Are you allergic to clutter?
Do you get frustrated when other people don’t put things back where they belong?
Grounding is here to save the day.
This is one of my favorite styling tricks because it uses one of my favorite decorative items, trays. I don’t think you can have too many trays in your life.
The idea with grounding is that we can take a bunch of décor that is just floating on a surface and bring visual order to it by styling it on a tray.
You can use the other tips in the Home Styling 101 video series to style a beautiful tray.
5 Simple Steps to Style a Beautiful Tray
- Not only can you keep a pile of books neat by putting them on a tray, but you can then use the stack of books to elevate smaller decor.
- Every arrangement can benefit from a living element, which we covered in Episode 1 of Home Styling 101. Here the small vase of flowers elevated on the stack of books perks up the whole tray.
- Always give your decor some character. Try adding a quirky or personal item, like the brass lion shown here.
- For the other half of the tray, create a Rule of Three arrangement. Start with two candlesticks, vases, or lanterns in two different heights. Here I used small corked jars elevated on candlesticks.
- Round out the Rule of Three arrangement by grouping a decorative sphere or object with the candlesticks.
Grounding with a tray is great for coffee tables or ottomans where you’re always trying to move décor around to put your feet up or set out snacks. If you have the items on a tray, they’re easier to move to the side.
Grounding can also be life changing in the functional areas of your home, like kitchens and bathrooms.
In kitchens and bathrooms, what grounding does, is it creates an anchor. It gives a place for everything to go back home to.
I used to get really frustrated in my kitchen with all of our coffee making paraphernalia. I tried to put everything back where I knew it went but my husband never did. It was just scattered all over the counter—coffee scoops, bags and cans of coffee, sweeteners, filters, coffee grinder, etc. The thing was, there really was no designated area. I had just decided in my mind where I thought everything should go.
The second I put a tray on the counter to hold everything, it all started magically going back where it belonged. My countertop clutter became a coffee bar.
I want you to try this idea of grounding, not only to bring some order to your decorative décor but also to bring some order to the chaos in the functional areas of your home.
Trays are my favorite item to use for grounding but I want you to know there’s so many other things you can use for grounding, like large books or a decorative cutting board. On the Grounding cheat sheet, I’ve included a checklist of those other items that you can use to ground your décor.
