10 Postcard Displays That Make Your Best Memories Permanent

Postcards are one of the best ways to remember experiences, and they’re not just good for sending. Some are so chic that they deserve to double as decor and not for just lining your junk drawer either. If your postcard displays are usually nothing more than magnets on refrigerators or messy piles on your desk, you’re probably in need of some fresh design inspiration. Postcards make for easy wall art and remove the need for professional framing or having to figure out how to hang a picture evenly. 

With enough postcards, you can form your own wallet-friendly gallery wall, which saves on buying art, or you can simply select a few of your favorites to display in a special holder strung across your desk. With a little creativity, you’ll find there are a million different ways you can style and display these cards from your favorite places. See 10 of our favorite options below.

To amplify a travel vibe, try styling your postcards in a shelf similar to those tourist pamphlet ones, as seen in this Dutch home. It’s a brilliantly stylish way to bring your vacation back under your roof, and you can make one out of pegboard fairly easily.

Maximalists will adore creating a collage that’s as bold and vibrant as the rest of their home. This modernist example shows, too, that you can add other meaningful papers and small ephemera for a gorgeous collage if your postcards don’t cover enough surface area. Try one over a mantel or headboard. 

Postcards, ticket stubs, menus, and pamphlets all look much sharper when displayed in matching frames. This also makes for a great opportunity to turn your memories into a one-of-a-kind gallery wall for less.

Minimalists with a small, curated collection will appreciate putting one or two of their favorite postcards on display with a magnetic strip. This kind of a piece infuses a bit of personality into your space but keeps things looking neat and tidy.

Arranging your cards on the wall with simple tacks, like in this colorful New Jersey loft, is a surprisingly simple way to show off your postcards. It’s also a cost efficient way to incorporate wall art that doesn’t include sourcing pieces and framing them.

If you already have a gallery wall, you can easily incorporate postcards into the mix, as seen in this maximalist home. This is the perfect way to share your favorites with visitors, who will likely stop to admire your unique collection.

As seen in this NYC studio, you can repurpose something like a frame or broken mirror into the perfect postcard display. Whip up an assortment inspired by your travels and hang it next to other works of art or set it on top of a mantel.

If you have a collection of postcards from a particular place or have a handful that just work really well together, you can frame and arrange them like you would any art collection. This bright Philadelphia condo shows how clean and put together this method looks once all is said and done.

In reality, empty stretches of wall—even inside doorways!—are actually just blank canvases waiting to be decorated, as proven by this London studio. For adding an extra splash of color, stack your postcards vertically anywhere you can for an easy DIY that adds a lot of nostalgia and personality to a room.

For a super simple way of showing off your postcards, pick any wall in your home and geometrically stack them for a chic, streamlined display. Order them by country or state or by color for a visually pleasing effect.