "My kid loves fruit.  I will keep a fruit platter (like a fruit bowl but rectangular) out...it will look nice and serve a real purpose."  Wrong.  It only looked nice when there wasn't junk around it and when we ran low on fruit foreign objects would creep into the bowl....Christmas ribbon...?  Mail...?  Toys... I even (finally) hung up our Pottery Barn wall Letter Bin and Office Organizer to keep keys and mail off the island.  New junk crept in where those things once lived.

Attempt #2:  Flowers.  Thought..."They will look pretty and inspire me to keep the space neat."  Wrong.  They did look pretty but they didn't provide much inspiration.  When they started wilting the mess of petals on all my STUFF made the situation even worse.  Next.

Attempt #3:  Nothing special.  Only or lack of an idea has this become attempt 3 and, unexpectedly, the best attempt so far.  For some reason having no focal point has proven to keep the most stuff off the counter.  I could go into the reasons I think this works but I won't because, although it works, I don't want it to.  I want something nice to look at....to make it feel like I care about how it looks.  

Attempt #4 and my weekend project.  I have been seeing some great trays in blogland.  I know I am behind on the tray revolution but I love it and I think it will look nice.  It will also be functional.  I want to have a candle to provide nice smells post cheeseburger making (what a terrible smell), have a pretty bowl for loose change and small things, maybe a cup for pens (maybe not)...Will it help keep me organized?   We'll see.  

So for this weekend I my mission is to find a tray for my island. If you have any great ideas for kitchen islands please, please let me know.

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Dabney Lee

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