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Vintage trays are a hot, hot, hot collectible.  I’ve sold so many in my space at the antique mall.  YES, I want them all back.  Painted metal, 60′s plastic, copper, silver — I love them all.

I did manage to hold on to this beauty.  It is so me – the soft pink, hand painted white and gold roses, and I love the shape.  I had to find a way to look at the lovely graphics every day.  Taking advantage of the cutouts, I threaded on a ribbon hanger.  Voilà — a gorgeous magnetic board.

We really never have use for a tray in the traditional sense.  Our living room is four steps from our kitchen.  Nevertheless, I use trays in vignettes all around my home.  They hold photos, all the stuff that comes out of my husband’s pockets at the end of the day, my needlework paraphernalia.  The really beat up ones serve as plant trays.

I prop shiny ones behind candles or on shelves opposite a window to reflect light back into the rooms of our tiny townhouse.

Reusing vintiques in new ways — like the Dutch shoe turned pencil holder (in the first photo above), is fun.  Homes decorated this way are so interesting and unique.  Of course, it’s green.  We junkers were green before green was called green.

While I love reusing, I find it very important not to destroy a piece.  For one, I’d rather keep vintiques intact for history’s sake.  I cringe when someone lops off table legs or cuts the back out of an armoire to fit a big screen.  For two, I’m constanting changing my mind, moving things around in my house on almost a daily basis.  Keeping my options open to reuse items in many different ways in many different rooms saves me MONEY in the long run.