If you’re looking for an affordable way to add high style to your home, using serving trays is a great idea. On countertops, dressers, and even on the bed, serving trays add a designer-inspired look to any surface in the home. Here’s some inspiration for styling trays.

1. Add a serving tray to your coffee table to corral remote controls, display magazines, and hold decorative objects. You can even add scented candles to create an enjoyable ambiance.
2. Use serving trays in the bathroom to organize your everyday essential products. Add one to the back of the toilet if you’re lacking in cabinet space, or use one under the sink to hold lotion and soap bottles upright.
3. Place a serving tray next to the front door to create a drop-off place for your keys, cell phone, and other items that would normally amount to clutter.
4. Center a kitchen island by adding a decorative tray for displaying flower vases and plants. You may also want to add your favorite cookbooks to keep them within reach.
5. While serving trays are originally used for serving food and beverages, they’re just as great for serving breakfast in bed—or even a midnight snack. If you enjoy relaxing with a good book and glass of wine at night, use a serving tray to avoid spills.

7 Ways to Decorate With Trays [Home Goods]
10 Creative Ways to Decorate with a Serving Tray [Kirklands]
See Why Trays Are the Ultimate Decorator’s Trick [One Kings Lane]

CC-BY-SA-2.0/Flickr ginnerobot

The Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Reserve is a 312-acre park that is open to the public entirely free of charge. This diverse, natural area features the stunning landscapes native to the region, including swamps, sloughs, forests, and even white sand beaches along Spring Creek. Hardwoods and pine trees dot the entire area of the reserve, and more than eight miles of walking trails and unpaved dirt trails wind their way throughout the park. If you want to embark on a longer hike or jog, the Judy Overby Bell Trail even connects to the 12-mile Spring Creek Greenway, giving guests access to both.

At the Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Reserve Nature Center, you can learn about nature through environmental displays, dioramas, and mounted specimens of local wildlife. Visit the Rosebud Hill Homestead, a recreation 1820s homestead, before finishing your visit with a picnic at the playground.

Jesse H. Jones Park and Nature Reserve
20634 Kenswick Drive
Humble, TX 77338
(281) 446-8588
www.hcp4.net/Community/Parks/Jones/About/WhatWeOffer

CC-BY-SA-2.0/Flickr David.Harrington

To take home a piece of days gone by, head over to Spring Antique Mall, located off of Spring Cypress Road. Its inventory spans high-end collectibles, china and crystal, and furniture dating as far back as the 18th century, as well as fine vintage clothing kept in excellent condition. However, if it's a black-and-white portrait of George Michael you seek, look elsewhere, as one very lucky Yelper managed to score this one-of-a-kind find back in 2012.

To proponents of “Retrocycling”, i.e. the “reinventing, repurposing, refurbishing, refashioning and recycling [of] antiques and vintage collectibles”, Spring Antique Mall is the ideal place to score new wares. The mall's website showcases several genius ideas, including the repurposing of a hollowed-out television set into a cozy indoor dog house, the refashioning of an old sink into an outdoor bird bath, and an impressive staircase crafted from old-timey crate boxes.

Spring Antique Mall
1609 Spring Cypress Road
Spring, TX 77388
www.springantiquemall.com
www.yelp.com/biz/spring-antique-mall-spring

CC-BY-2.0/Flickr/stockerre