How Do You Display Your Collections

How do you display your collections? Have you ever thought about gathering up all your favorite pieces and displaying them in one area for added impact?

When my junkin’ friends and I decided that we are not hoarders but collectors it made such a difference in the way I view my MANY collections.

Copper teapots are some of my favorites. Okay, I admit it. I love teapots in general but mostly metal ones. I’m not sure when or how that happened.  It could have been because they are not very expensive. At least the ones that I  have purchased are not. I rarely spend over $10.00 for a teapot. And ceramic teapots are not on my list of favorite collectibles. But white ceramic pitchers just might be.

When I finished the Easy Shelf Makeover project, I thought about displaying my collection of white pitchers there but decided that was too much white. And besides that, I had already made a home for the whiteware in the hallway, not far from my REAL Hall Closet.

Ahhh! The copper teapots would be perfect on the updated shelf. The first step is to collect or group your collections. My copper pots have been purchased over a period of years. And now they just needed to be gathered into a group.

To Collect:

This is the definition of collect from Merriam Webster:

So, a collector is one who collects and makes a collection!

This copper jewel is not a teapot. It is a coffee pot and even though he is a coffeepot, he made it into the collection because he’s copper and he has a handle and a spout.

So why would I think a coffee pot is a “he” and a teapot is a “she”? For one thing, when I think about brewing coffee I am reminded that the Bible says, “HeBrews”. I hope that gave you a little grin. And teapots just seem delicate and feminine. Hmmm!

Display your Collections on a Shelf

This shelf hangs in my dining room. It’s out of the way so that it won’t get bumped. I also made sure that it is secured to the wall just in case Kitty No decides to go after another moth.

Old bottles make a nice addition to a display of collectibles. They can add just the right vintage touch to another collection like these two bottles or you can group them all together in an arrangement, like in the photo below.

Display your Collections Baskets

This Bottle Collection looks intentional when they are gathered together in a wire basket. Oh, look! There’s another copper kettle peeking its little spout from behind the white hydrangea.

My daddy built this planter using old, distressed wood and a salvaged stained glass window. He replaced the broken center pane with a mirror. The little vintage bottles were a perfect fit in the planter. The succulents are artificial. And you can see the white shelf full of copper pots reflected in the mirror.

Display your Collections together with another collection

The glass salt and pepper shakers rest on a stack of silver (not real) platters. They are real platters just silver plated and not real silver.

So, I bet you are thinking, “Nathalie really has a problem”. I might but I need to tell you 2 things.

First, I think I might come by this honestly.

My parents are also collectors. This is a shelf in my mom’s kitchen. For years they were antique dealers. We have laughed so much about the fact that they bought junk and sold antiques. Yep! I might come by it honestly.

Second, I am an artist.

And I absolutely love to paint collections and especially collections of things from the past.

“Blowin’ Off Steam” was painted from a photo while Joe was in the hospital recovering from a double bowel resection. He would laugh and say, Now, instead of a colon, I have a semi-colon.”

I sat at the tiny round table and worked on this painting and prayed and prayed. I stayed in the room with him, never leaving other than an occasional trip to the cafeteria. After we had been in the hospital longer than anticipated, my friend, Janell came and got me. At this point, the painting was only the teapots.

Janell assured me that he was in good hands. She made me leave the hospital and get out in the fresh air. She took me to a wonderful restaurant where we ate and talked and she let me blow off steam. I needed that time desperately and I get a bit teary-eyed just thinking about that. It was hard to admit it but I was deeply concerned and tired and trying so hard to be strong and positive in the face of the unknown. When I got back to the room, I adjusted the painting to accommodate the steam.

Time Will Tell was painted in My Studio.

I painted “Shakers in Silver” using a poured watercolor technique. Do you recognize the collection?

Here is a demonstration that I did at West Texas Watercolor Society – “White Pitcher with Jar of Spoons”. It’s in 4 parts.

When you group and display your collections they make a statement. Instead of being scattered around your home, bring your treasures together in a tasteful display.

As believers, we are also better and stronger together. We gather together out of our love for Jesus and out of our love for each other. We are His beloved collection. Do you remember the first definition? It was to bring together into one body or place. 

We take the time and we make the time to gather together.

GATHER TOGETHER!

^“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12: 12-13

“Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. ¹⁰ For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! ¹¹ Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? ¹² And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12

’til next time,

Nathalie