HOME INSPIRATION
PLAY & DISPLAY
20 ways to curate your collections to create ahome full of charisma and colour
1 MAKE AN ENTRANCE
Be inspired by ceramicist and painter Claire Halsey’s creative flair and frame a favourite doorway with carefully edited artwork. Choose a curatorial theme – such as colour, genre, artist, movement or subject matter – to create cohesion.
2 KEEP IT SIMPLE
The spare elegance of rustic folk art, such as these hand-carved love spoons, needs a quiet, unadorned background to shine. Give your collection space to breathe with a neutral, natural colour palette.
3 STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Multiples of the same type of object make dazzling arrangements and create a striking visual statement. This assemblage of pretty vintage mirrors has more impact as a cohort than if each were displayed in isolation.
4 TODAY’S HEIRLOOMS
Ceramics are a great entry point for a collector. Modern designers produce usable and beautiful objects, many of which become classics. Christmas Rose jug, from £61, Emma Bridgewater; Cottage Stripe jug in Paris green, from £40, Rye Pottery.
5 SHELF LIFE
When objects have intrinsic value, it’s important to display them in a way that celebrates their worth. Whether it’s books, teapots or prints, built-in storage will keep everything corralled and prevent them from taking over your space.
6 CREATE A DIALOGUE
Objects can have a lively conversation with the décor. Here, Victorian-inspired wallpaper and traditional bathroom fittings set the perfect tone for 19th-century loving cups and other collectible ceramics. Bird & Anemone wallpaper from the Queen Square collection by Ben Pentreath and Morris & Co.
7 HANG LOOSE
Collections should be seen and admired but don’t necessarily need handling with kid gloves. This glorious selection of woven baskets is hung with confident informality, an apt approach for objects with an unapologetically practical appeal.
8 VARIETY ACT
Objects can often reveal their unique qualities when hung as part of an analogous grouping. Here, hand-woven African baskets, arranged simply on a wall around a similar mirror, naturally reveal subtle differences in design and craftsmanship.
9 PIECE BY PIECE
Individual items can be dovetailed to work in the most awkward spots, in a puzzle-like fashion. A collection of plates is at home in a kitchen and here, they link harmoniously in colour with one another and with the adjoining paintwork.
10 COMBINE COLLECTIONS
Childhood is at the core of this neat selection of Observer’s Books and vintage toy cars. Their proud owner has played with colour, too, matching the hues of the book spines to the vehicles, to create vi
