I’m Putting a Utensil Tray on My Wall (It’s So Cute!)

I have a soft spot for cute, small, eccentric, artsy, and/or vintage finds. These trinkets, like a tiny rhinestone-covered piano or rocks with messages carved into them, aren’t necessarily functional, but they’re certainly fun, and sometimes they have great sentimental value. I’d love to be able to show these little gems off in a more intentional way, and it turns out all I need to do is hang a wooden utensil holder on my wall — at least according to one Instagram post.

“I’ve been trying to thrift a trinket tray with no luck … Then I realized utensil trays are just trinket trays waiting for a little tweak,” Amy, who creates content about secondhand finds for your home, wrote on Instagram. Indeed, in her video you see her visiting thrift stores and finding a couple bamboo utensil holders in different shapes and sizes. She then attaches the pieces of wood together to make one larger unit, then paints it dark green and mounts it to her wall. 

Finally, she takes a variety of trinkets, tchotchkes, and figurines and adheres them to each section of the utensil holders using what looks like a sort of double-sided mounting tape, which is strong enough to ensure the trinkets stay put, but also removable and reusable.

If you want to create your own wall-mounted trinket display, you can always take a cue from Amy and search for a utensil tray at your local thrift store or on sites like eBay or Etsy. Or, get a new one, like the 12×19.5-inch bamboo UPPDATERA utensil tray from IKEA, which costs $19.99 and has eight compartments. And if you’re not much of a trinket person, you could always get a metal mesh utensil tray for your wall, which I’ve found can make a great jewelry holder.