I am by no means an amazing decorator, but I think I do a decent job making my home a comfortable place to be.  As we all know by now, I use Pinterest for almost everything (told you I’m addicted).  I recently got tired of looking at my overcrowded, uninspiring curio cabinet.  It was a jumble of curiosities as all cabinets of this type hold, but it really was a bit scary (hence, no before pictures). I was able to find some styling inspiration online (JennaBurger.com, For the Love of a House, and Rooms Blog) that I used to come up with my own design tips.

1.  Display what you love or for which you have a strong attachment.
   Seems like a no brainer, but I had things in there that I didn’t like much.  My cabinet was kind of a catch all.  Don’t forget to gather all your curiosities, heirlooms, unusual pieces, etc. from around the house.  Also, be sure to include items that have sentimental value to others in your family (sometimes it hurts a bit).
   
2. Arrange each shelf by color scheme.
   I tried many combinations, but this seemed to work the best.  The result was a much less jarring arrangement of our treasures.

   

3. Place larger items such as platters or pictures in the back.
   These pieces added a nice backdrop for the other smaller pieces.

   

4. Put your heaviest objects on the bottom shelf.
   Putting the bigger, heavier pieces on the bottom shelf anchored the whole display.  This happened naturally for me since only taller pieces fit on the bottom of my case, and I didn’t want to put heavy things on a glass shelf.

   

5. Combine items to give your displays interest and height.
   The problem with my old display is that everything was on the shelf.  This time I hung pieces on others and stacked my knick-knacks on top each other.

   

6. Don’t be afraid to mix styles.
   Oddball art glass from the 70’s on the same shelf as a sugar bowl from the 50’s and glassware from the turn of last century? Yup. Remember step 1… display what you love.  It’s a bit quirky, but it seems to work.

   

7. Leave room for more.
   You may have to rearrange some shelves as you add pieces from your travels, gifts you received, or heck even those pieces you just had to have but weren’t sure why.  Consider the cabinet a work in progress.

Hopefully these ideas will help you style a curio cabinet or even a bookcase in your home.  My cabinet now displays my favorite knick-knacks in an interesting way.  Is it perfect? No, but it now reflects more of my personality and that’s a good thing.  Now if I can only find someone willing to dust it!