Conservatory Tray

I’d like to introduce you to my English conservatory tray.  Isn’t she a beaut?

She’s a wonderfully rustic dark-patina oak with metal corner brackets.  The back is taller than the front so she displays better with her back up against a wall.

She has definitely been well-loved and used in a previous life.

This piece makes a wonderful accessory for a tablescape because of it’s size.  I had fun adding different objects to create an interesting vignette.

The small vintage cloche contains a fragment of a  handwritten French ledger and a vintage spool of cotton thread.  I also included my two antique sheep engravings and a couple splayed baseballs.  You know, baseball and softball season starts in the spring!!!

I thought I would spell out “spring” just in case anyone was missing it!

I kept adding and taking away objects in my tray as I was arranging.  On the right side is a new modern porcelain bird vase by Chive and antique French terra cotta pots and a zinc seed pot with dried lavender and a rolled up French ledger.

I really like the color combo of these fresh flowers that I picked up at the grocery.

Detail

I still need to frame my sheep!!!

I used the leather covers off the splayed baseballs last year to create baseball “flowers”.  It was very tedious getting the leather off the ball.

This tray would be great in a sunroom or even as a rustic tray to a bath vanity.

I haven’t seen to much info on conservatory trays, but I guess it’s pretty self-explanatory.  Certainly they were used in early greenhouses/conservatories to contain several small pots for growing as they could easily be carried together.

If anyone has more information on conservatory trays, I would love to hear about it!

Happy Decorating,

Kim

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