Samara Interiors

Spring 2022

Happy Spring! This newsletter presents ideas for how to display collections in your home in a way that honors your treasures and features them in an aesthetically appealing manner. Highlighting a client's special collection is a favorite part of decorating for us, and it is part of our design plan from the beginning. From bookcases and curio cabinets to gallery walls and coffee tables, your collections can shine!

EDIT

To highlight your collection best, PARE DOWN the items to your absolute favorites. Once this selection is done you can determine how much room you will need for the display. Only display the items that you treasure the most. If you are not ready to give away the other items, put them in storage. After editing your collection, display things according to these FOUR GROUPING OPTIONS.

1. CLUSTER

Instead of scattering all of your collections, go through and gather all LIKE ITEMS such as vintage pens, mantel clocks, ceramic figurines, or paper weights and group them together in just one area of your home. For example, we grouped all of one client's religious items into a curio cabinet with a gallery wall display above it. For another project, we used a mirrored tray to cluster and amplify a Limoges box collection.

2. THEME

We have numerous clients that are world travelers and highlighting their amazing travel-themed collections in their home decor is a treat. We love the look of grouping travel treasures from AROUND THE GLOBE all together as we have done with these two clients' collections.

One client had lovely artifacts from various countries in Asia that we featured on a built-in bookcase in their family room amongst non-Asian décor to maintain a casual feel. Another client’s carefully curated global collection wows on a pair of oval wall shelf units. This client was thrilled to see the items expertly arranged in a thoughtful grouping that enhances their appeal. In the bathroom pictured below, we grouped the clients' Washington Nationals SPORTS MEMORABILIA in their second powder room and we complemented the collection by painting the walls in Nats red! 

3. MATERIAL

Instead of co-mingling materials, group all of your crystal vases in one area and all of your ironstone pottery in another. SEPARATE your leather-bound books from your canvas-bound books. For this client we gathered all of their brass candlesticks together and placed them on a side table where they accentuate the brass tones in the painting above.

4. COLOR

Display all of your blue and white objects TOGETHER in one space, as we have done with this client's ginger jars. For more blue and white collection display please see our Fall 2020: Blue and White newsletter here. Consider "rainbow arranging" collections such as all of your Lego creations; it will make more sense and be more pleasing to the eye.

TIPS

Our eyes enjoy symmetry and ODD NUMBERS, so arranging three or five similar items with the tallest in the center is visually appealing. For large collections with multiple colors, such as salt and pepper shakers, try grouping by both the cluster and color! For a one-page GUIDE on collection display, please see this Samara Interiors Decor Guide.