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Unique Ideas for Displaying Vintage Collections

If you are an avid collector, you probably have spent tremendous amounts of time and energy pursuing the items of your passion. However, you may have spent less time and thought on how to display your coveted treasures in order to show them off to your friends and family. With a few commonplace items and some paint, you can make unique and memorable display areas for your collections that you will be proud to show off and that will generate hours of conversation about your collections.

Mural Backdrops
- Create a theme-based mural on the wall behind your collection. For example, you can paint a simple city skyline of rectangular buildings behind the shelves that house your toy robot collection. It will look like the robots are roaming the city. For a vintage costume jewelry collection, paint a treasure chest under the sea on a wall. Then, hang a felt-covered bulletin board in the chest opening. Attach your coveted treasures to the board until it is full so that the scene looks like a true treasure chest full of glittering jewels.
Cabinet Doll House
- Everyone expects to see china in a china cabinet, but you can display your vintage doll collection in one. You can pose the dolls on the upper display shelves while keeping their boxes pristine in the cupboards or drawers below. If you want to be really creative, try making a triangular roof out of two plywood boards and nail it to the top of the china cabinet so that it looks like a dollhouse. To complete the look, paint shingles on it and add a chimney.
Wicker Basket Shelves
- Turn large rectangular wicker baskets into rustic shelves for displaying your china and pottery. Secure the bottoms of the baskets to the wall with appropriate mounting hardware so that the handles are facing outwards and the baskets can̵7;t slip off the mounting hardware. Glue felt pads to the areas where your pottery will be sitting to prevent slippage. Make sure the sides of the basket are wide enough for your pieces so that they are not near the basket's edge. If your pottery items are heavy, be sure to install additional support brackets with wooden boards on top of them directly under the hanging baskets to carry the additional weight.
Garden Lattice Backdrop
- Hang vintage accessories like handkerchiefs and scarves or postcards by clothespins on a piece of wood garden lattice attached to a wall. There are infinite ways you can arrange your collections with the many holes in the lattice. Paint the lattice white or a color that coordinates with your collection before attaching it to a wall. You can also paint the clothespins in the same color so that they are less noticeable. For example, you could paint the lattice and clothespins gray to imitate a ballpark fence and then hang your vintage baseball cards on it.

Other Collecting