Tuesday 13 August 2013

Home Decor: Collections

I love the feeling of picking up a cute vintage tin or bottle from a thrift store, but sometimes I have trouble finding the right place in my cottage to put it. Sometimes a vintage tin looks out of place among the other, newer things in my house. I think the answer is to make a collection of things and display them together. 

My tips for displaying a collection are:

1. Use items that are similar, but different. A collection of identical items is boring, so make sure the items differ in some way. A variety of shapes and sizes makes for a more appealing display.

2. Have enough, but not too many, items. How many items a display needs depends on what the item is. For tins or bottles, more is more, as long as there is sufficient variety. For something more unique, like globes or vintage cameras, you only need three or four or the collection may start to look boring and overdone. If you do have a large collection of something like vintage cameras, it is best to display them in a systematic way, in a custom-made display case like this:
Or on shelving, using chalkboard paint like this:
3. Choose only items that you like. It may be tempting to buy a whole lot of plain-looking tins just to make up a collection to display your favourite vintage tin, but the collection will just look like one nice tin surrounded by plain tins. Be discerning.

4. Before buying something, picture what it will look like in your home. Do you have a place for it? Are there other things that would look good with it? If you don't know where you are going to put it, it will probably just end up in storage (or in the junk cupboard if you're anything like me!).  

Some well-displayed collections:
Do you collect anything in particular?

X
Molly

11 comments:

  1. Great tips and ideas in this post! I don't really collect any special vintage items, but it makes me want to do it :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This post is SO geared towards me. Love collecting vintage things. Anything thats reeeealllly old calls my name. Great job!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love how those vintage cameras are displayed!! I love everything and if I collected vintage pieces, I would definitely collect cameras, globes, tins and frames - so great picks!!

    Jessica
    cocoandmingo.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post! I like the way the collectibles were so neatly, but creatively displayed. I used to collect dolls. Haha!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great tips, Molly! I think collections can easily go wrong and turn into messes - I am actually scared of collections and tend to ask myself whether something will have a purpose before I buy it. I guess that if I collect anything, it's dresses.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the camera display! I've been collecting for a while now but it would be awesome to have that many! Stop by my Friday's Five Features and link up this post (and others)! http://diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com/2013/08/fridays-five-features-no-4.html

    ReplyDelete
  7. love this post, such cute displays.
    I'm always finding such lovely tins and bottles when out but never buy them as I have no where to put them! I do like that camera display with the chalk board, think I might have to try and do something like that with my cameras!

    TazandBear

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for linking up my Friday Flash Blog on The Jenny Evolution. I'm back from vacation in central Colorado and ready for a great party this week. See you there!

    Jennifer
    thejennyevolution.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Creative Living

    Garden furniture helps you to decorate your garden aesthetically. Most modern houses come with an outdoor space and a garden. The garden is used not only for spending your leisure time but also to entertain your guests in the outdoors.
    home decor

    ReplyDelete
  10. This blog is so nice to me. I will keep on coming here again and again. Visit my link as well..
    Ceramic flooring

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for all your lovely comments, they make my day :)

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...