Display your treasures in style

I often have a desire to update my space and make it newly beautiful, which quickly leads to having ‘a bit of a sort out’ and many a formerly-loved knick knack heads to the charity shop. The silver lining is that I have rediscovered, amongst the junk, a few forgotten gems and now have the space to let them shine. I’ve been inspired by these stylish displays to show off the best of what’s left, and have a few tips for you to try if you’d like to.

Painting the background of your shelves a deep colour adds depth and defines the space. Consider the colour of what you want to display too, see how these predominantly white and gold accessories really pop against the blue backdrop.

White on blue

Using a background shade that contrasts with the wall colour is an excellent way to draw the eye to the area, whilst below the crisp white used on all the room’s paintwork ties the display back into the room nicely.

Coral shelf display

The opposite approach, painting the shelves and background in the same colour as the walls, gives a greater feeling of space. This is a good solution if your shelves are more functional than decorative and need to accommodate a large number of books.

Lilac display

Using wallpaper as a backdrop is an interesting idea, particularly if your accessories are more plain than patterned and from a limited colour palette as below. Here, different wallpapers have been used in some of the cubes. It works because the display objects coordinate so well and their lack of pattern means that they are not vying for attention with the wallpaper.

Spring boxes

But what about how to display the objects once the stage is set? Using predominantly single colour or white objects and accessories is perhaps the easiest choice against pattern and various, coordinating pieces can be grouped to great effect. A few accent-coloured pieces scattered through will set the arrangement off beautifully. Think about playing with symmetry and consider displaying similar shapes together, as below.

Patterned shelving

Here the items have been carefully coordinated and drawn from a blue/ white/ green/ gold scheme. The pattern that is repeated on the two boxes, the repeat of the gold gift boxes and the animals facing the same way ties the items together. The space is also filled well, consider raising or buffering items with books or boxes to avoid large gaps.

Coordinated items

Even if the compartments are pretty much equally sized, you can use each space differently. Experiment with having books lying down, standing up, leaning or wedged between other things. Here there is also a contrast between the shiny, tarnished metal and the matt paper of the books which adds a further level of interest.

Vintage treasures

There’s no need to worry too much, though, often the pieces are beautiful enough to speak for themselves. This pottery collection looks all the better for being displayed somewhat haphazardly with other treasures.

Pottery collection

If you have chosen items that speak to you and that you treasure then really there can be no mistakes. This is a feature that can be edited endlessly by adding new finds as you acquire them and retiring others as the season or just the whim dictates. I’ve chosen a few of my favourite mydeco.com accessories to inspire you to have a go at displaying your own favourites.