How to Decorate a Curio Cabinet

Curio cabinets are cabinets with glass doors and, sometimes, glass sides. They are designed to show up to three sides of the objects put into them. "Curios" are designed to hold curious things---collectibles, antiques, art and memorabilia. Whether you buy a curio or inherit one, choose contents that reflect your life and style.

Things You'll Need

• Curio cabinet Artwork, collectibles, antiques, photos, books--whatever you love

Instructions

1. 

   Choose a curio cabinet to fit the space you have. Corner curios are great for small spaces and collections of small items. Find a wall cabinet with glass on three sides for sculpture. Insist on a cabinet with interior top lighting (most come with a long "piano" or "portrait light" fixture near the top of the interior) and add back or bottom lighting if you want to display sculpture, glass or particularly dramatic pieces.

2. 

   Lay out all of your collectibles, antiques and other potential contents on a table and sort into color groups and sizes. Remove items that you don't want to keep---they can go in a garage sale box. Decide how you want to display items---by theme, event, color or chronology---and start forming groups. Remember that the goal of a "curiosity" collection is to fascinate the mind and charm the eye.

3. 

   Clean all the glass in the curio and wipe all of your "curiosities" before beginning to fill your cabinet.

4. 

   Arrange each shelf. Put tall pieces in back and don't block them with heavy pieces if you want to show them off. Keep to your theme, event, color or chronology, but don't be a slave to your plans. Use complementary colors to make a solid-color collection "pop," or add a toy that the bride or groom loved as a child to wedding memorabilia.

5. 

   Make a complete composition of shelves. Limit large pieces to lower shelves to "ground" your collection. Start by placing shelves with the most interesting or important items near eye-level and add shelves above and below so that the eye is drawn from one "collection" to one below or above. An attractive arrangement will draw the eye up and down then back to a previously viewed shelf again and again rather than just a quick up-and-down.

6. 

   Change the contents of your curio cabinet a bit each time you clean it. As you get older, it will become more crowded and you'll find that more of the items can go to the garage sale box. Keep a few of your most precious belongings from each stage of life and you'll have a significant display.

Tips & Warnings

• Photos and books that clutter tables look great in curios as long as you break them up with contrasting items. By all means, decorate your curio cabinet with a few pieces of exquisite sculpture in a formal living room. Just make sure that the pieces reflect your personality or it will look like you're trying to impress. Even though you'll be closing a cabinet door on everything, dust will seep in. Plan on cleaning contents at least annually to keep the cabinet sparkling. Give items away periodically to anyone who will appreciate them (your children, niece and nephews, siblings). They will remember you whenever they look at them. Plus, it will clear room for adding new items to your collection.

References

• Curio Cabinet photos

Resources

• Ideas
• Curio cabinet plans