Tame Your Mail

This tip from In Style’s “Extra Splash In a Flash,” January 2009 delighted me. I don’t know how many more times I can ask my husband not to put the mail on the dining room table. “Forget your perennial quest to get it off the kitchen counter—really, where else can it go? Just keep it together in a preppy lattice organizer.” Who said there wasn’t a use for toast stands anymore??

Of course, as a Classic, I’ve wanted a toast rack almost my entire life. Or rather since I watched my first episode of Upstairs, Downstairs on PBS and instantly knew I wanted to live Upstairs with someone from Downstairs bringing me my toast in its proper vessel. My Organic Structure mom would have never thought of this detail. We just got toast on a plate, which was this green melamine modern design that I didn’t appreciate as I would have preferred my toast on more formal china (after having it delivered ON a toast rack.)

SO back on topic … this actually is perfect for Organics and Smarts.  It keeps your mail organized and yet out in the open. It’s basically just a mini tabletop filing system—a perfect visual solution for you to remember to go through your bills, a place where you can easily find something and you will not end up with a giant pile of unsorted mail. Plus the toast rack can be out on a surface anywhere and look gorgeous.

Funs and Classics could try this solution but I think you’re better off with inboxes because you’ll go through the pile of mail more frequently than your Organic and Smart brethren. And even if you don’t, the visual clutter of the mail displayed in the toast rack (it’s never as gorgeous as in the photo) will annoy you. As for where to purchase one? Silver plated ones are a dime a dozen on Ebay. Mom, are you reading? Ding, ding, ding, Christmas gift idea.

Originally published April 14, 2010