Add Personality To Any Room By Decorating With Your Collectibles

Incorporating collectibles into your design scheme is a fantastic way to display your unique life expressions.

Collectibles are treasures that come in many sizes and shapes. They can range from a collection of bottles and boxes, to mementos of world travels. They could include gifts from loved ones or themed items that you have gathered over the years.

Decorating with your collectibles is a way to create a visual montage of your life, as whimsical or serious as you choose it to be.

Before we start with this subject of decorating with your collectibles some clarification is needed in regard to the difference between collectibles and collections.

Collections are large, often massive gatherings of items. For example a room full of Winnie the Pooh Tigers, a hutch stuffed with porcelain fairies or a closet stacked with boxes of sports paraphernalia. Collections represent an entirely different reason for having them, that does not relate to the tips found in this article.

Think of your collectibles as the museum pieces of your life experiences. They act as a record or monument to a significant event, person or rite of passage experience.

Their value is not in the quantity of the items but in the individual items themselves. Few homes have collections, almost every home has collectibles.

Decorating with your collectibles starts by gathering them all into one place. A large table is the perfect surface so you can look at them from a sort of "birds eye" view.

Next decide on the placement location of your ensemble. This could be a hutch, bookcase, built in, wood chest, dresser - any flat surface central to your home is a good choice.

Once you have determined space available, now look for groupings, keeping in mind the eye prefers odd number sets over even. Even numbers are divided in half visually and unless you are looking to create a perfectly symmetrical display, odds are always better then evens in decorating.

Successfully creating decorating groups includes selective decisions based on:

Gathering Items Together of Various Heights

Large in the back, small pulled to the front. If all your items tend to be of similar shape and height, use simple solid or decorative box or pedestal to provide that elevation to some of your items.

Mixing and Matching.

Decorating with collectibles does not mean you need to keep everything together that is of the same period, vintage, or style. Meld the antique with the modern. Blend in found items with your higher end purchased items. Add a childhood treasure to a treasure you have recently acquired as an adult.

Add the Unexpected

Let's say your collectibles consist of antique medicine bottles of clear shiny glass, add some cobalt blue marbles to 1 or 2 of the bottles. Or, weave a small sprig of flowering lavender around the base of your grouping. Go snooping around your home, don't forget the garage or attic to find those interesting extras.

Introduce Complimentary Items

Selectively place a mirror behind an item. Create a more expanded narrative by adding framed pictures directly related to your ensemble. A small lamp could add some ambiance. A few added hardbound books (always) can frame your arrangement. Add an accent wall painted in a color that highlights your collectibles.

Decorating With Your Collectibles is the best way to personalize your home. No matter what these items are, big or small, silly or serious, if they have meaning to you, it's a perfect way to accent your home.