Showing Off Your Collection Instead Of Packing It Away

Organization is one of my anxiety-busters. The clutter around me turns into clutter in my mind, which makes me anxious and overwhelmed. So a few weeks ago when we talked about downsizing collections, I started looking at some fun ways to organize, store, and display the things I chose to keep. If you did the same downsizing, try some of these ideas for what to do with them.

Cabinets: For kitchen collections like baking pans or cookbooks, anything you don't need on the counter every day, look for cabinet space. I adore the pullout drawers in my kitchen because they make reaching everything quick and easy. If you don't have cabinet drawers, arrange pieces in two rows, keeping the things you use or show off more often in the front.

Glass display cases: For anything intricate, breakable, or precious, consider displaying them in glass. Then they'll be protected, kept clean, and can still be seen.

Shadow boxes: Shallow boxes with small shelves are a vintage way of keeping collections of tiny things in one place. Having grown up with several of these in our home, it was fun to hang them on the wall and group our favorite things like ceramics, figurines, spoons, and dolls where they could be seen and enjoyed.

Rotating displays: Still feel like you have too much of a good thing? You don't have to put them out all at once. A few pieces on a shelf or in a display box at a time will feel more manageable, and you can rotate them throughout the year so you can see all of them.

Repurposing: I still have the mountain of sticker books I started as a child, and they make me incredibly happy. For my big-girl sticker collection, which I'm still adding to regularly, I used baseball card pages to keep them in order and arranged. This is so much easier than finding or making a book, and the clear pocket pages allow me to pull them out if I decide I want to use them somewhere.

Go vertical with a gallery wall: If you've run out of flat surfaces, take advantage of your walls. Start by laying out your design with paper and masking tape, then hang things in a creative pattern. This works especially well for art, plates, clocks, cutting boards, and even vintage tools.

So have fun, get creative, and make your favorite collections the showpiece of your home.