| ABOUT ACCESSORIES |
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Try to picture a room that has no accessoriesnothing more than the necessary furnishings. While it may be a perfectly usable room, perhaps even pleasant in a streamlined, minimalist sort of way, it probably seems like it lacks something. Maybe it even feels the slightest bit cool and uninviting. Accessories have a wonderful way of warming up a room and bringing it to life. They are frequently the conversation pieces that people notice most often in your home. In addition to their aesthetic appeal, some accessories also have a strong emotional appeal because of the memories tied up in them. For instance, when visitors admire a lovely porcelain vase in your living room, they may comment on its beautiful colors or unique shape. But to you, it may be an item you searched for high and low in a Paris flea market, hand in hand with the man who had just proposed marriage to you. A grouping of old family photographs may be interesting for visitors to examine, but to you, that grouping might include the only pictures you have of a favorite aunt who passed away long ago. No matter what kinds of accessories you have in your home, remember to go for quality above quantity. Rooms crowded with meaningless knick knacks not only look busy, but they keep you busy (with all that dusting!) and give a room a cluttered look. But selecting a few items that you really love will add character and beauty to any room in your apartment. HOW TO DISPLAY COLLECTIONS Many people today have hopped on the "collecting" bandwagon, probably because collecting can be such an enjoyable hobby. My own collections include folk art, old books, and teacups with rose patterns. For the people who have collections, hunting for and locating additions is nothing less than a thrill. But what happens when you arrive home with your treasure? Where will you put it, and how can you display your entire collection so that you (and your visitors) can enjoy it? You can display collections with the items either grouped or distributed throughout the home. Let's take a look at the positive and negative aspects of both: Grouped. If you'd like your collection to be viewed as a whole, keeping it together as a group is a good display choice. This method works well when your collection has items that rely on one another to make sense. For instance, let's say you have a complete set of Shakespeare's works. If you place a volume or two in each room, the fact that you have a complete set may be lost. Likewise, military memorabilia, postage stamps, and political buttons might make more sense if displayed as a single, or just a few, groupings. Distributed. Although it may not be best for displaying a complete set of Shakespeare, distributing some collections to various rooms can work for many reasons. A contemporary art collector, for example, may have too many pieces (and some may be too large) to create a single grouping for display in any one room. But with two or three pieces in each room, the collection might show even better. This way, each room gets a boost of the color and a sampling from the collection. Antiques and other types of art collections also lend themselves well to being displayed in various rooms, for similar reasons. |
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