Surround yourself with lovely things to bring a sense of calm and happiness to your living space. It’s easy to create arrangements of personal collectables and to show them off to their best advantage.
Your personal displays should bring life to your home and show off your personality whilst avoiding chaos and clutter.
Display Your Collections
We are all drawn to certain things and from this we sometimes become passionate about them and begin collecting. It might be teddy bears or vintage records; fine china or art and they are sometimes associated with great memories we want to hold onto.
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Whatever the theme or collection, if you want to show it off to its best advantage:
- Decide where you want to display your collection;
- choose a theme for your collection based on mood, style, era or texture and
- decide how you are going to display your collection such as in a cabinet or on shelves.
Creating Your Display
Consider creating a plinth from a pile of books or colored blocks of painted wood if you have a small budget; it isn’t always necessary to buy new shelves or pay for a customized display cabinet. Another clever way of adding to your display is to frame it by placing it in front of a mirror, empty frame, a map or some tiles.
If you can afford to spend some money then you could pay a carpenter to build some shelves or boxes or alternatively paint a drawer tidy and hang it on to the wall.
If the items you want to display don’t look very impressive you can upgrade your work by placing your small treasures in a glazed box or a glass cloche.
As an alternative to collectibles you may choose to display items you just like. Once you have decided on your display you can begin to design the arrangement of your items keeping it focused and simple. Think about how the display will look from different angles; from the front, back and above. Use varying heights of your things to create interest and shape.
Once you start to view your belongings in this stylish way you will begin to see beauty in the most ordinary of things.
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Ideas for Displays
Visual displays are all about combining belongings that you like to look at and it doesn’t necessarily have to have a theme. If you enjoy fresh flowers, perhaps a vase of flowers alongside a pretty postcard and a scattering of shells will cheer up your living room, or a pile of colorful books placed at strategic angles will compliment your bedside table.
Add unexpected accessories such as color-coordinated ribbon tied in a bow around a figurine or soft toy or some pebbles and shells from your holiday beneath a framed postcard. Accessorizing like this will personalize and add humor.
Being a collector has its disadvantages too. Your collections can grow too big and might end up storing things away in boxes and never see them again until you move house. Also friends and family will latch on to your hobby and give you gifts that aren’t relevant. Be specific about what it is that you collect; if you are talking about your vintage jewelry interest then make sure you mention it is only vintage you like otherwise you could end up with stuff that doesn’t fit into your collections.
Having a well thought out display can make all the difference to your personal items when you put them out on show, so spend time preparing how you are going to brighten up your living space with happy memories and pretty things.
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