At my core, I am a collector. I have no idea what drives the collecting – but I do know I am not alone! My collecting of stones, sticks, driftwood, seashells and sea glass, pinecones, seedpods, bird nests, and anything else in nature that catches my eye is insatiable. Maybe this is how a Bowerbird feels! Seashells and sea glass collected from Florida beaches, a birdnest from our yard, and “gumballs” from Sweetgum trees in Cincinnati all have a place in our home.
family collections
I also have a curated collection of family memorabilia.
When my friend Marian shared a blog post about her curiosities cupboard I was inspired to do something similar using favorite and unique curiosities from our family and combine them with my collection from nature into one place. By gathering all these small trinkets together with the nature collection, they are much more interesting than spread out with bits and pieces here and there cluttering our spaces. The antique cabinet in our great room became the perfect place to showcase our unique collection of curiosities.
curiosities with stories
Inspired and fueled by momentum, I started gathering items hidden in drawers, storage, boxes, etc. I gathered memorabilia that belonged to family members who came before us and unique items we have collected. Some have value, but most have only sentimental value. Either way, we are reminded of our people through some of these tokens. The memorabilia has also been an opportunity to share stories with our children and grandchildren about the family they never knew.
After I pulled together a collection of various items I began arranging them – and re-arranging until I was satisfied with the styled look. The vintage coins we had tucked away in plastic food storage boxes, now have a place to shine and a Hobbit Door made by our son in a high school art class adds some whimsy.
Clay marbles (only a handful of many) my grandpa won playing marbles as a child are perfect trophies for the bookcase. On an ironstone plate, I gathered Magnolia seed pods collected at the creative retreat I attended last fall along with – “gumballs” collected in Cincinnati (while on walks with our grandchildren) from the Sweetgum trees in their neighborhood. Then I added shells from our week on Anna Maria Island and a little dried branch found on a beach walk, placed side-by-side with a book on trees from my childhood.
On the top shelf, there is a sterling silver baby cup engraved with my name, a wind-up cat toy, and sailor doll from my mom’s childhood, a photo of my grandparents on their wedding day, and a water glass that was my great-grandma’s.
Another shelf has a little cottage music box/jewelry box from my childhood, my father-in-law’s pocket watch and wristwatch, my gramma’s wristwatch, and a Spode “buttercup” pattern plate that reminds me of my gramma’s china. The Mark Twain book collection belonged to Kirk’s paternal grandparents.
Kirk bought the Shakespeare book collection at a library book sale when he was in college.
I love having this Objet d’art collection with stories to be told, all in one place.
My goal was to create a curated collection and not something that looks thrown into the bookcase. I’m sure there will be more tweaking to come – adding or removing items – as I’ve already done several times since I began this post!
Do you have little pieces of memorabilia hiding in your home that you would display like this?
There are so many possibilities for displaying family curiosities and memorabilia. It doesn’t have to be a full cabinet, a single shelf might be all you need, or a shelf like the one below would work nicely too.
I hope this post has inspired you to get those memories out of closets and drawers to share with others. What curiosities would you display?
