You Asked: Showcasing Collectibles

I recently received an AMAZING question from a reader, one that I am sure many many people wonder about and think about ALL of the time.  It's crazy this hasn't come up sooner!

Brittany wrote:

Hi Jennifer,

As a lover of organizing and a super fan of The Container Store, I love your blog! However, there is a major organizing project that I've hit a roadblock with - my large snow globe collection! I have a lot of globes collected during my travels, and I don't know how to showcase them. Right now, they are crowded onto a recently-cleared shelf of my built-in. This is a huge waste of space and I want to fix it! Do you have any suggestions? I was thinking some sort of tiered storage would work, but I don't know where to start. I thought a tiered spice rack like this could work, but then realized that my bigger glass globes would not fit on that.

I've attached some pictures of my large collection. Each picture shows half of the collection. Please let me know if you have any ideas!

Brittany

And here are the pictures of Brittany's snow globe collection:

Displaying collectibles can always be a tricky thing, as too much of any one thing in a small space or on a single shelf can give a slightly cluttered appearance.  This also diminishes the effect of the pieces and they can lose their appeal.  To try and cut down on that feeling, sometimes picking your favorites to keep on display is best, and spreading them out as accessories on bookshelves or tables will actually highlight them vs letting them get lost in the mix.  They could even be rotated out with other ones as months go by, to keep it all looking fresh!

However, many individuals also heart to keep all of their collectibles on display together, and my favorite options seen so far are below:

 {images courtesy of apartmenttherapy.com}

Either floating wall shelves or wall cubes would add a lot of architectural interest to the space while also doubling as storage for your precious globes!  And both can either be DIY'd at home or purchased on the cheap, whichever works best for you!

Whichever method you choose {either rotating as accessories or displaying them}, my thoughts on the subject are, if they are all going to be kept out on display, it should be done in a visually interesting and artistic way, to really highlight the collection and to avoid that cluttered feeling.  Shadow boxes and shelves are typically the best solution to do that, or even adding some decorative paper to the backing of a bookcase and displaying them on the shelves.  Options are really endless!

Thanks again Brittany for the great question and for allowing me to share with my readers!

I would like to do a post highlighting some really creative and decorative solutions to storing collectibles, since I know it's a situation many face and battle with.  So, I am begging all of you uber creative and talented readers out there, to submit your photos {iheartorganizing@gmail.com} and collectible stories, for me to compile and share back with you.  I can't wait to hear and see your ideas, thank you to everyone in advance!