Serves you right: in search of a chic tray

To my great shame (and frankly, my husband's ongoing dismay) I am a messy person. I'll put something down on a table, a counter top, a shelf and think nothing more of it until the next time I need to go hunting for it. It's not something I do consciously - I'd like to think that I'm just absentmindedly messy! This bad habit seems to manifest itself most in our living room where I come home after work each day and seemingly empty the entire contents of my handbag across any available surface in the room. A while back I was allocated one of the drawers in the room, in the hopes that I could contain my mess therein. Over the years this expanded to three drawers, all of which are full of things that I'm sure I don't actually need! The worst part is that as soon as I put something in one of those drawers it instantly becomes a case of out of sight, out of mind so it isn't really improving the situation!

A friend recently suggested that the perfect solution to my problem would be to buy a really lovely decorative tray to place on one of our shelves and to treat it as a catch-all for my various bits and bobs. The trick, I'm told, is to find a tray so beautiful and chic that I won't want to see it constantly covered in junk so that I'll be more likely to adorn it only with essential items and instead discard everything else. So, for the sake of my long-suffering husband and the general tidiness of our living room I've been on the hunt for the perfect tray to lure me into a new regime. And of course, in an absolute pinch I could use these for serving up goodies when we entertain friends - bonus!

Here are my favourite finds from my recent search:

Now the real trouble comes trying to choose just one. Which of these trays would you pick?

Sources:
1. Wanderlust tray
2. Landscape tray
3. Alabasta Folk Stripe tray
4. Feather collection tray 
5. Sausage dog tray
6. Vintage circus tray
7. Sol tray

Fishs Eddy + Charley Harper

Hi everyone. Sorry for the radio silence around here - I was on holiday in Montreal and New York and had one of those trips where everything is so wonderfully hectic that I didn't get to check in online as often as I'd hoped.

The holiday was great, but too brief (does anyone ever return from their holiday wishing it had been shorter?!). We saw so many inspiring things and had such a blast. I tried to limit my shopping (though not my browsing) to avoid our baggage being horribly overweight. I failed miserably, but thanks to the kindness of a United Airlines check-in staffer we were spared the indignity of paying a $200 penalty of being 4 pounds overweight with our bags!

One of my favourite shopping experiences in New York was a trip to Fishs Eddy - the most incredible shop for inexpensive yet stylish dinnerware and glassware. As soon as I walked through the doors I was overcome by the most exquisite sensory overload of colourful plates, cups, dishes, and mugs I had ever seen. I'm sure many of you may be familiar with this shop already by reputation (and my UK based readers might even have visited the small Fishs Eddy concession at Liberty's).

Our visit was a bit impromptu, so I wasn't armed with my camera, but trust me when I say that this shop was heaven for a ceramics nerd like me. I walked around the store agonizingly slowly until my husband pointed out some plates which caught my eye and which eventually ended up making their way home with us. The plates were part of dishware and glassware collection designed by Todd Oldham for Fishs Eddy using the extraordinary bold and playful aquatic designs of the late American illustrator Charley Harper.

Here's a glimpse of the collection -  we brought home the four large plates, but I have a suspicion that we may be adding to the collection in the not too distant future!

Image credit: Fishs Eddy

Shopping:
1. Orange Fish Coupe Plate $16.95
2. Yellow Fish Coupe Plate $16.95
3. Fish and Waterfall Coupe Plate $16.95
4. Trout Coupe Plate $16.95
5. Big Fish Bowl $12.95
6. School of Fish salt & pepper shakers $12.95
7. Angel Fish sauce dish $7.95
8. Fish & Waterfall small tray $14.95
9. Sunset Glass $5.00

I have to admit that I'd never heard of Charley Harper before, so this was a fantastic introduction to the work of an American artist who was sadly largely under appreciated during his own lifetime. I'm so pleased though, to see how people are finally embracing his joyful, colourful and whimsical illustration style. I was very happy to discover that Charley Harper's family is continuing his legacy and many of his illustrations are available to purchase as lithographs or serigraphs - here are a few  of my favourites:

Image credits: Charley Harper Foundation

1. Puffins Passing Lithograph $50
2. Upside Downside Lithograph $50
3. Scary Scenario Serigraph $300
4. Cardinal Lithograph $50


What do you think of Charley Harper's illustrations? Do you appreciate the retro, whimsical designs as much as I do?