One theme that has been the subject of much discussion in the past couple of days is an issue most of us have been faced with at some point: what to do with the things that take up space in your home but you can not part with. Whether your thing is music or books, some among us prefer to hold on to our collections while others are content to be rid of the excess, or else find a way to disguise it or keep it hidden away.
Because a home's design is an ongoing process, I am always on the look out for inspiration. This space created by Japanese design firm Keiji Ashizawa Design caught my eye because is a nice balance of the two design philosophies. A good number of the books and albums are not hidden, but displayed in a well organized fashion making sure to keep the rest of the space as neat as possible while the rest is kept behind closed cabinet doors.
Storage is an issue for so many of us but no one solution is universal. Which solution do you favor? Do you keep your collections visible or tucked away out of view?
MORE COLLECTIONS ORGANIZATION ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
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• Collection Help: Living with a Record Lover
(Images: 1. Love Nordic Design, 2. The Selby, 3. & 4. Keiji Design)
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If I can't see, I forget it's there.
I love my books, but I much prefer the serenity in the white bedroom. In a perfect world, my house would have a room donated to JUST books and a good reading chair. Since I've started using a Kindle, I guess I'm ready to start clearing clutter.
For me, it depends on what it is. I find CDs and DVDs to be just unattractive in general. Books and records on the other hand are unique and should be displayed.
I prefer a mixed approach - hide the ugly and rarely used, display the beautiful and/ or often used. We have two bookshelves with half of the cubes with doors do they look like checkerboards, and this works out nicely. I take the same approach in the kitchen and to an extent with my kid's toys.
I appreciate the theme of this topic. Would like to hear more about what people think should be stored vs. displayed!
Currently hiding: pretty much everything. I hate displayed knifes and spatulas in a kitchen, so I have the best drawer ever just inches underneath the counter. I tend to have displayed only art and flowers. As for books, not using them as props but actually reading them, I have a small permanent collection (150 books, first editions and beautiful books I love) on shelves in the home office upstairs, and I borrow the rest from a public library.
On the other hand, I don't like storage walls either, so I tend to edit a lot. My husband is not so fond of my editing skill, but I find that needing as few storage as possible is also great, because hiding everything behind doors tend to make me forget I even have the things stored.
Wow, I am a walking ad for minimalism...
Timely issue for me. I'm starting to the process of redecorating my living room and trying to decide if I should have a wall of bookshelves for my books. I really don't know what to do. My books are not particularly pretty and to tell the truth, I will probably not read them again (at least most of them). But if I don't display them, wouldn't the living room just lack "personality"? I wish I had an extra room for the books, but since I don't what in the world should I do? Donate or keep/display?
Hide.
I like the clean look of drawers and door fronts.
(I could never life with open shelving in the kitchen, for instance.)
The only stuff I like displayed is artwork and funky finds that are considered treasures.
I really don't like the way DVDs and CDs look when displayed.
My bookshelves tend to be turned away from the viewer so you have to go looking for the books. As they're not used all the time I don't need them to be prevalent.
I like the challenge of finding useful things to keep my stuff in.
That's just me.
...live with, not life with...
For me, a collection would be considered collecting globes for instance.
Or a specific genre.
Those I display...
Mostly hide.
Gave up on trying to make my office files look nice and organized so brought a surplus kitchen cabinet off CL, add legs, crown trims, pretty hardware, and painted it and now that's where my binders and paper stuff live. Happy consequence is my dining/office area looks mostly like a neat and clean dining area.
TV has a RT emitter so the dvd player, cable box, wii-fii, and landline phone are in the linen closet. The TV itself is hidden behind a painting when not in use.
I finally caved and arrange my books (after taking off the jackets) by similar colors and was surprised how well that worked aesthetically. My CDs are stored on several floating shelves in my walk-in closet
IR emitter, not RT ...
Mostly hide.. I consolidated all my DVDs into two storage bins and got rid of the cases so they take much less space and are easy to flip through. Paperbacks I love, the DVD bins, board games, etc are in a bookshelf in a closed closet, but pretty coffee table books and hardbacks are on display throughout the house.
I got rid of all my physical media except for vinyl records, which I store in an Ikea Expedit. I have only a few books that currently aren't offered on Kindle (once they are, I'll sell my hard copies). My place is minimal, but not bare.
Books and art are the only things I really want to see every day. I don't collect much of anything except for these two items. Anything else gets tucked away. A few times a year, we go through those "tucked away" items and donate whatever we can part with. It's so nice to keep chipping away at the things which aren't needed. I'd rather someone else get use out of my old belongings than for them to just sit and sit and sit unused. This is especially true of craft supplies. They add up so fast since I have such lofty ambitions. I'd rather give them away to friends who will use them than to keep them around.