In Honor of My Mom: Organizing in Blue for 2018

Eleven years ago today, my mom died of pancreatic cancer. Her favorite color was blue, so this is my annual tribute to her. 

When I wrote about trays yesterday, I omitted a few that I wanted to include today — like this tray from Jamida, with art by Emma J. Shipley. (If you want to know more about using trays as organizing tools, see the comment I left on yesterday’s post.)




Another cool item from Jamida is this Shoal of Fish tray, with art by Asta Barrington.




Continuing on the fish theme, this sardine tray from Avenida Home, with art by Danielle Kroll, caught my eye.




Over on Etsy, I found this lovely cotton canvas bin by Dagmar’s Designs. (I’ve written about Dagmar’s Designs before, but without a focus on the blue images.) Update on May 9, 2019: The butterfly bin currently available uses a teal blue.




Another Etsy find: These storage baskets made with Marimekko fabric, from Mummi Designs. Update on May 9, 2019: Sadly, these baskets are no longer available.

9 Trays to Help You Get Organized

When you think of trays, you may picture something like the Frame Tray from Munk Collective — on clearance sale now at Design Within Reach, but also available outside the U.S. at stores like Illums Bolighus in Denmark. These have wood sides and a waterproof MDF bottom. (via Better Living Through Design)




Or you may picture something more like this Orla Kiely tray, made of melamine-coated birch. Rectangular trays with a rim, no matter the style, are flexible tools with many possible uses.




A lot of interesting trays come from Scandinavia and are made with birch or birch veneer. This one is from Made by Lyng, in Norway.




Avenida Home has a cat tray and a dog tray, both with illustrations by Anne Bentley. They're made in Sweden.




Anna Wright's melamine and birch veneer trays are also made in Sweden.




And this one from LUprints is also made in Scandinavia.




There are also trays with extra features, which may sometimes be useful. The General Tray from Good Thing has a handle with four color options.




The Rotary Tray from Vitra is a two-tier thing; the top tier can rotate outward.




And the Vitra O-Tidy combines a cup and a tray. One of the places you can get it, besides directly from Vitra, is the Finnish Design Shop.

Related post:
Organizing with Trays