apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've had my 'ban the bomb' for over 40 years. It brings back great memories.

My father is a political pin collector and he stores his collection in an antique oak blueprint cabinet. The flat drawers are perfect for displaying the pins and they don't clutter up the walls of his office. This solution would probably be better for major collectors who have enough of the things to fill a whole cabinet though.

I think it's like tattoos - never get a name tattooed on you unless the person is dead or your child - anyone else can still make you regret it!

Obviously a pin display isn't permanent, but I'd probably only display 'vintage' pins. And some of the old fonts and designs are great. I think they could look good on a nice plain fabric pinboard if the colors don't clash with your style.

I do put posters on my window though, I'm not at all against political stuff at home. This is just my opinion on pins as a design element. If you really want the pins up because you feel so strongly, go for it.

Is that a subliminal advertising?

Somewhere in the depths of Etsy (sorry for the vagueness but the site is being troublesome for me right now) is a pin seller who also sells "storyboards" for them. They're like flat picture frames with little holes for the pins, and they come in various sizes and in black or white. That could look really neat if it fits your decor.

My husband's mother was a political junkie and had vinatge pins on a long narrow piece of fabric that hung on her wall in a narrow space. It made a great conversation piece.

This is a late comment but my husband has a large collections of pins - political and otherwise. We have a large piece of fabric hung from a curtain rod on the wall at the top of the stairs. It is a great conversation piece. Unfortunatly, it doesn't contain the entire collection so I am thinking about padding a wall in the second bedroom so he can expand.

There's no reason to shy away from "bombarding people with politics." I'll agree with traditional etiquette in terms of when and where to debate finer political points, like tweaking local spending.

But I think it's absolutely ridiculous to apply Grandma's advice of "not discussing politics with company" to things such as civil rights issues. Aunt Mary got a little bit uncomfortable at Thanksgiving when she saw your fridge magnet advocating for equal marriage? Compare that to the roughly 10% of our population who are really really uncomfortable all the time because they're denied basic civil rights. Aunt Mary can deal. Display your buttons loudly and proudly.

Most acts of "refraining from talking politics in polite company" actually equate to remaining silent in the face of ignorant and oppressive views. Silence is read by most people as acceptance. I'm assuming we're all familiar with this poem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...

(And if anyone wonders why I posted this on an interior design website, um, reread the part about where silence is read as acceptance.)